Broad Jump

In Washington's snowy Cascade Mountains last week, 14 crack ski jumpers mounted to the top of the runway at Olympian Hill to try for the Seattle Ski Club tournament championship. One by one they plummeted down the slide, took off into the cold air in the most spectacular sight known to sport. A couple of them landed as much as 285 feet down the slope. When it came his turn, slender, nervous Sverre Kongsgaard of Norway eyed the crowd of 4,000 far below. Then he shoved off.

Kongsgaard relaxed as he picked up speed ("When the wind starts to bite, I am free from tension"), gave a strong kick as he reached the takeoff. A few seconds later the crowd let out a roar. His 290-ft. jump was 60.96 feet short of the world mark, but it had set a new U.S. (and North American) record, breaking the old one of 289 feet set by his late countryman, Torger Tokle* at Iron Mountain, Mich, seven years ago.

Nobody was more surprised than Kongsgaard himself. Although born in Kongsberg, Norway, birthplace of a long list of ski-jumping greats (including the Ruud brothers, Birger, Sigmund and Asbjoern), the 6-ft.-11 Norwegian does not take his skiing with professional seriousness. At 26, he is more anxious about getting good engineering marks at the University of Idaho, where he is an exchange student. Says Sverre, shrugging matter-of-factly: "Some things we must do; I have to study. Skiing is a diversion."

Because form as well as distance counts in a ski jump, Record-Smasher Kongsgaard (whose landings were shaky) finished third, after two fellow Norwegians, in the Seattle Ski Club tournament. He took that in stride along with his new record. Said Sverre Kongsgaard: "I made a good jump. It may never happen again."

* Who was killed in action in Italy, while serving as a ski trooper in the 10th U.S. Mountain Infantry Division (TIME, March 26, 1945).

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