A half century ago, Steamboat Springs skiing legend Sven Wiik mapped a 50-kilometer trail leading from Cable to Hayward, Wisconsin, setting the stage for the American Birkebeiner, a race that grew into America’s premiere ski marathon.

On Saturday, Oct. 4, Wiik and Marty Hall, the two men who helped design racecourses for the American Birkebeiner, were honored with life-sized bronze statues at the American Birkebeiner Trailhead.

Fundraising is underway for a third statue to honor the owner of the Telemark Lodge, Tony Wise, who spearheaded the effort to create the racecourse. That statue will be placed at the site of the former Telemark Lodge in Wisconsin. The lodge was razed in 2021, and the Birkebeiner Foundation began redeveloping the site now known as Mt. Telemark Village.

Sven’s wife Birthe, his daughter Birgitta Wiik-Lindgren and granddaughter Kajsa Wiik-Lindgren were there to honor Sven and the other the men behind the American Birkebeiner. The statues are accompanied by plaques highlighting the men’s contributions to the project along with a third plaque that chronicles the trail’s history.

“Marty (Hall) got the ball rolling of saying, ‘Let’s save history because we don’t want this to go away,'” said Kajsa Wiik-Lindgren. “In the meantime, Marty, unfortunately, has passed, but we’re doing our part to tell the story of the American Birkebeiner trail as well as the race, and we didn’t want that to get lost in the future because it is history that we felt should be saved.”

The statue of Sven Wiik now stands at the American Birkebeiner Trailhead at Mt. Telemark Village in Cable, Wisconsin. The statute recognizes the longtime Steamboat Springs resident, who coached cross country skiing at Western State College in Gunnison for 19 years before moving to Steamboat, where he owned and operated the Scandinavian Lodge.

Wiik mapped the original American Birkebeiner trail in 1975 and helped build it in 1976. He was honored along with Hall who was also honored for his contributions to the American Birkebeiner. Hall created the American Birkebeiner Skate Trail.

Kajsa Wiik-Lindgren said Wise chose Wiik, who was a well-established coach, to expand his operations at the Telemark Lodge in the early 1970s. Wiik was also called on to create the original course for the American Birkebeiner.

Wiik’s involvement with the American Birkebeiner, is just part of his legacy. Born in Solleftea, Sweden, Wiik competed in the demonstration sport of gymnastics in the 1948 Olympics in London and later coached the 1960 U.S. Olympic cross-country ski team in Squaw Valley, California, as well as the 1958 World Championship team. He was also the cross-country ski team coach at Western State College in Gunnison.

It’s a rich history that Wiik-Lindgren said the organizers of the American Birkebeiner Foundation feared might be lost. That’s why the Foundation approached Wiik’s family four years ago to see if the could lead the effort to raise money and place statues near the trailhead of the famous American Birkebeiner courses.

Hall, who passed away in February, was still alive when the effort began. Steamboat Springs lost Wiik in 2016 at the age of 95.

Together Wise, Wiik and Hall built the foundation for the American Birkebeiner, a race that drew 11,587 racers over multiple days in 2025.

Wiik’s family members said that close friends and family helped raise the money for the statue in just four months; but the process of having the statue created and crafted took a longer time. Multimedia artist Tom Holleran of Milwaukee created the forms which were cast at Vanguard Sculpture Services in Milwaukee.

The families of both men contributed to the designs by working with Holleran and Vanguard to describe how Wiik and Hall would be portrayed. Hall contributed to the design of his sculpture.

“I didn’t know how bronze statues were made, and since starting this I’ve learned a lot,” said Kajsa Wiik-Lindgren. “We’ve had the privilege of going back to the founder in Milwaukee several times to get everything right.”

Today the American Birkebeiner continues to draw thousands of athletes hoping to test their skills on the courses that Wise, Wiik and Hall built. While they are no longer with us, the tracks those men set in the snow are a part of their legacy.

“Sven and Marty were Nordic skiing pioneers in so many ways, one in the West, one in the East. They truly loved this then-fledgling sport in the U.S. and were committed — like Tony — to helping push cross country skiing forward,” said Jerome Poling, who wrote the text for the plaques, and authored a forthcoming book on Birkebeiner history.

“Help they did,” added Poling. “The (American) Birkebeiner is the third largest ski marathon in the world (growing) from 324 skiers in 1975 to more than 10,000 skiers. Without this iconic trail, the American Birkebeiner would not be the famous Birkie today.”