Kulm (flying hill)

Kulm
Kulm in January 2023
Constructor(s)	Ing. Hans Peyerl
Location	Tauplitz
Opened	Hill test: 18 February 1950 Unofficially: 8 March 1950 FIS Official opening: 27 February 1953
Renovated	1953, 1975, 1986, 1996, 2015
Size
K–point	200 m
Hill size	235 m
Longest jump (unofficial / fall)	247.5 m (812 ft) Žiga Jelar (27 January 2023)
Hill record	244 m (801 ft) Peter Prevc (16 January 2016)
Top events
Ski Flying World Championships	1975, 1986, 1996, 2006, 2016

Kulm is a ski flying hill located in Tauplitz/Bad Mitterndorf, Styria, Austria opened in 1950.^[1]

In 2003, The women's world record at 200 metres was set by Daniela Iraschko-Stolz, who at the time was the only woman in history to have jumped over two hundred meters.

Furthermore, the men's world record has been set three times at Kulm (1962, 1965 and 1986).

This hill is one of only five of its type in the world, allowing for jumps of more than 240 metres. The current hill record of 244 m (801 ft) was set by Peter Prevc during the 2016 Ski Flying World Championships.

They hosted the five FIS Ski Flying World Championships here in 1975, 1986, 1996, 2006, and 2016.

In 2015, the hill was last renovated to a current K200 and HS235, with much longer jumps possible.

History

1948/49: Hill construction

Construction began in 1948 under leadership Viktor Stüger, president of Salzkammergut Ski Association, completed in 1949 as the largest natural ski jumping hill in the world, designed by Ing. Hans Peyerl.^[2]

1950: First unofficial event held

On 8–12 March 1950, opening International Ski Flying Week competition was held on new built ski flying hill. Hubert Neuper Sr. was honoured to be the first to try new hill. The last two days counted for "Longest Ski Jump" competition won by Rudi Dietrich (103 metres) ahead of Hans Eder (102 m) and third placed shared by Werfener Huber and Fritz Ruepp (both 94 metres). However, International Ski Federation (FIS) did not approve the hill and not even this unofficial competition, as it turned out to be, that hill was very poorly and insufficiently built, by far from the International standards valid back then.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]}

1951: Second unofficial event held

On 16–18 March 1951, second International Ski Flying Week, an unofficial competition was held in front of total 15,000 people. Summary of total length of four jumps counted into final score. Already on first day, Bradl set new hill record at 115 meters. He was also the winner of the 4 jumps competition with 530 meters in total, in front of the 2nd ranked West German Sepp Hohenleitner (504 meters) and the 3rd ranked Rudi Dietrich (501 meters). Hill was rebuilt with many improvements, but to receive approval from the FIS to organize the official International Ski Flying Week, further requirements had to be met. Hill was again re-designed by Ing. Hans Peyerl in cooperation with the ski jumping FIS consultant Ing. Straumann.^[9][10][11]

In 1952, Salzkammergut Ski Association, governed body responsible for the hill was dissolved, because Ausserland came back to Styria. In this way, it was possible to make this hill a top priority for the Styrian state government, which assigned the responsibility to the Styrian Ski Association.

1953: Hill officially opened with FIS approval

On 27 February–1 March 1953, three-day competition, 1st official "FIS International Ski Flying Week", finally recognized by FIS due to many upgrades. About 50,000 people visited the event. Josef Bradl won the competition with 449.8 points ahead of Andreas Däscher and Roy Sherwood.^[12][13]

On 10–11 March 1956, two-day competition, 2nd official "International Ski Flying Week" was held. Total four jumps counted into official result, two best jumps from each day. Peter Lesser won the event with total 428.5 points ahead of Veikko Heinonen (FIN) and Olaf B. Bjørnstad (NOR).^[14][15]

On 20–22 March 1959, three-day competition, 3rd official "International Ski Flying Week" was held, on the last day alone crowd of 30,000 people. Six jumps in total, two best from each day counted into official result. Torbjørn Yggeseth (NOR), founder of FIS World Cup won the event.^[16][17][18]

