Mikkjel Hemmestveit (6 March 1863 – 22 April 1957), was a

Norwegian-American Norwegian Americans ( nb, Norskamerikanere, nn, Norskamerikanarar) are Americans with ancestral roots in Norway. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the latter half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the ...

Nordic skier who shared the Holmenkollen medal with his brother, Torjus Hemmestveit in 1928.

Biography

Mikkjel Hemmestveit was born on the Hemmingstveit farm in the parish of

Kviteseid Kviteseid is a municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Upper Telemark and Vest-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kviteseid. The parish ...

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

. Both Torjus and Mikkjel Hemmestveit were from the village of

Morgedal Morgedal is a village in the municipality of Kviteseid, Telemark, Norway. The village gas been described as the "cradle of skiing". Morgedal, Norway is a village whose most famous residents were Sondre Norheim, known to be the father of modern s ...

, whose most famous resident was

Sondre Norheim Sondre Norheim, born Sondre Auverson, (10 June 1825 – 9 March 1897) was a Norwegian skier and pioneer of modern skiing. Sondre Norheim is known as the father of Telemark skiing. Background Sondre Auverson was born at Øverbø, a little ...

, commonly referred to as the father of modern skiing. The brothers had a key role in the development of

Telemark skiing Telemark skiing is a skiing technique that combines elements of Alpine and Nordic skiing, using the rear foot to keep balance while pushing on the front foot to create a carving turn on downhill skis with toe-only bindings. Telemark skiing is n ...

by creating the world's first skiing school in 1881 at

Christiania, Norway Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population o ...

(now

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

). The brothers would emigrate to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, Mikkel (1886) and Torjus (1888), and ran several ski schools in their new country. In the United States, they changed the spelling of their surname to Hemmestvedt and Mikkjel became Mikkel. The first actual recorded tournament in the Midwest took place in St. Paul, Minnesota on January 25, 1887. Hemmestveit and his brother Torjus took the sport south to

Red Wing, Minnesota Red Wing is a city in Goodhue County, Minnesota, Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States, along the upper Mississippi River. The population was 16,547 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Goodhue County. This ...

with an exhibition tourney on February 8, 1887, sponsored by the Aurora Ski Club of Red Wing. The first recorded North American distance record was set in 1887 by Mikkel Hemmestvedt when he flew 37 feet at Red Wing, Minnesota. They became members and competed in the Aurora Ski Club. On 9 March 1891, he set the ski jumping

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

distance at 102 feet (31.1 metres) on

McSorley Hill McSorley Hill (also: Bush Street Ski Jump) was a K30 ski jumping hill located in Red Wing, Minnesota, United States, opened in 1887. History On 8 February 1887, a ski jumping hill owned by Aurora Ski Club opened with ski jumping competition of ...

in Red Wing,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. Mikkel Hemmestveit returned to Morgedal in 1894 while his brother Torjus remained in Minnesota. In 1928 they both were awarded the Holmenkollen medal (''Holmenkollmedaljen'').

Ski jumping world record

References

Other sources

*Frederick L. Johnson (2004) ''Sky Crashers: A History of the Aurora Ski Club'' (Goodhue County Historical Society)

External links

Holmenkollen medalists
- click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file
Aurora Ski Club Members
1863 births 1957 deaths People from Kviteseid Norwegian emigrants to the United States Holmenkollen medalists Sportspeople from Vestfold og Telemark {{Norway-wintersport-bio-stub