When a total of 14 world champions medals, 10 world record holders and 18 Olympic medalists come together, you can undoubtedly speak of a meeting of legends. That's what happened this weekend in Harrachov (CZE).

Jens Weisflog, Armin Kogler, Ernst Wimmer, Hubert Neuper, Joachim Winterlich and many others met at the famous Čerťák ski jumping hill on the north side of Mount Čertova to talk and philosophize about both the good old days and the future of ski jumping. It is probably no coincidence that the Čertova mountain is called “Devil’s Mountain” in English. They are all devils, and they have one thing in common: the revival of ski flying in Harrachov.

With the event, which takes place at regular intervals, initiator Kerst Rölz from Germany/Vogtland wants to bring ski flying and the World Cup back to Harrachov and show that there is great will for it. However, a renovation of the ski flying hill would be urgently needed, for which there is currently simply not enough money or will or both. The aim of such events is to draw attention to this in order to increase acceptance for a revitalization of ski jumping in Harrachov. If the “who’s who” of the ski jumping world fights for this and comes together, then of course a small but fine delegation from Oberwiesenthal cannot be missing.

Jens Weisflog, Joachim Winterlich, Ernst Schatzer, my father Eberhard Riedel and myself travelled to to Harrachov, almost 300 kilometers away from Oberwiesenthal. For me personally it was my first participation. The meeting was attended by numerous representatives of the press, which further underlines the great public interest in the event.

The program of the very friendly meeting included a tour of the ski jumping hill, an extensive visit to the local ski jumping museum and a really nice and intense come together last night. The mayor of the sleepy town of 1,500 people near the Polish border, Tomas Vasicez, was very pleased and welcomed the initiative.

I was very pleased about the invitation and would like to thank everyone who took part. The funny stories from the past, but also the serious conversations about the future of ski jumping will have an impact for a long time to me!