Nels Nelsen

Nels Nelsen
Nels Nelsen in 1925
Country	Canada
Born	(1894-06-03)3 June 1894 Salangen, Norway
Died	3 June 1943(1943-06-03) (aged 49) Field, BC, Canada
Personal best	73.1 m (240 ft) Revelstoke, Canada (4 February 1925)

Nels Nelsen (3 June 1894 – 3 June 1943), born Nils Johan Nilsen and sometimes referred to as Nels Nelson, was a Norwegian-born Canadian ski jumper active between 1916 and 1932. Later he was ski jumping organizer. He was among the world's best ski jumpers during the 1920s, and held the world record of 73 meters from 1925 to 1930. He was born in Salangen Municipality in Troms county, Norway. He moved with his family to Revelstoke, British Columbia, in 1912. Credited with bringing the sport of ski jumping to Canada, he made his debut on the nearby Big Hill in 1915.^[1] He competed throughout Canada and the United States, and became Canadian champion five times. Despite holding the world record at the time, he was not allowed to participate in the 1928 Winter Olympics because the officials did not find it suitable for him to have to work his way to Switzerland.

Nelsen worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway, and moved to North Vancouver, British Columbia, where he raised a family. Nelsen lost his hand in a hunting accident in 1933, and was forced to retire as a ski jumper. He continued as an organizer, and was among other things president of the Western Canada Amateur Ski Association and later vice-president of the Canadian Amateur Ski Association. In 1948, after Big Hill had been expanded, it was renamed Nels Nelsen Hill. Nelsen was inscribed in the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1971 and the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame in 1983.