Sigmund Ruud was the elder of the famous Ruud brothers. True trailblazers in the era when skiing was becoming so very popular, the world has not often seen a pair of athletes to match the Ruud brothers. The announcement of their participation at a tournament virtually guaranteed a great crowd and a spectacular event.

Sigmund Ruud was born on December 30, 1907 in Norway. He was the elder of the famous Ruud brothers who won the fancy of the American Ski public and press just prior to World War II. The American Ski Annual of 1938-39 in a burst of extreme enthusiasm, proclaimed: of all the foreign skiers who participated in tournaments during the 1937 and 1938 seasons, Birger and Sigmund Ruud, no doubt, deserve credit for having done more toward developing, promoting and stimulating the American people to be ski minded than any other two skiers in the world. Perhaps exaggerated and overstated, it does not alter the fact that the Ruud brothers were top skiers and deserving of at least part of the accolade.

Sigmund won the1926 junior ski jump at the Holmenkollen and he placed in three World Championship tournaments: first in 1929, third in 1930 and eighth in 1931. He was the runner up in the 1928 Olympics at St. Moritz, Switzerland, winning the silver medal. Sigmund also set World Distance records of 81.5 meters in 1931 and 87.5 twice in 1933 and was the National Ski Association’s National Jumping Champion in 1937, winning the title at Ecker Hill.

Touring North America, Sigmund entered every tournament he could possibly make, placing first or second in nearly eighty percent of them.

Sigmund Ruud chaired the F.I.S. Jumping Committee for more the fifteen years and, for his spectacular record and service to skiing, he was elected to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame on 1970, along with his brother, Birger.