Halvor Næs’ first major international ski jumping tournament came at the 1952 Oslo Olympics, where he finished joint-fourth in the normal hill with Germany’s Toni Brutscher. He competed at the same event at the 1960 Squaw Valley Games and placed 11th. In 1964 he was awarded the Holmenkollen Medal, Norway’s top medal for yearly skiing accomplishments, alongside Finland’s Veikko Kankkonen and Eero Mäntyranta, and Georg Thoma of Germany, all of whom were considerably younger than Næs. A member of IL Trysilgutten, he was national champion in the normal hill in 1957, and a bronze medalist in that event in 1960 and 1961.