University of Vermont Athletics

Petter Kongsli 1975 - Skiing

The evidence bears out that no other ski jumper ever had the impact on college skiing that Petter Kongsli, a 1985 Athletic Hall of Fame inductee, did. Not only the best in UVM history, he proved to be a champion on the national and international circuits as well.

An All-American one year, four times All-East and three times a captain at Vermont, Kongsli never lost a carnival ski jumping event in four years of competing for the Catamounts. He also set hill jumping records at every Eastern site and finished second in the NCAA Championships at Middlebury College in 1973, when he was All-American. Also in 1973, Kongsli had the longest jumps at the prestigious Holmenkollen international meet - where the world's elite jumpers meet every year - in his hometown of Oslo, Norway.

He was a member of the Norwegian National "A" team. That same year, his most successful, Kongsli won the Ski Flying Championship at Ironwook, Mich., beating, among others, two Olympic gold medallists. And he set a North American distance record of 142 meters at the Iron Mountain international competition. While at UVM, Kongsli captured the U.S. Central Championships and the U.S. Eastern Championships.

He culminated his competitive career in 1979 by winning a national championship, at 90 meters, in Norway, jumping against some of the top Norwegian skiers. Kongsli's athletic legacy does not stop at ski jumping. He was a three-time rowing champion in his home country as well as a top amateur soccer player. While he was earning his master's degree in architecture from the University of Idaho (1978), Kongsli played two seasons on the Northwest U.S. amateur champion soccer team.

Putting his studies to work while an undergraduate, Kongsli designed and helped build UVM's ski jump in Williston and Gunstock's jump in Guilford, N.H. Kongsli won UVM's Semans Trophy in 1975, was a Gold Key member, and served as a student representative on the Athletic Council.