Tatranská Lomnica – 14th March 2022 The piste in Lomnické sedlo (saddle) in the High Tatras is proud of a new speed record. Michal Bekeš from Ždiar reached the speed of 174.57km/h on his skis.
Michal Bekeš has been doing speed skating since 2015. It was his first record (160.79 km/h) on this highest located piste in Slovakia that opened the door to the world of the fastest skiers on the planet for him. Michal has been participating in World Championships, World Cup races and extreme Speed Masters races in the Speedski S1 discipline, where his maximum speed was 223.46 km/h.
This Monday, Lomnické sedlo (saddle) welcomed him with sunny weather and the temperature of -10°C. The first practice run with the speed of over 164 km/h on the closed piste indicated that the values of today’s record would be interesting. And that proved to be true very soon when the speedometer showed the record speed of 174.57 km/h. Michal was satisfied. “I thought that any speed close to 170 km/h would be great, but the conditions were perfect today, the snow was fast, the wind was not very strong, the piste was perfectly groomed. I am absolutely satisfied because I really didn’t expect 174,” confessed the Slovak record holder in the finish area. However, he doesn’t take the record value for anything final. “I am a local, have top conditions in this resort so the plan is to move the record higher one day. This piste doesn’t have limits. If there is enough snow, I can imagine attacking even 200 km/h. I need a sufficient layer of snow and a wider finish area at the bottom to have enough room to stop,” added Michal Bekeš.
Michal says that the speed record on the highest located piste in Slovakia is the result of year-round systematic preparation. “I train all year round, both physically and mentally. This piste is very difficult mainly for the head. When you get up there, you might have a problem to ski down. Not everybody has what it takes. One needs to be a good skier, of course, because the speed is high. I work at height, do climbing, can cope with fear so the speed is no problem for me,” revealed Michal.
The Slovak record holder didn’t forget to thank the men who prepared the piste. “I am grateful for every single training opportunity because the guys here do their best to groom the piste for me so that I train what I need. The fact that I have reached high speeds on this steep piste gives me a lot of comfort to ski on other pistes in the world. These guys take great pains to make it safe for me. The piste is difficult, but they are able to make it so smooth that I can train and ski safely,” added Michal.
“To have a good ´dream team´ and an experienced team is most important. Some of our guys have 30 years of experience, they know exactly how to do it. And this combined with top technology results in a perfectly groomed piste not only for regular skiers but also for records like this,” said Roman Dubský from the Vysoké Tatry resort about the recipe for piste preparation.
There is more than 150 cm of natural snow on the piste in Lomnické sedlo these days and it is the most challenging piste in the High Tatras. It begins as high as 2,190 metres above sea level, is 1,240 metres long and hosted World Cup races in the past.
