Centenary of the First Slalom in Mürren (Switzerland)

Mürren (SUI) celebrated the first slalom: On Mon 17th Jan William Lunn (great grandson of Sir Arnold Lunn) and slalom queen Erika Hess (41 world titles) unveiled a tribute to Arnold who created the slalom, first raced in the village on 21st January 1921, 100 years ago this week.

 This week the village of Mürren – Switzerland’s car-free resort at the heart of the Bernese Oberland’s Jungfrau region – celebrates the centenary of the slalom. British ski racing pioneer Arnold Lunn set the course for ‘a turning race around flags on the practice slope at Mürren’ on January 21, 1922. Decided on time alone, over two runs with no marks for style, it marked a decisive break from previous style tests. It was the first modern slalom.  

To mark the occasion on Monday morning, Sir Arnold Lunn’s great grandson William Lunn, assisted by Swiss slalom queen Erika Hess (6x World Championship gold medallist, 4x World Cup Slalom champion and winner of 31 World Cup races), unveiled a memorial rock in tribute to Arnold on the original practice slope beside the Allmendhubel funicular (opened 1912).

A crowd of more than 100 gathered for the event, including Mr Bill Longhurst, Britain’s deputy ambassador in Bern; members of the Lunn family and the Kandahar Ski Club which Arnold Lunn founded in Mürren in 1924 to promote the new sport; and representatives of Lunn’s key allies in Austria and Switzerland, the Arlberg Ski Club and the Swiss Academic Ski Club.

William Lunn quoted his great grandfather’s explanation of the concept of the slalom – “The object of a turn is to get round a given obstacle losing as little speed as possible, therefore, a fast ugly turn is better than a slow pretty turn” – and commended his determined campaign for the acceptance of Alpine racing, despite opposition from Scandinavian skiers who considered the British too cowardly to jump and too weak to langlauf. He also paid tribute to the village and people of Mürren for hosting this event and for their warm welcome and support down the generations.

Erika Hess expressed her delight at visiting Mürren for the first time, and described slalom as ‘the starting point for all racers and the most beautiful discipline.

Messages of congratulation came from all over the ski racing world, including salutations from slalom legend Ingemar Stenmark and current World Cup slalom stars and Kandahar members Dave Ryding and Daniel Yule, who came second in Sunday’s Lauberhorn World Cup Slalom at Wengen: