Readers Respond: Record-setting Olympic Race; Jumping Equality; Thanks, Walter

No. 38’s Record-Setting Olympic Race

In the January-February issue (“Cortina’s Olympic Rewrite”), Toni Sailer is identified regarding the 1956 Winter Olympics, where he won gold in slalom, giant slalom and downhill. In the other photo on that page, the female racer in the starting gate at Cortina is Canadian Anne Heggtveit, No. 38 (photo above), who was still recovering from a leg injury that nearly ended her career. Her goal was to place no lower than her bib number—one she accomplished. Four years later, at the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics, Heggtveit would win the women’s slalom by 3.30 seconds over Betsy Snite, which remains the biggest gap in Olympic Alpine skiing history for women (almost, but not quite, bettered by Mikaela Shiffrin this year). 

Bob Soden
Montreal West, Quebec

Women Fight for Gender Equality in Nordic Combined

It took many decades and a lawsuit for women ski jumpers to be allowed to compete in the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. Women are now fighting another battle—to compete in Nordic combined at the 2030 Winter Olympics. Men have competed in the discipline since the 1924 Games. In 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to add
women’s Nordic combined to the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games. Nordic combined now
faces an existential threat. The IOC is considering removing the sport entirely from the 2030 Games. Earlier this year, Nordic Combined USA and Nordic Combined News launched a campaign to urge the IOC to include women’s Nordic combined in 2030 and save the men’s event. Search Nordic combined at change.org to sign a petition.

John W. Lundin
Seattle, Washington

Thanks, Walter!

I loved the piece on Bob Soden’s book about Jay Peak, Vermont (“Good Reads,” March-April 2026). I got certified by Walter Foeger in the Natur Teknik in 1972 at Jay Peak. Walter was the ski-school director at a small hill called Dutchess in Beacon, New York. I taught skiing there, mostly on weekends and after school. Every Saturday we had an instructors’ clinic with Walter. He would challenge us to a turn contest on the beginners’ slope. He was so good at the hop, hop Teknik that no one could make more turns than him. He could even hop, hop uphill. He ignited my enthusiasm for skiing such that I transferred from Fordham to the University of Vermont so I could ski more. I spent the first winter at Mad River Glen. I spent my senior year at Smuggler’s Notch. Then I moved to Sun Valley. I’ve been a ski bum here for 52 years. Thanks, Walter!

Paul Kenny
Sun Valley, Idaho