THE BIG PICTURE

Uphill battle

When the snow’s gone, what do you use a ski jump slope for? That’s the question that created the Red Bull 400 at Czech resort Čertova Hora. With its combination of 60˚ incline and soft, leg-sapping surface, you won’t find a more gruelling 400m race anywhere. ‘It’s physically and mentally exhausting – I had to dig deep into my strength and endurance reserves to even get to the halfway point,’ says Jan Kubíček, a winner on the Triathlon European Cup circuit this season. ‘And that’s not even the hard part – that comes after the ski jump take-off.’

‘It’s physically anda mentally exhausting - I had dig deep to even get to the halfway point'