Ski Jumping Trivia: Early North American Records As often happens when you get a bunch of old ski jumpers together, a discussion took place during our 2018 Hall of Fame weekend. It was about early world records for distance, and the fact that a few of them had been set in the USA. Here’s a quick summary, and we’ll provide more on this at a later date. The first reported US distance record was set in Red Wing in 1887 by Mikkel Hemmestvedt, a Norwegian immigrant. He flew 37 feet. The existing world record had been set in Norway the previous year at 85 feet. Hemmestvedt set a new world record in 1891, soaring 102 feet in Red Wing. His brother Torjus topped that by flying 103 feet in 1893, the second consecutive world record set in Red Wing. The world record was broken six more times until it reached 135 feet, set in Norway by Nils Gjestvang in 1902 (and that’s where it stood when the Wright Brothers made the first airplane flight of 120 feet in 1903). The record returned to the US midwest in 1909, at Chippewa Falls WI, when Oscar Gunderson flew 138 feet. That record was short-lived as records of 141 (Italy) & 148 (Switzerland) were set same year. It would return to the USA in 1911, when Anders Haugen flew 152 feet in Ironwood MI. Norway reclaimed the record in 1912, but in 1913 it was broken twice on the same day, again in Ironwood, by Ragnar Omtvedt, who flew158 and 169 feet. After the record was broken again in 1913 in Norway, and 1915 in Switzerland, Omtvedt brought it back to the USA with a distance of 192 feet at Steamboat Springs CO in 1916. Henry Hall then set new world records of 203 feet (1917) and 214 feet (1918) at Steamboat. The record remained in the USA for the next two years, broken by Haugen both times, but at Dillon CO, with distances of 213 feet (1919) and 214 feet (1920) . Hall would go on in 1921 to set a new record in Revelstoke BC, Canada, at 229 feet, ending quite a string of world records set in the US. Revelstoke would be the site of several more world records, the last set in 1933, a distance of 287 feet. That was the last world distance record to be set in North America. Read more about distance records, and see photos of ski jumping in bygone years, see Other Resources page via link in top navigation bar.

US Olympic Ski Jumpers 1924 - 2018 This list is a compilation of all American Olympic ski jumpers, with their year(s) of participation and finishing position. You can use controls at bottom to move between pages, and you can click column titles to change sort order. A similar scrolling list of all the American Ski Jumping HOF inductees can be found on our Hall of Fame page.

Future Hall of Famers Start Young, Learn Progressively It’s a common question … how do people start ski jumping? There’s a perception that ski jumpers are thrill- seekers, daredevils, or just plain crazy. We like to point out that as with many other sports, youngsters start on little jumps, and progress steadily as their skill and confidence increase, and as qualified coaches determine they’re ready to move to a slightly larger hill, which will permit somewhat longer flights. There’s a common misperception that jumping is about height. It’s not. It’s about flight, how FAR you can fly. Twin Cities Public Television produced an Almanac feature in February 2025 featuring youngsters at the Itasca Ski Club in Coleraine MN. CLICK BUTTON to view it. The video will pop up in a separate window. It runs about 4 ½ minutes. This facility has jumps ranging from very small to quite large, with several sizes in between. This club has produced Olympic jumpers and US National Champions in the past, and some of them are in our Hall of Fame. We think there’s a pretty good chance that one or more of the youngsters in the video will go on to compete at high levels, and may one day be inducted into our Hall of Fame, too!

As with many YouTube videos, you’ll have to wait through (or click to skip) a commercial before the video starts. This is what kids were doing back in the late 1940s if they lived near a ski jump and had big dreams of flying! This 20th Century Fox newsreel footage was filmed in Iron Mountain, Michigan, and one of the featured jumpers is 2009 ASJ HOF inductee Willie Erickson, at age 11 (he’s the one who identified the year for us!). Those old enough to remember newsreels at the movies will possibly recognize the voice of the narrator, Mel Allen, famed voice of the New York Yankees. The equipment has changed, the facilities look much different today, but ski jumpers still start young, on small hills, just like they did back then. Your webmaster, and many of the folks involved with the American Ski Jumping Hall of Fame, will remember scenes just like these. Younger athletes will have different pictures in their heads, but they will all remember one thing they have in common ... experiencing the thrill of flight and always wanting more!