Soaring on Skis

A jump on skis is not merely a leap into space. It might also be called flying without a motor, where the jumper understands completely how to utilize the air resistance so as to float, so to speak, on the "press" of the air . . . The sensation lasts only a few seconds, but it feels like an eternity.

--from Ski Jumping, by Sigmund Ruud

Norway's Jon Riisnaes is not quite so articulate about his ski jumping as his fellow countryman Sigmund Ruud, former world champion; but at the young jumping age of 21, Riisnaes, a whisper-thin (6 ft. 1 in., 135 Ibs.), blue-eyed blond, is just as enthusiastic, and fast becoming as proficient as the famed Ruud brothers.*Last week, standing atop the towering (556 ft.) slide at Iron Mountain, Mich., Jon had "a little of what you call butterflies in the stomach." An exchange student (engineering) at the University of New Hampshire this year, he also had a tight-lipped determination to win the North American championship.

A crowd of some 30,000 watched intently as, one after another, the field of 100-odd jumpers came soaring off the takeoff. Some of the jumpers windmilled their arms awkwardly in trying to keep balance (and lost form points); others misjudged their take-off timing (and lost distance points). Some of the best of them came croppers: Norwegian-born Art Tokle took a bad fall on his second jump, wound up eleventh; Denver University's Billy Olson, co-holder of the hill record (297 ft.), also spilled out of the running. The crowd saved its biggest cheers for U.S. Olympian Art Devlin--and Riisnaes.

How did Riisnaes jump? "Well, I 'ran' about ten feet down the slide to get going. Then I sat back on my skis and relaxed. That's the important thing. All the time down I concentrated on the end of the slide. I kept my weight on the balls of my feet, my arms resting on my knees. Just before I got to the end of the slide I rolled a little forward, put my arms to my sides and kind of half dove off."

How did it feel soaring almost 300 ft. at 60 m.p.h.? "I didn't think about anything in the air except keeping my skis together and keeping my balance. I went as far as I could, then when I felt myself start to come down, I knew it was time to land. When I hit, I leaned forward a bit to hold the skis under me."

Doing it just that way, with flawless form and breathtaking distance, Riisnaes soared 290 ft., longest of the championship and 3 ft. better than Devlin, on his first jump, wound up with 214.0 points to Runner-Up Devlin's 204.7. The new North American champion began his jumping career at the age of five in Norway, where he has since made a modest name in that land of giant jumpers. Riisnaes, who beat the best in the U.S., is currently just the junior champion of Norway.

A 19-year-old Dartmouth University sophomore named Ralph Miller (TIME, Feb. 16) took the measure of Europe's best skiers by winning the North American downhill title at Stowe, Vt. Cutting corners and slamming down the schusses at top speed, Miller ran the precipitous Nose Dive trail in a record 1:57.7, averaging 53.5 m.p.h. for the run. Runners-up: Austria's Olympic Slalom Champion Othmar Schneider (1:58.4) and Norway's Olympic Giant Slalom Champion Stein Eriksen (1:59.5). The women's winner, downhill and slalom: Olympic Champion Andrea Mead Lawrence, racing for the first time since the birth of her first child (a son, Cortland Bradford) two months ago.

*In all, Norway's Ruud brothers--Sigmund, Birger and Asbjoern--won five world and two Olympic jumping titles.

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