New generation of starting tracks experiences impressive fire test

Peter Riedel could hardly believe the praise at the end of the ski flying WC. Athletes, officials, coaches and organizers alike were full of praise for the new ice track at Kulm Hill.  

Thus there has been a generational shift in the start lanes for ski jumping hills. Although Kulm and Peter Riedel GmbH ventured into new territory by laying the ice track on a ski jumping hill as required by the FIS, the conditions during the season’s highlight were optimal—believed by the athletes, the track resembled a “bitumenized highway.” Not only the athletes noticed this in the smooth and high-quality starts, especially the organizers noticed the difference to previous tracks. As the hill team in particular attested, the effort at Kulm was lower than at other events. If the team that prepared the hill for every event had fully packed workdays in the past, the volunteers this time could rely on the consistent quality of the eight-centimeter-thick ice block—regardless of the weather at the hill.

No wonder organizer Hupert Neuper shed tears of emotion. Not only because of the great competitions or the thousands of fans who traveled, but also because of such “little things” like the track: “Without the track we could not have held such a good event,” he said praising. 

The thanks from Peter Riedel GmbH go to the whole team on the hill at Kulm. “It was fun, there were great competitions that we enabled with terrific teamwork and even though we cannot control the weather yet, we know: we did our best to give the athletes fair conditions—and still the extent of the praise surprises even us. We have never experienced such a gigantic résumé,” says Peter Riedel. 

He cannot rest on this praise—the team moves on after a short detour to the Erzgebirge workshop straight to the Ski Jump World Cup in Trondheim.