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Place with History
Seefeld and its Arena
Tyrol is often reduced to the history of alpine skiing. However, skiing is just one part of a much broader sporting history in the region. Whether it’s alpine skiing, Nordic sports, winter hiking, ice skating, or even golf, tennis, and football – history, experience, and a pioneering spirit have long been intertwined in Seefeld. And at the heart of it all lies the area between Seekirchl and Arena365.
With Toni Seelos, who revolutionized alpine skiing with the development of the parallel turn, skiing was at the center of interest in the 1930s and 1940s even on Tyrol's high plateau. The annual traditional races for the Golden Ring were famous, and a victory held great significance. Nevertheless, other winter sports also began to gain prominence in Seefeld. The center of action was mostly the area between the Seekirchl and the ski jump.
Ski legend Toni Seelos skiing in the Seefeld region
The large ski jump was built as early as 1931. In 1933, some cross-country competitions of the Nordic Ski World Championships took place at the high plateau in Innsbruck for the first time. In 1934, the men's competitions of the Figure Skating European Championships were held at the ice rink in Seefeld. In 1949, the first Winter Deaflympics, the World Games for the Deaf, followed. The 1964 and 1976 Olympic Games, as well as the Nordic Ski World Championships in 1985 and 2019, speak for themselves along with many other major events.
Parallel to the major events, the region developed touristically. In the 1920s, guests came to benefit their health with sunshine, altitude, fresh mountain air, and in winter, also with cold and snow. "At first, the international audience traveled through the region by carriages, but over time, more and more guests made their way on foot,” recalls Walter Frenes, who led the tourism association from 1955 to 1997. In the 1950s, he was already aware that Tirol's high plateau would never be able to compete in the long term with alpine ski resorts like Arlberg. On the contrary, the strengths lay in the flat-alpine landscape, which offered abundant sunshine in the cold season. Ideal for winter hiking – at that time, a 35-kilometer-long network of trails was already prepared daily, and in the 1960s a winter hiking badge was introduced as an incentive.
Walter Frenes: Pioneer of Cross-Country Skiing in the Seefeld Region
In the lead-up to the Olympic Games 1964, Frenes traveled to Norway and discovered that everyone there, from toddlers to grandparents, was cross-country skiing through the forests. A completely new image, as cross-country skiing in the Alps at that time was only associated with sweating and collapsing after the finish line. Frenes embraced the Scandinavian idea, gave cross-country skiing a new image with the term "ski hiking", flattened the Seefeld trail network at the suggestion of his Norwegian colleagues, and offered years of free courses at Seekirchl. This was the starting signal for Seefeld's development into a cross-country skiing and (winter) hiking paradise.
By the way
Not only in winter did Tirol's high plateau shine. In summer, golf and tennis attracted illustrious guests. Later, training camps of large football teams were added. Over the past nearly 40 years, 150 different football teams from 30 countries have played with us – among them, for example, the German national team with successful coach Jogi Löw (2021) and top clubs such as Manchester City (2012) or FC Liverpool (2021).
You can currently find more about the sports history of the region here.
The section will be continuously expanded in the coming months.