1962: Lesser set first world record

On 1–4 March 1962, three-day competition, 4th official "International Ski Flying Week" was held. Already on the first day, at the official training, East German Peter Lesser tied the world record with Jože Šlibar (Oberstdorf 1961), first on this hill, at 141 m (463 ft). His teammate Helmut Recknagel won ahead of two West Germans Wolfgang Happle and Max Bolkart, watched by more than 40,000 people on Sunday, the last day alone.^[19][20][21]

1965: Lesser set second world record

On 19–21 March 1965, three-day competition, "K.O.P. International Ski Flying Week" was held. First day (Friday) counted as official training, but also as a reserved date, if one of two competition days (Saturday or Sunday) was cancelled, would be calculated into official result. Already on first day, Bjørn Wirkola fell at world record distance at 144 meters (472 ft). On Saturday, Peter Lesser also fell at world record distance at 147 metres (482 ft). On Sunday, in front of 30,000 people, Peter Lesser set official world record for the second time here after three years at 145.5 metres (477 ft).^[22][23]

1971: Competition blown away

On 19–21 March 1971, three-day competition, "K.O.P. International Ski Flying Week", which would also be counting for "Europa Cup", was due to strong wind all three days, first and only time in history completely cancelled. Only four trial jumpers managed to perform the last day. Saturday and Sunday results were planned to count into official results, and if one of them was cancelled, Friday results would be counting as a reserve.^[24][25][26]

1986: Horrible crashes and WR tied

On 8–9 March 1986, Kulm hosted "9th FIS Ski Flying World Championships" at enlarged and rebuilt with new K185 point, renovation plan inspired by Planica. More than 50,000 people in total visited in all three days. It started great already on official training (Friday), with new hill record at 188 meters (617 ft) set by Austrian Franz Neuländtner. On the last day (Sunday), Masahiro Akimoto, Ulf Findeisen, Øyvind Berg and Grega Peljhan, all four crashed very hard, from high in the air direct to the ground. Four best jumps in total (2 of 3 best jumps each day) counted into final results. For the great final Andreas Felder who became world champion, set the world record at 191 m (627 feet) and equaled it with Matti Nykänen (1985).^{[27][28][29][30][31]}

1996: World Championships counted also for World Cup

On 10–11 February 1996, two-day competition "14th FIS Ski Flying World Championships", with each day also counting for FIS World Cup, was held. Total of 130,000 people gathered in all four days. It all started with free training on Thursday, when Jens Weißflog (201 m) became the first who managed to surpass two-hundred-meter mark on this hill and 8th jump over this barrier in history. Andreas Goldberger became world champion in front of home crowd with total four jumps, two from each day counting (183, 183, 194 and 198 m), with final score of total 738.1 points.^{[32][33][34][35]}

