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The ski flying duel in Norway
on 2005-03-24
So far Norway has a ski flying facility at Vikersund, but now an argument has come up: Should Vikersund keep its status in the future and should the flying hill be enlarged, or would it be better to construct a completely new hill at Rødkleiva near Oslo?
Where will the new national venue be – upgrading of Vikersund or new-construction in Rødkleiva?
Norway is the motherland of ski jumping and Norway is also proud of the tradition of Nordic skisport. This is the reason for not accepting any longer the great spectator groups in Planica, where often new world records are established. In contrast to that, in Vikersund competitions do not often take place and there are not a lot of spectators. So the plans for a new national ski flying hill have been existing since a few years, to beat the competitors in the foreign countries. The Norwegians want to present some world record jumps to their own compatriots, like the 239,0 m of Bjørn Einar Romøren.
Now, there are two offers, how the new national venue could look like. Either, a new ski jumping hill complex will build near to Holmenkollen in Oslo, or the Vikersundbakken will be extended. The decision of the Norwegian ski association “Skiforbundet” will be on April 20th. We have got some details about both aspirants.
Renovation of the ski flying hill in Vikersund:
The biggest advantage of the upgrade of the outgoing HS 207-flying hill, how he is aimed by the operator Ski Flying Vikersund, is the cost factor. The costing for the work at the hill in the commune Modum is only 7 Mio. €. Through the moving of the hill in 33 m south direction, jumps up to 250 m should make possible. At first, the 50 year old inrun has to be removed, than the on jump hill will be evacuated and by the blasting operation of a big rock, there would be a very well windbreak. The old infrastructure would get improved and upgraded.
The biggest handicap of the Vikersundbakken is its geographic position 80 km north of Oslo, because in Oslo would be much more spectators. During the World-Cup-competitions in Vikersund the officials calculate spectator groups of 45,000 on three days, more than 90,000 spectators should come to Rødkleiva.
Another handicap for Vikersund are the opinions of most of the officials of the NSF and those of the Norwegian coaches and jumpers which like to jump near to Oslo and in front of many spectators. So the chances for Vikersund are moderate. Some people postulate the renovation of the Vikersundbakken to a large hill, to stage World-Cup-competitions.
New building of a ski flying hill in Rødkleiva:
The plans for a building of a new ski flying hill on the backside of the Holmenkollen, in the so-called “Holmenkollen Vinterpark” include a new building of a normal hill, too, which could be proper for the Nordic Skiing Championships in 2011, which take place in Oslo.
A new ski flying hill with a spectator capacity of 50,000 persons (23,000 of them are seats) could be build for about 25 Mio. € . It would be – because of the last point - more than qualified for television broadcasts. The main argument is the large tradition in connection with the Holmenkollen and the concentration of the ski flying hill, the Holmenkollen and the normal hill.
But there is unsureness concerning the area, where the new national ski flying hill would be placed, because this area is a natural reserve. In addition to that, it is not clear, whether the problems with the fog are the same as those at Holmenkollen. The really high costs would not be a big problem, because this project deals with a trademark of the Nordic ski sport and a lot of people misspeak themselves every-year-competitions like in Planica.
So how is it going to end? Decision on April 20:
Consequently, Rødkleiva is in advantage concerning the decision in the 20th of April, which is desired by most of the Norwegians and a lot of ski jumping fans in the whole world. Although it would be too bad, if the ski flying in Vikersund would has to broke off.
Ski Jumps:
Vikersund (Skiflygingsbakke) Oslo (Rødkleiva)Advertisement:
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