Weltrekord Skifliegen - complete list

[MK23 - skiimport]

Hello
First of all, I am sorry for writing in English, but I think that many of you will find this very interesting. Maybe moderators could translate it to German language. Now, as you all know, there are many different lists of world records avaible on the internet. I have decided some time ago to make the completely accurate one, and I am almost done with my work. I concentraded only on World Records achieved after building of first Planica (Bloudkova, 1934), because for me those records before that have only statistical value, and not the sporting one, because there were so many hills where records could be achieved, and many of those were in North America, so best jumpers from Europe couldn't participate in those competitions. Also, there was dual counting of world records, so officialy for Europeans first jumper over 70 meters was Sigmund Ruud, Odnes, 1926, for Americans it was Nels Nelsen, Revelstoke, 1925, etc. etc. Now, here is the list, and later I will explain the details :

1934 PLA * Birger Ruud NOR * 92m
1935 PLA * Reidar Andersen NOR * 93m
1935 PLA * Stanislaw Marusarz POL * 95m
1935 PLA * Reidar Andersen NOR * 98m
1935 PLA * Reidar Andersen NOR * 99m
1935 Ponte di Legno * Fritz Kainersdorfer SUI * 99.5m
1936 PLA * Josef Bradl AUT * 101m
1938 PLA * Josef Bradl AUT * 107m
1941 PLA * Rudi Gehring GER * 108m
1941 PLA * Rudi Gehring GER * 118m
1948 PLA * Fritz Tschannen SUI * 120m
1950 OBE * Willi Ganstchnigg AUT * 124m
1950 OBE * Josef Weiler BRD * 127m
1950 OBE * Dan Netzell SWE * 135m
1951 OBE * Tauno Luiro FIN * 139m
1961 OBE * Joze Slibar JUG * 141m
1962 KUL * Peter Lesser DDR * 141m
1964 OBE * Kjell Sjoeberg SWE * 141m
1964 OBE * Dalibor Motejlek TCH * 142m
1964 OBE * Nilo Zandanel ITA * 144m
1965 KUL * Peter Lesser DDR * 145m
1966 VIK * Bjoern Wirkola NOR * 145m
1966 VIK * Bjoern Wirkola NOR * 146m
1967 OBE * Lars Grini NOR * 147m
1967 OBE * Kjell Sjoeberg SWE * 148m
1967 OBE * Lars Grini NOR * 150m
1967 VIK * Reinhold Bachler AUT * 154m
1969 PLA * Bjoern Wirkola NOR * 156m
1969 PLA * Jiri Raska TCH * 156m
1969 PLA * Bjoern Wirkola NOR * 160m
1969 PLA * Bjoern Wirkola NOR * 164m
1969 PLA * Manfred Wolf DDR * 165m
1973 OBE * Heinz Wosipiwo DDR * 169m
1974 PLA * Walter Steiner SUI * 169m
1976 OBE * Geir Ove Berg NOR * 173m
1976 OBE * Anton Innauer AUT * 174m
1976 OBE * Falko Weisspflog DDR * 174m
1976 OBE * Anton Innauer AUT * 176m
1979 PLA * Klaus Ostwald DDR * 176m
1980 HAR * Armin Kogler AUT * 176m
1981 OBE * Armin Kogler AUT * 180m
1983 HAR * Pavel Ploc TCH * 181m
1984 OBE * Matti Nykaenen FIN * 182m
1984 OBE * Matti Nykaenen FIN * 182m
1984 OBE * Matti Nykaenen FIN * 185m
1985 PLA * Mike Holland USA * 186m
1985 PLA * Matti Nykaenen FIN * 187m
1985 PLA * Matti Nykaenen FIN * 191m
1986 KUL * Andreas Felder AUT * 191m
1987 PLA * Piotr Fijas POL * 194m
1994 PLA * Martin Hoellwarth AUT * 196m
1994 PLA * Toni Nieminen FIN * 203m
1994 PLA * Espen Bredesen NOR * 209m
1997 PLA * Espen Bredesen NOR * 210m
1997 PLA * Lasse Ottesen NOR * 212m
1999 PLA * Martin Schmitt GER * 214.5m
1999 PLA * Tommy Ingebrigtsen NOR * 219.5m
2000 PLA * Thomas Hoerl AUT * 224.5m
2000 PLA * Andreas Goldberger AUT * 225.0m
2003 PLA * Adam Malysz POL * 225.0m
2003 PLA * Matti Hautamaeki FIN * 227.5m
2003 PLA * Matti Hautamaeki FIN * 228.5m
2003 PLA * Matti Hautamaeki FIN * 231.0m
2005 PLA * Tommy Ingebrigtsen NOR * 231.0m
2005 PLA * Bjoern Einar Romoeren NOR * 234.5m
2005 PLA * Matti Hautamaeki FIN * 235.5m
2005 PLA * Bjoern Einar Romoeren NOR * 239.0m

