Fritz Tschannen
Country  Switzerland
Born(1920-05-13)13 May 1920
Saint-Imier, Switzerland
Died23 March 2011(2011-03-23) (aged 90)
Val-de-Travers, Switzerland
Ski clubSC Adelboden
Personal best120 m (390 ft)
Planica, Yugoslavia
(15 March 1948)

Fritz Tschannen (13 May 1920 – 23 March 2011) was a Swiss accordion player and former ski jumper born in Saint-Imier, who competed at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz.[1] He received his first accordion at the age of five and gave his first solo concert three years later. By the age of 18 he was working as an accordion teacher,[2] in addition to ski jumping out of Skiclub Adelboden.

Career

He joined the Swiss National Team in 1945 and attended the Winter Olympic Games three years later, where he placed ninth in a field of forty-nine competitors in the men's normal hill event. The same year he became the Swiss national champion.[1] On 15 March 1948 he set a new world record distance with a jump of 120 metres (394 ft) at Bloudkova velikanka hill in Planica, Yugoslavia.[3][4]

Personal life

After his experience at the Olympics, Tschannen was invited to train with the United States team, but moved to Canada when he was denied a work visa because of the ongoing Korean War. He had a career with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from 1952–1954 as a musician and orchestrator, including a stint with his own French-language television show. He returned to his native country in 1964 and founded a musical school in the city of Bex. He worked as a conductor until 1999, when he retired to the municipality of Fleurier.[2] He died in Val-de-Travers in March 2011.[5]

Ski jumping world record

Date Hill Location Metres Feet
15 March 1948   Bloudkova velikanka K120 Planica, Yugoslavia 120 394

References

  1. ^ a b Gjerde, Arild; Jeroen Heijmans; Bill Mallon; Hilary Evans (June 2016). "Fritz Tschannen Bio, Stats, and Results". Olympics. Sports Reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
  2. ^ a b Reift, Marc. "Fritz Tschannen" (PDF). Editions Marc Reift. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  3. ^ "Lepi uspehi naših skakalcev v Planici". Slovenski poročevalec (in Slovenian). 17 March 1948. p. 3. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  4. ^ "Švicar Tschannen je s skokom 120 m postavil nov svetovni rekord..." Ljudska pravic (in Slovenian). 16 March 1948. p. 6. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  5. ^ "Tschannen, Fritz (1920-2011)". Dictionnaire de Jura. 30 April 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2020.


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