Events

Date	Year	Hillsize	Winner	Second	Third
↓ International Ski Flying Week ↓ (FIS did not officially recognize those two competitions)
11–12 March	1950	K95	Rudi Dietrich	Hans Eder	Werfener Huber Fritz Ruepp
16–18 March	1951	K95	Sepp Bradl	Sepp Hohenleitner	Rudi Dietrich
↓ FIS International Ski Flying Week ↓
27 February   —   1 March	1953	K120	Sepp Bradl	Andreas Däscher	Roy Sherwood
10–11 March	1956	K120	Werner Lesser	Veikko Heinonen	Olaf B. Bjørnstad
20–22 March	1959	K120	Torbjørn Yggeseth	Helmut Recknagel	Walter Habersatter
2–4 March	1962	K120	Helmut Recknagel	Wolfgang Happle	Max Bolkart
↓ K.O.P. International Ski Flying Week ↓
19–21 March	1965	K120	Henrik Ohlmeyer	Bernd Karwofsky	Peter Lesser
3 March	1968	K120	Zbyněk Hubač	Reinhold Bachler	Jiří Raška
↓ K.O.P. International Ski Flying Week = FIS Europa Cup ↓
19–21 March	1971	K120	strong wind all three days; only four jumps held in total
↓ 3rd FIS Ski Flying World Championships ↓
14–16 March	1975	K165	Karel Kodejška	Rainer Schmidt	Karl Schnabl
↓ K.O.P. International Ski Flying Week ↓
3–5 March	1978	K165	Peter Leitner	Falko Weißpflog	Alois Lipburger
↓ FIS World Cup ↓
12 March	1982	K165	Matti Nykänen	Hubert Neuper	Andreas Felder
13 March			Hubert Neuper	Matti Nykänen	Ole Bremseth
14 March			Hubert Neuper	Ole Bremseth	Armin Kogler
↓ 9th FIS Ski Flying World Championships ↓
8–9 March	1986	K185	Andreas Felder	Franz Neuländtner	Matti Nykänen
↓ FIS World Cup ↓
23 February	1991	K185	Stephan Zünd	Ari-Pekka Nikkola	Per-Inge Tällberg
24 February			Stefan Horngacher	Ralph Gebstedt	Heinz Kuttin
30 January	1993	K185	Jaroslav Sakala	Werner Haim	Andreas Goldberger
31 January			Jaroslav Sakala	Didier Mollard	Andreas Goldberger
↓ 14th FIS Ski Flying World Championships = FIS World Cup ↓
10 February	1996	K185	Janne Ahonen	Andreas Goldberger	Ari-Pekka Nikkola
11 February			Andreas Goldberger	Christof Duffner	Janne Ahonen
Championships (10–11 February)			Andreas Goldberger	Janne Ahonen	Urban Franc
↓ FIS World Cup ↓
8 February	1997	K185	Takanobu Okabe	Andreas Goldberger	Primož Peterka
9 February			Primož Peterka	Andreas Goldberger	Takanobu Okabe
19 February	2000	K185	Sven Hannawald	Andreas Widhölzl	Tommy Ingebrigtsen
20 February			cancelled due to strong wind
1 February	2003	K185	Florian Liegl	Sven Hannawald	Adam Małysz
2 February			Sven Hannawald	Florian Liegl	Matti Hautamäki
15 January	2005	HS200	Andreas Widhölzl	Roar Ljøkelsøy	Adam Małysz
16 January			Adam Małysz	Andreas Widhölzl	Risto Jussilainen
↓ 19th FIS Ski Flying World Championships ↓
13–14 January	2006	HS200	Roar Ljøkelsøy	Andreas Widhölzl	Thomas Morgenstern
15 January			Norway Bjørn Einar Romøren Lars Bystøl Tommy Ingebrigtsen Roar Ljøkelsøy	Finland Janne Happonen Tami Kiuru Matti Hautamäki Janne Ahonen	Germany Michael Neumayer Georg Späth Alexander Herr Michael Uhrmann
↓ FIS World Cup ↓
10 January	2009	HS200	Gregor Schlierenzauer	Simon Ammann	Martin Koch
11 January			Gregor Schlierenzauer	Harri Olli	Simon Ammann
9 January	2010	HS200	Robert Kranjec	Simon Ammann	Martin Koch
10 January			Gregor Schlierenzauer	Robert Kranjec	Harri Olli
14 January	2012	HS200	strong wind; postponed to the next day morning as event No.1
15 January			Robert Kranjec	Thomas Morgenstern	Anders Bardal
15 January			Anders Bardal	Daiki Ito	Kamil Stoch
11 January	2014	HS200	Noriaki Kasai	Peter Prevc	Gregor Schlierenzauer
12 January			Peter Prevc	Gregor Schlierenzauer	Noriaki Kasai
10 January	2015	HS225	Severin Freund	Stefan Kraft	Jurij Tepeš
11 January			cancelled due to strong wind
↓ 24th FIS Ski Flying World Championships ↓
15–16 January	2016	HS225	Peter Prevc	Kenneth Gangnes	Stefan Kraft
17 January			Norway Anders Fannemel Johann André Forfang Daniel-André Tande Kenneth Gangnes	Germany Andreas Wellinger Stephan Leyhe Richard Freitag Severin Freund	Austria Stefan Kraft Manuel Poppinger Manuel Fettner Michael Hayböck
↓ FIS World Cup ↓
13 January	2018	HS235	Andreas Stjernen	Daniel-André Tande	Simon Ammann
14 January			cancelled due to strong wind
15 February	2020	HS235	Piotr Żyła	Timi Zajc	Stefan Kraft
16 February			Stefan Kraft	Ryōyū Kobayashi	Timi Zajc
28 January	2023	HS235	Halvor Egner Granerud	Stefan Kraft	Domen Prevc
29 January			Halvor Egner Granerud	Timi Zajc	Stefan Kraft