Now, I will start explaining :

* Before Planica, 1934, longest standing jump was that of Robert Lymburne CAN achieved at Revelstoke, 1933 - 87.5 meters or 287 feet. Birger Ruud jumped 92m in the very last jump of the whole event, during practice jumps after official competition. Second longest standing jump was that of Sigmund Ruud, 86.5m.

* Planica, 1935, is the only thing I couldn't work out. Now, on the first training day, 14.03.1935 Reidar Andersen jumped 93m. On the second training day, during afternoon session Andersen jumped 89m,98m,99m / Marusarz jumped 8?m,92m,95m and Sorensen jumped 87m,95m....but, I couldn't find anywhere the order they were jumping. So, Andersen records are certain, but those of Marusarz and possibly Sorensen are still questionable.

* Also, there was a competition in Ponte di Legno, 17.03.1935...scarce reports of this competitio are saying that Olav Ulland won with jumps of 99m and 103.5m (touching the snow), but in the interview with Sigmund Ruud shortly afterwards Sigmund mentions a letter that Ulland wrote to him saying that he jumped 98m (standing) and 103.5m (touching the snow), and that one Swiss jumper (most probably Kainersdorfer) jumped 99m. So this also remains a bit of a mystery.

* Planica, 1936. - every single newspaper report from that period says that Bradl jumped 101.0m, and not 101.5m as it is mentioned in many places on the internet

* Planica, 1941. - now we come to the biggest change in lists. In the Planica publications, it is listed that during that competition those who broke the records were Gehring (108m & 118m), Lahr (111m) and Kraus (112m). Also, Mair with a record of 109m is mentioned in some places. But, reading the Slovenian newspapers from that period with a detailed report of the competition, the next thing is clear : that day there were 8 German jumpers trying to beat Bradl's record from 1938. (107m). They jumped in the following order :

Heinrich Palme
Heini Klopfer
Rudi Gehring
Paul Schiedenbach (or something like that)
Hans Lahr
Paul Kraus
Gregor Hoell (actually, an Austrian)
Franz Mair

There were four rounds of jumping, and in the third round Gehring jumped 108m, Lahr 107m, and in the fourth one Palme got the distance of 109m - but he fell - then Gehring jumped amazing 118m - and only after him Lahr jumped 111m, Kraus 112m, and Mair 109m. Probably the error was made in some Planica publication in early days, and afterwards it only got copied numerous times.

* For Planica 1948. I couldn't find any reports, but I'm fairly sure that only Tschannen jumped world record on that occasion

* Oberstdorf 1950. - during first day of competition, two jumpers went over Tschannen's record. Ganstchnigg jumped 124m and Daescher 121m. While Daescher's jump is mentioned in several record lists, newspaper reports from that period never mention him as the world record holder, and it is always said that Gantschnigg was the first world record holder in Oberstdorf. Also, in some list it is also mentioned Daescher's record of 125m, but he only got to the 123m the day Weiler set the record of 127m (third day of the competition - Daescher was the best in the second day of competition with a longest jump of 115m).

