Mikkjel Hemmestveit

Norwegian American Nordic skier

Mikkjel Hemmestveit (6 March 1863 – 22 April 1957), was a Norwegian American Nordic skier who shared the Holmenkollen medal with his brother, Torjus Hemmestveit in 1928.

Mikkjel Hemmestveit was born on the Hemmingstveit farm in the parish of Kviteseid in Telemark county, Norway. Both Torjus and Mikkjel Hemmestveit were from the village of Morgedal, whose most famous resident was Sondre Norheim, commonly referred to as the father of modern skiing. The brothers had a key role in the development of Telemark skiing by creating the world's first skiing school in 1881 at Christiania, Norway (now Oslo). The brothers would emigrate to the United States, 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 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 distance at 102 feet (31 m) on McSorley Hill in Red Wing, Minnesota, United States. Mikkel Hemmestveit returned to Morgedal in 1894 while his brother Torjus remained in Minnesota. In 1928 they both were awarded the Holmenkollen medal (Holmenkollmedaljen).

DateHillLocationMetresFeet9 March 1891   McSorley Hill Red Wing, United States31.1102

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