Its World Championships Time again for Peter Riedel! After the Nordic World Ski Championships 2019 in Innsbruck and Seefeld, we are again part of World Championships! When the Ski Flying World Championships take place in Vikersund (NOR), we are right in the middle of it. My team and I have been responsible for the setup and maintenance of the inrun of the largest ski flying hill in the world for six years now. The Ski Flying World Championships this year will undoubtedly be a highlight for us!
We are in Vikersund since mid-February and will successfully complete the ice installation today. We carried in about 1.5 cubic meters of slush and meticulously filled the ice track with it. The cooling technology does the rest, so a 7.5 cm thick, solid block of ice freezes out of the slush. The track profile is then milled into this block of ice. I can proudly say that we are probably one of the few ice masters in the world who can produce an artificial ice surface with a precise profile - and we're talking about millimetres. Due to the thickness of the ice block, enough cold can be stored so that rain, snow and higher temperatures cannot harm the track. And that's obligatory, when distances up to 253.50 meters are jumped - as Stefan Kraft demonstrated with his world record in March 2017 - then nothing can be left to chance!
The ice quality must guarantee the same conditions from the first to the last jumper, and this is exactly where professional competence is required. It's a big responsibility and the pursuit of perfection is why we have been doing and what we enjoy the most since 2007. So again this year in Vikersund. For us it is the greatest feedback when the jumpers leave the outrun satisfied after the competition and know that they have had fair and good conditions.
The hill profile and the flight curve on the world's largest ski flying hill were slightly changed in summer 2021 to ensure even more safety for the athletes. That's exactly why I believe that Stefan Kraft's record will be difficult to beat in the future. However, I would be happy to be taught better :-)
Yours, Peter Riedel