* Vikersund 1966 - many lists forget to mention that during the testing of the hill Wirkola first equalled the world record of Peter Lesser (145m), then during the test competition he jumped new world record (146m)

* Oberstdorf 1984 - during Friday's training, Nykaenen jumped twice the world record distance of 182m.

* Planica 1987 - Fijas jumped 194m on Saturday, Opaas jumped often mentioned 193m the day after

* Planica 1994 - Hoellwarth (not a name that you would normally assign to a World Record jumped 196m before Nieminen went to become first jumper over 203m


Also, here are some interesting facts about world records :

* Lesser's jump of 141m in 1962 was first measured as 142m....then it was reduced to 140.5m....and finally it was decided as a 141m jump, thus equalling the existing record

* Geir Uve Berg's jump was first measured as 167m, then the error with distance measuring was discovered and the day after all jumps jumped during that day were officialy declared as 6 meters longer...so Berg got his world record the day after he actually jumped it.

* Nilo Zandanel and Klaus Ostwald were prejumpers when they jumped their records

* Here is the list of those jumps that couldn't be counted as world records because of a fall or touching the snow after landing (probably missing some jumps) :

1934 PLA * Sigmund Ruud NOR * 95m
1934 PLA * Gregor Hoell AUT * 89m
1934 PLA * Per Johnson NOR * 89m
1935 Ponte di Legno * Olav Ulland NOR * 103.5m
1941 PLA * Heinrich Palme * 109m
1948 PLA * Janez Polda JUG * 120m
1948 PLA * Charles Blum SUI * 121m
1950 OBE * Hans Eder AUT * 130m
1958 OBE * Max Bolkart BRD * 139m
1961 OBE * Wolfgang Happle BRD * 145m
1965 KUL * Bjoern Wirkola NOR * 144m
1965 KUL * Peter Lesser DDR * 147m
1969 VIK * Ladislav Divila TCH * 156m
1973 OBE * Jochen Danneberg DDR * 166m
1973 OBE * Takao Ito JPN * 176m
1973 OBE * Walter Steiner SUI * 175m
1973 OBE * Walter Steiner SUI * 179m
1974 PLA * Walter Steiner SUI * 177m
1977 PLA * Bogdan Norcic JUG * 181m
1979 PLA * Axel Zitzmann DDR * 179m
1987 PLA * Andreas Felder AUT * 192m
1991 PLA * Andre Kiesewetter GER * 196m
1992 HAR * Christof Duffner GER * 194m
1994 PLA * Andreas Goldberger AUT * 202m
1994 PLA * Christof Duffner GER * 207.5m
1997 PLA * Dieter Thoma GER * 213m
1999 PLA * Martin Schmitt GER * 219m
2003 PLA * Veli-Matti Lindstroem FIN * 232m
2005 PLA * Andreas Widhoelzl AUT * 234m
2005 PLA * Janne Ahonen FIN * 240m

So, that is it...I wanted to share this information with you, I hope some of you will find this interesting. I can read and understand German, but I can't write it :barb:

Some of the sources for my work :

arbeiter-zeitung.at
archiv.abendblatt.de
newspaperarchive.com
archives of Slovenian and Croatian newspapers, like Slovenski Dom, Slovenski Narod, Slovenec, Jutro, Jutarnji List, Novosti, Narodni Sport, Sportske Novosti
and some useful e-mails

 

[Kaethe]

Thank you very muchfor your detailed and in depth work. It is wonderful.

 

[senryu]

wow, thank you very much for sharing this.

 

[Benjamin]

Very interesting informations. And I think, not only a moderator could translate it.

 

[sssa]

Great work - as usually :
But why didn't you also list the exact dates where possible, it would make i the list more complete and easier to proove?

 

[MK23 - skiimport]

I was too lazy for doing that
Seriously, I wanted for list to be as simple as possible, yet 100% accurate...for me, it really doesn't matter wheather or not the record was broken on saturday or sunday.