1938: Skiing

In the leading ski event of the year, World Ski Championships, held at Engelberg, Switzerland, March 5, the German team ranked first in number of points, with the French team second, and the Swiss team third. The United States placed last. The All-around Ski Champion of the Year was Emile Allais of France who was also all-around champion in 1937, the first person ever to hold the title two years in succession. In 1938 Allais won second in both the downhill and the slalom. James Couttet of France won the downhill championship over the two and one-half mile course, dropping 2,800 feet in the extraordinary speed of 3 min. 17 4/5 sec., the fastest time in the Federation's records. In the slalom run, Rudolph Rominger of Switzerland captured the title with the fast times of 1 min. 32.2 sec. and 1 min. 31.2 sec. in the two trials.

The World Jumping crown was won by Asbjorn Ruud of Norway with a score of 226.4 points in the events held Feb. 27 at Helsingfors, while Olaf Hoffsbrakken of Norway captured the combined downhill and jumping competition with a score of 432.6 points. On Feb. 28, Kalle Jalkanen of Finland won the world 50-kilometer title over the Helsingfors course with the time of 4 hr. 10 min. 44 sec. In the women's events, Miss Christel Cranz of Germany captured the world all-around skiing title.

In the International Open Skiing tournament held March 12-13 at Sun Valley, Idaho, Richard Durrance of Dartmouth placed second in the three and one-half mile downhill and the slalom runs, totaling 422 points to capture the International All-around ski title. Walter Prager of Switzerland who won the slalom race ranked second in point total, and Ulrich Beutter of Germany who won the three and one-half-mile 4,000-foot downhill drop placed third in point total.

The United States National Open Championships held at Stowe, Vt., March 5-6, were won by Ulrich Beutter who broke the record in the one and one-fourth mile with a 2,010 foot downhill run in the remarkable time of 2 min. 35 sec. Beutter also placed third in the slalom run giving him a 233 point total and the all-around National Championship. Richard Durrance of Dartmouth ranked second with a 250 point total. Walter Prager of Switzerland ranked third, and Richard Meservey of Dartmouth, who won the five-sixth of a mile with a 600 foot downhill run in the time of 55.8 sec. placed fourth. In the jumping events, held Feb. 19-20 at Brattleboro, Vt., Birger Ruud of Norway, famous the world over for his jumping, broke the hill record with a leap of 216 feet in perfect form. Ruud captured the United States National Open Jumping championship (based upon the best distance and form in two jumps) with a score of 229.8 points.

The Intercollegiate Union's twenty-eighth annual ski tournament, held at Dartmouth, Hanover, N. H., Feb. 12, was completely dominated by Dartmouth skiers. The Dartmouth team registered a perfect score of 500 points and captured every event except the ski-jump, winning the carnival for the fourth successive year. Richard Durrance of Dartmouth took first place in both the slalom and downhill runs, Howard Chivers of Dartmouth scored the highest in the combined jumping and langlauf events, and Nils Eie of Oslo, Norway won the jumping competition. The Munich team ranked second to Dartmouth with 451 points, and McGill placed third in the team competitions with 430.5 points.