Record

Along a take-off level notched into the side of an Alpine peak near the Engadine Valley, Chiogna, crack skiman of Switzerland, moved out onto the run. It dropped away under his feet so sharply that watchers behind him could not see the whole course; part of it seemed almost perpendicular. On the run the packed icy snow had just enough surface to give Chiogna steering purchase as he shot downward on his special skis--the skis of a fairytale, fantastically long and heavy. Five electric control stations shunted into a 150-metre circuit measured his time. On the long skis Chiogna crouched in the Schneider position invented by Tyroleans who cannot use on their steep slopes the erect position of the Norwegians. A diminishing spot on the peakside, he shot down into the valley, while his passage automatically formed the connections that told how fast he was going. Turning, he hurried to the nearest official to find out what his time had been. His top speed was 81.82 mi. per hour--the fastest a man has ever traveled on earth unassisted. Comparative speeds: of a sprinter at top speed, 21 mi. per hour; of a good racehorse on a mile and a quarter course, 36 mi. per hour; average speed of a homing pigeon, 60 mi. per hour; of a dummy falling out of an airplane with an unopened parachute, 118 mi. per hour (maximum by Army tests necessitating a 1,200 ft. fall).

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