Hill record

Men

Possible HRs, start order in 2R unclear (7.3.1986) – Bauer (176m), Klauser (175m), Suorsa (172m), Nykänen (170m), Findeisen (169m).^[36]

Date Length 18 February 1950   Hubert Neuper Sr. 75.0 m (246 ft)   18 February 1950   Hubert Neuper Sr. 93.0 m (305 ft)   18 February 1950   Hubert Neuper Sr. 96.0 m (315 ft)   8 March 1950   Alois Leodolter 100.0 m (328 ft)   9 March 1950   Rudi Dietrich 101.0 m (331 ft)   11 March 1950   Hans Eder 102.0 m (335 ft)   11 March 1950   Hans Eder 106.5 m (349 ft)   12 March 1950   Rudi Gering 104.0 m (341 ft)   12 March 1950   Hans Eder 102.5 m (336 ft)   12 March 1950   Rudi Dietrich 103.0 m (338 ft)   16 March 1951   Sepp Bradl 115.0 m (377 ft)   27 February 1953   Toni Brutscher 116.0 m (381 ft)   27 February 1953   Roy Sherwood 120.0 m (394 ft)   28 February 1953   Sepp Bradl 120.0 m (394 ft)   9 March 1956   Werner Lesser 125.0 m (410 ft)   20 March 1959   Torbjørn Yggeseth 127.0 m (467 ft)   1 March 1962   Peter Lesser 141.0 m (463 ft)   19 March 1965   Bjørn Wirkola 144.0 m (472 ft)   20 March 1965   Peter Lesser 147.0 m (482 ft)   21 March 1965   Peter Lesser 145.5 m (477 ft)   15 March 1975   Karl Schnabl 151.0 m (495 ft)

Date Length 2 March 1978   Matthias Buse 151.0 m (495 ft)   5 March 1978   Edi Federer 164.0 m (538 ft)   12 March 1982   Hubert Neuper 166.0 m (545 ft)   12 March 1982   Matti Nykänen 166.0 m (545 ft)   14 March 1982   Hubert Neuper 167.0 m (548 ft)   14 March 1982   Matti Nykänen 169.0 m (555 ft)   7 March 1986   Franz Neuländtner 188.0 m (617 ft)   9 March 1986   Andreas Felder 191.0 m (627 ft)   8 February 1996   Jens Weißflog 201.0 m (659 ft)   8 February 1997   Takanobu Okabe 205.0 m (673 ft)   20 February 2000   Andreas Goldberger 209.5 m (687 ft)   31 January 2003   Christian Nagiller 220.0 m (722 ft)   31 January 2003   Sven Hannawald 214.0 m (702 ft)   10 January 2009   Gregor Schlierenzauer 215.5 m (707 ft)   9 January 2015   Jurij Tepeš 220.0 m (722 ft)   9 January 2015   Robert Kranjec 221.0 m (725 ft)   9 January 2015   Severin Freund 237.5 m (779 ft)   15 January 2016   Noriaki Kasai 240.5 m (789 ft)   15 January 2016   Peter Prevc 243.0 m (797 ft)   16 January 2016   Peter Prevc 244.0 m (801 ft)   27 January 2023   Žiga Jelar 247.5 m (812 ft)

Ladies

Date		Length
4 February 1997	Eva Ganster	141.0 m (472 ft)
5 February 1997	Eva Ganster	161.0 m (528 ft)
6 February 1997	Eva Ganster	163.0 m (535 ft)
7 February 1997	Eva Ganster	164.5 m (540 ft)
9 February 1997	Eva Ganster	165.0 m (541 ft)
9 February 1997	Eva Ganster	167.0 m (548 ft)
29 January 2003	Daniela Iraschko-Stolz	188.0 m (618 ft)
29 January 2003	Daniela Iraschko-Stolz	200.0 m (656 ft)

Technical data

• Hillsize – HS235
• Inrun angle – 35.3°
• Inrun length – 117.4 m
• Calculation point – K200
• Take-off table (height) – 4.75 m
• Landing zone angle – 30.5° to 37.5°
• Vertical (from top to bottom) – 197 m
• Vertical (take-off table to bottom) – 135 m

References

47°32′31.67″N 13°59′59.51″E / 47.5421306°N 13.9998639°E / 47.5421306; 13.9998639