Lots of money for the new North Center of Excellence

In Saalfelden (Pinzgau), the modernization of the Nordic Center for cross-country skiers and snowboarders officially began on Monday. However, the high-performance center has been going on for years and no longer meets international standards. A lot of money is being invested now.

The site’s supra-regional importance

Olympic record player Felix Gottwald and last snowboarder Sarah Marietta Kramer laid the foundation for their careers. The Felix Gottwald Ski Jumping Arena in Saalfelden should soon sparkle with new splendor. After a show of strength and years of planning, the facility is now being comprehensively modernized, says Saalfelden City Councilor Thomas Haslinger (ÖVP): “The project is very important for the city, including as a training site for our sports schools. Courses are offered up to Bavaria.”

The main centerpiece is a new running tower and mat for summer training on an 85-meter-high hill, two permanent ice jogging tracks, a warm-up room for the active tower and a new referee tower.

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The county council sees great future potential

A total of about four million euros is invested in the Nordic Center – by the federal, state, municipality of Saalfelden and the Tourism Association, sports consultant Stefan Schnöll (ÖVP) assures: “It is a large amount that the taxpayer pays on hand – but exceptional in my opinion, very justified by society The region and the entire state, but also the federal government. That’s why there’s co-funding from the federal government. This environment also affects grassroots sports, and at some point the world summit will develop from that scale.”

Better distribution of resources at the national level

This also applies to plans made at the cross-country skiing center of the Ritzensee, where, among other things, a new technical snowmaking system and the first roller skates are being built in Salzburg for summer training. Northern Austria has another high-performance center at its disposal, as Sports Minister Werner Kogler (Greens) explains: “It is good that it is geographically distributed throughout Germany.”

The head of the Ski Federation is also thinking about the World Cup

Not only will the state-of-the-art facilities be used for training, but they will also be fighting for World Cup points again at the Nordic Combined at the end of the 1990s – and not only that, as Bartel Ginspichler, president of the Salzburg State Ski Federation emphasizes: “We need the World Cup competitions here again, The Junior World Championships are always included. And who knows if we won’t host the Nordic World Championships one day. We have Bischofshofen next to it and the Biathlon Center in Hochfilzen.”

The renovation of the Saalfelden ski jump should be completed in 2022, and work on the cross-country ski center by 2024.