USA Nordic
Ski Jumping &
Nordic Combined
US Ski Team Nordic Sports
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Welcome to the History of American Ski Jumping
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 United States.
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
gnar Omtvedt, who sailed 158 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 of which was 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.
Use these controls to see more pages in this list
US Olympic Ski Jumpers 1924 - 2018 (click column title to sort)
SkiJumpingUSA.com
Skiing Heritage Magazine
International Skiing
History Association
National Ski Hall of Fame
Five Inducted in ASJ Hall of Fame Class of 2024
The 2024 inductees were honored at the Aug 10, 2024 HOF banquet in Red Wing MN:
•
Jim Balfanz – 1964 National Nordic Combined Champion, and from 1970-75 Served as
the Nordic Program Director for the United States Ski Team.
•
John Benzie – Two Time All American NCAA Ski Jumping Team in 1977-1978. For the
past 14 years, John’s been a Board Member of the American Ski Jumping Hall of Fame.
•
Patrick Gasienica – U.S. Olympic Ski Jumping Team at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.
•
Ronald Neal – US.National Ski Team 1968-72. US Team NCAA Ski Jumping,1970.
•
Tom Ricchio – Ski Jumper from the Racine Ski Jumping Club for over 60 years and for
the past 20+ years has dedicated his time in rebuilding and maintaining the sport in Iola,
Wisconsin. He hasw orked hard and continues to be the driving force to keep ski jumping
alive for the Iola ski jumpers.
The list at left 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 the link below to
view it. The video will pop up in a separate window. It runs about 4 ½ minutes.
https://www.tpt.org/almanac/video/ski-jumping-on-mount-itasca-lb2pgs/
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.
Learning to Ski Jump in 1947 ... 20th Century Fox Movie Newsreel Footage!
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!