Trondheim2025 – World Championship in Continuous Rain

Now several days have already passed since the Nordic Ski World Championship ended in Trondheim, and I finally get to sit down and put my thoughts on paper. If I had to choose a sentence to start, it would probably be, “What a championship that was, what Norwegian water shows!” 

And above all in every respect. Although I focus here and now on everything that concerns us as a hill team. The other, less pleasant topic that came up at the end must be assessed by others. A bitter aftertaste remains anyway. 

But now back to us. Admittedly, I have never experienced a world championship like this in my career as a track and hill construction professional. And we have implemented many events. But rain from day one and temperatures that rarely go below zero are something I’ve never encountered. Constant rain paired with hurricane-force gusts greeted us daily, a nod to the old days. If we hadn’t almost laughed at the adverse conditions, we would have cried every day.

At every event, it is our main task to ensure perfect and above all fair conditions on the approach from the first to the last jump. For this, we will be committed and we stand by it. But with this weather, paired with the tight schedule of a total of 13 medal decisions, it was anything but easy. Life is not a wish list, and we accepted this challenge as well. 

The constantly changing and sometimes truly dreadful weather was undoubtedly our biggest opponent. Rain pounded down, and there were gusts of wind of up to 150 km/h that literally blew the water into the approach lane. My main task eventually became simply to provide my team with dry clothing and rain ponchos. Because after hours of being soaked, it is not as comfortable to work, even if the guys are cut from really tough wood.

The rain is not a problem as long as it can drain through the longitudinal grooves. It became really interesting when the temperatures dropped and the famous zero-degree snow fell from the sky. Too wet for the slope blowers to reach it in the run-up, but still too firm for it to melt and run off. The catastrophe for any event, especially at a world championship where there is pressure to carry on with the competition. It was a puzzle to me that everything ran so perfectly and we almost had no interruptions due to conditions on the run-up. 

All of this was due to our international team, which across the board consists of experts in their fields. The know-how from different areas clicked together seamlessly. Steel construction, milling technology, ice specialist - everything fit together. For the first time at this World Championship, the latest technology was used as well. A newly developed measurement and control system, which we developed and implemented together with the cooling system specialist Daikin. The technology had its trial by fire at the Granasen Ski Jump Center and stood out for its efficient and reliable operation. All of this contributed to making this rather special World Championship a personal success for us. We now know that we can perform and ensure great competitions even under the harshest conditions. 

Finally, there needs to be a moment to say THANKS. I want to thank the hill manager and his team on site as well as the FIS. Everyone looks out for the other and does everything to jointly deliver a solid product. It does not matter that there were days when we were first at the hill and the last to switch off the lights in the evening. For this tireless effort I want to thank my team, you are great! I also want to thank the organizing committee of the World Championship for their trust. You all deserved the gold medal!

I hope we met the expectations. We are proud that we could contribute a small part to the success of this wonderful, wet World Championship. If we had not been soaked from head to toe on the last day, perhaps you would have seen our wet eyes at the closing ceremony.

Yours, Peter Riedel and Team