In January 2016 FIS Ski Flying World Championships will be held at the Kulm for the fifth time. We now explain why the World Championships at the Kulm are a very special event.

Pragmatically speaking, the Kulm is one of currently 5 homolgated and used ski flying hills world wide.

Vikersund (NOR) - Planica (SLO) - Oberstdorf (GER) - Harrachov (CZE) and "the Kulm" in the federal state of Styria in Austria.

In a list with the other four ski flying hills it might be difficult for a non-insider of ski jumping to assign this "Kulm" to a city or region.

The "Peak"

If you search for the word Kulm on wikipedia you first get the following explanation:

• The name Kulm (or Culm) is a German language toponym which is derived from the Latin culmen (peak, mountain knoll, hilltop).

Actually this ski flying hill is located about 100 km south-east of Salzburg between Bad Mitterndorf and Tauplitz.

It owes the name because to the hill "Kulmkogel" on which it stands. These are the facts, but they often only a side note at the Kulm, the Kulm is mainly about pure emotion.

The Kulm is pure emotion

As this emotion goes way beyond the stands, for example:

Spectacular broadcasting: Andreas Goldberger and Michael Roscher commentate the hill record of Gregor Schlierenzauer in 2009 on Austrian TV ->> Click here for the video Hill record at the Kulm

Party zone

During a World Cup or World Championship weekend the area between Bad Mitterndorf and Tauplitz regularly turns into a gigantic party zone with the flying hll as its center.

50 000 or even more fans flock to the hill to see the athletes fly and to have the one or the other beer. So some fans are just as exhausted after the competition as the atheltes ...

Ski Flying World Championships were held there already in 1975, 1986, 1996 and 2006.

Karel Kodejska (CZE), Andi Felder (AUT) Andi Goldberger (AUT) and Roar Ljoekelsoey (NOR) took the titles at the Kulm.

237.5 m hill record by Severin Freund

2014 the hill was rebuilt and became a HS 225, it now allows jumps of over 230 m

237.5 m is the current hill record held by the reigning Ski Flying World Champion (2014 Harrachov) Severin Freund of Germany.

Train station directly at the hill

In order to being able to transport the huge number of spectators, the Austrian Federal Railways opens the train station "Kulm".

This station is right at the hill and is not in use on the other 360 days of the year.

There's no doubt, the weekend at the Kulm thrives also because of the special side events, organized at the hill by Hubert "Hupo" Neuper, head of the organizing committee, and his team with lots of effort. Neuper is a former 4-Hills-Tournament and overall World Cup winner and won twice at the Kulm in 1982. Results of Hubert Neuper >>

The event is well known beyond the Austrian borders and famous guests like boxing legend Muhammad Ali and Prince Albert of Monaco came to the Kulm to watch the ski flying live.

So you wants to experience a real sports spectacle shall definitely come to this event.
Goose-bumps are guaranteed with long flights and great fun around the Kulm.

Tickets, starting at 20,00 Euro, can be bought on the website of the organizers:
http://www.skifliegen.at/de/

SKI FLYING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2016: PROGRAM

Thursday, January 14, 2016

01:00 pm: Qualification

Freitag, January 15, 2016

01:00 pm: 1st and 2nd round of the FIS World Championships, Individual

Saturday, January 16, 2016

02:00 pm: 3rd and 4th round of the FIS World Championships, Individual

Sunday, January 17, 2016

02:00 pm: FIS World Championships, Team competition

Source: fis-ski.com