Speed Rules OK.
As with all sports, there are a minority who, for whatever reason feel they must push their chosen sport to the limit. We admire them, envy them, and sometimes curse them. We have to admit that, if it were not for the likes of such people, the skibike's evolution into the sophisticated machine it now is, would probably never have happened.
The Flying Kilometer.
This is, probably the most dangerous event that skibikers or for that matter, skiers, could participate in:
The procedure is simple, you find the steepest and longest piste you can, then smooth and compact the snow to as near perfection as possible, this is usually done by hand as the piste is too steep for mechanical piste preparation machines. When the surface is considered suitable, 2 electronic timing gates are added, set .5 of a kilometer apart, they are usually in the lower part of the prepared piste.
The object of the exercise is to skibike down the piste at maximum speed, and through the timing gates, the time spent between the gates is recorded and then converted into kilometers per hour (km/h) /miles per hour (mph). Should the participants be lucky enough to survive the first run, they then have to do it all again, the combined times of the 2 runs are then used to calculate the average speed attained for a kilometer.
The two main venues for this event are: Cervinia (Italy) and Les Arcs (France). We have seen the run in Cervinia and would not recommend walking down it on the summer grass, let alone skibike it on what is usually sheet ice, it is horrendously steep and long. We feel a more sensible way of descending it would be by parachute.
We believe the current world speed record holder for skiing The Flying Kilometer is: Jeffrey Hamilton (USA), who achieved a speed of 150.028 mph (241.448 km/h) in Vars (France) 1995.
You will notice there is a rather large gap between the skibike world speed record, 127.026 mph (204.430 km/h.) and the world speed record for skiing, 150.028 mph (241.448 km/h), this we feel sure, is down to ski dynamics, not the courage or stamina of the respective participants. The longer the skis the faster you go, as they say, and skiers at this level of the sport will use skis far longer than can be used on a skibike.
World Record Holders.
The current world record holder is: Romuald Bonvin (Switzerland), who in 2006 broke the1964 Eric Brenter record of 103.4 mph (166 km/h) by achieving a new world record speed of 127.026 mph (204.430 km/h) in the "Pro Mondial Championships" at Les Arcs (France).
World Skibike Titles.
To our knowledge the record holder in the women's section, for the most individual and combined skibike titles is: Petra Tschach Wlezcek (Austria), who gained 4 titles between 1988/1991.
In the men's section, Jacek Stalmach was 4x World Champion. In 1995 became a triple World Champion in Skibob. Slalom, Super ski and Combination. In the Giant Slalom he became joint-champion. He went on to defend that title the following year. Jacek now produces his own range of high quality skibikes.
Walter Kronseil (Saalbach/Hinterglemm Austria), gained 3 world titles between 1988/1990. For his achievements his sponsors (Keeda) presented him with a gold plated Skibike, we have seen the bike and it looks very impressive indeed, but it must be considerably heavier than the production version.
