Whether a ski racer, carpenter, engineer, inventor, designer, patent holder, author, expert, husband, father – Peter Riedel has accomplished many projects and taken on many roles in his life so far. It is hard to believe that all of this fits into one life and that the native Oberwiesenthaler today celebrates his second thirtieth…
Growing up in the spa town of Oberwiesenthal, the athlete gene was almost literally laid in his cradle. His father Eberhard Riedel was a successful skier and celebrated notable national and international successes. It was only natural that the youngest offspring would be raised as sporty and goal-oriented as well. At age 3, little Peter was already weaving down the Fichtelberg; four years later the first races followed. In the next fifteen years he competed as an East German racer in several European Cup races, but the sporting career did not rise further. Because instead of the world's ski slopes, technical things began to draw the future birthday boy into their almost magical spell.
1982 thus began Riedel's training as a carpenter. Six years later followed a degree in civil engineering for construction in Leipzig, which he completed in record time. After several years as an independent civil engineer, the native networker bridged to high-performance sport again in 2003.
For the construction of the ski tunnel in Oberhof, Riedel did pioneering work with a feasibility study. This, along with further valuable foundational development, flowed decisively into the construction of the giant tunnel where cross-country skiing and biathlon can be practiced year-round.
The first project in the field of sports technology was thus successfully implemented. But in the inventor's mind, the next idea was already maturing, which would prove to be groundbreaking in ski jumping. Only a year after the ski tunnel construction, he presented to the FIS hill construction commission in Willingen the first combined summer and winter take-off track he had developed. And that, on Friday the Thirteenth. Yet that day turned out to be a lucky day for the inventor's spirit. The system that cleverly unites an ice and a porcelain track was as simple as it was brilliant and immediately struck the scene like a comet.
From there, Peter Riedel's career shot up. His company grew to as many as six employees, launch traces were exported around the world. In addition to the historic winter sports towns Sapporo, Holmenkollen in Oslo, Bergisel in Innsbruck and Bischofshofen, Riedel supplied, from the company headquarters in Raschau, over one hundred ski jumps worldwide with his technology. The last project was none other than the reconstruction of the Trondheim ski jump, where the next Nordic World Ski Championship will take place in 2025.
If one were to describe Peter Riedel, the words 'thinker around the corner' or 'creative mind' would probably fit best. Almost no technical problem has an answer he doesn’t know. Combined with his determination to maximize the Nordic sport, the designer leads a life dedicated to winter sports. And that for 60 years already.
Happy Birthday Peter!