Speed skiers are professionals even though they went amateur when the FIS was the organizing body for the 1992 Olympic Speed Skiing Demonstrations, and returned to professional status after the Olympics. Perhaps the biggest change in the sport is the grooming of the speed track. Since the early 1990s grooming machines have been winched down the speed track, making the track safer and faster. Franz Weber says winch-grooming definitely increased average speed—the record has risen 10 mph in the 1990s.

1874 La Porte
1930 St. Moritz
1931 St. Moritz
1947 Cervinia
1955 Portillo
1959 Sestriere
1960 Cervinia
1963 Cervinia
1963 Portillo
1963 Portillo
1964 Cervinia
1970 Cervinia
1971 Cervinia
1973 Cervinia
1974 Cervinia
1975 Cervinia
1976 Cervinia
1977 Portillo
1978 Portillo
1982 Les Arcs
1982 Silverton
1983 Silverton
1984 Les Arcs
1987 Les Arcs
1987 Portillo
1987 Les Arcs
1992 Les Arcs
1993 Les Arcs
1995 Vars
1997 Vars
1999 Les Arcs

WOMEN
Date Location

1867 La Porte
1963 Cervinia
1965 Cervinia
1978 Portillo
1980 Silverton
1982 Les Arcs
1982 Silverton
1983 Les Arcs
1983 Silverton
1984 Les Arcs
1987 Les Arcs
1988 Les Arcs
1992 Les Arcs
1995 Vars
1997 Les Arcs
1997 Vars

Tommy Todd
Gustav Lantschner
Leo Gasperl
Zeno Colo
Ralph Miller
Edoardo Agraiter
Luigi DiMarco
Alfred Plangger
Dick Dorworth
C.B. Vaughn
Luigi DiMarco
Morishita Masaru
Alessandro Casse
Alessandro Casse
Steve McKinney
Pino Meynet
Tom Simons
Steve McKinney
Steve McKinney
Steve McKinney
Franz Weber
Franz Weber
Franz Weber
Graham Wilkie
Michel Prufer
Michel Prufer
Michel Prufer
Philippe Goitschel
Jeff Hamilton
Philippe Billy
Harry Egger

.
Skier

Lottie Joy
Emanuel Spreafico
Kristl Staffner
Cathy Breyton
Cathy Breyton
Annie Breyton
Marti Martin-Kuntz
Marti Martin-Kuntz
Kirsten Culver
Melissa Dimino
Jacquelyn Blanc
Torja Mulari
Torja Mulari
Karin DuBouchet
Karin DuBouchet
Carolyn Curl

87.7 / 141.00 1
65.588 / 105.675
84.692 / 136.600
98.761 / 159.292
108.7 / 175.402
99.307 / 160.174
101.224 / 163.265
104.298 / 168.224
105.285 / 71.428
105.285 / 71.428
108.349 / 174.757
113.703 / 183.392
114,168 / 184.143
114.226 / 184.237
117.473 / 189.473
120.518 / 194.384
120.583 / 194.489
121.024 / 195.200
124.137 / 200.222
124.762 / 201.230
125.959 / 203.160
129.017 / 208.092
129.540 / 208.937
131.578 / 212.514
134.544 / 217.008
138.719 / 223.741
142.165 / 229.299
144.460 / 233.000
150.400 / 242.000
150.660 / 243.000
153.760 / 248.000

.
mph / kph

48.9 / 79.003
78.82 / 127.138
88.802 / 143.230
103.300 / 165.000
105.566 / 170.268
108,718 / 175.353
111.144 / 179.104
118.033 / 190.375
120.515 / 194.384
124.483 / 200.780
124.623 / 201.005
132.936 / 214.413
135.931 / 219.245
139.50 / 225.000
141.984 / 229.008
143.649 / 231.660

Notes:
1. Tommy Todd’s record is unofficial, even assuming stop watches good to a tenth of a second were used to time him. But his record certainly was accepted by the California speed skiing crowd.

2. Ralph Miller’s 108.7 mph was timed by Emile Allais with a stop watch good to a tenth of a second. One tenth of a second’s difference over 50 meters, the length of the speed trap, equals close to 18 mph; the possibility is inescapable that Miller was not the first to go over 100 mph on skis. In this case, Luigi Dimarco has the honor. But Miller’s run inspired Dick Dorworth and C.B. Vaughan to break the record at Portillo using electic-eye timing, and that in turn attracted future record-holder Steve McKinney to the sport.

3. Unofficial, to say the least. Ms. Joy’s time but not the length of her run was reported in The Mountain Messenger. The figure given assumes she ran the men’s 1,230-foot speed track.