12th world record done: 53.577 metres down in 24 hours

Christian Flühr (cf-1.net) achieved his 12th world record on skis last week. At Hocheck in Oberaudorf and Unterberghorn in Kössen he managed to ski a total altitude of 53.577 m in 24 hours. This smashed the old record by about 7.000 m. Despite an injury to his left foot, Flühr showed that not only does he have the stamina to ski for a long time, he is also pretty fast! The maximum speed reached during the record was comparable to the downhill races of the alpine world cup.

Early Start

Flühr and his team got up very early on Tuesday, 13th January 2009. The start of the attempt was planned for 8am in Kössen. With only a 5 minute delay, the attempt began. After a relative slow first run on the hill, Flühr increased his speed on the 4 km long valley-run at Unterberghorn in Kössen, which was in a perfect shape. Shortly before noon Christian Flühr completed his fastest run on the selected run at Kössen. “Yes, this is comparable with the Hannenkahm in Kitzbühel, but there the race only lasts for 2 minutes. I will ski here for about 9 hours and afterwards a further 14 hours will follow at Hocheck. My only break will be during the travelling between Kössen and Oberaudorf.” Flühr said during a ride up in the gondola at Kössen. His team-chief Dr. Christian Schmidt said: “You can’t compare it to Christian’s endurance records. This is skiing on the edge- really pushing him to the limit. We have to change Christian’s support team every two hours. The slope at Kössen is really difficult and has got large bumps and heavy turnings.”

Problems with his left foot

After 39 runs at Unterberghorn in Kössen the first part of the record attempt was over. Flühr skied more than was originally planned as there had been only 36 runs scheduled in Kössen. However late in the afternoon Christian Flühr started to experience problems with his left foot. Severe bruising caused him great pain. After the car-ride from Kössen to Oberaudorf Christian changed his ski-boots, which helped to alleviate the problem somewhat. “We changed Christian’s racing-boot to a softer one and Christian skis to a serial-ski instead of a world-cup ski. Otherwise the record would have been in danger.” said deputy team chief Walter Maier. Due to the problems with the ski-boots Christian’s timetable was a little delayed. 12 hours after starting Flühr had already skied 35.000 m. The gentler slope at Hocheck in Oberaudorf, was freshly groomed right up until midnight which made the path to the record easier.

Hardest attempt

In the middle of the night, shortly after 2 o’clock, Christian Flühr beat the old record. Many people at the bottom station of the ski-area celebrated the new record and were witnesses to Christian’s newest record. After a quick champagne reception, Flühr continued on and on. It was at the moment Christian beat the old record that it became clear that he could not reach his originally aim of 55.555 m in 24 hours. On Wednesday morning, 14th January 2009, the exhausted ski racer finished his world record attempt at around 8am. In total he completed 53.577 metres altitude in 24 hours. Christian Flühr said at the award ceremony: “This was no picnic. It was the hardest thing, that I have ever done on skis. I am tired and happy that the record was a success but now I just want to go to bed.” After a short breakfast the 12-times world record holder went straight to his hotel-room and was not seen until the following evening. Further information is available on Christian’s homepage www.cf-1.net.
Actual pictures: http://fotos.andreasschubert.de/v/extern/csw/55555/

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CF-1.net
Vicky Grimes
Press/Media ENG
vicky(at)cf-1.net

This release was published on openPR.