Fletcher and Malacinski U.S. national champions

The Utah Olympic Park was buzzing with excitement this weekend as athletes from across the nation flew for national titles in ski jumping and nordic combined.

Before getting into the jumping event day, the Nordic Combined skiers went head to head in a mass start race up the Utah Olympic Park road on roller skis. Taylor Fletcher (Steamboat Springs, CO) crossed the finish line first followed by Jared Shumate (Park City, Utah) and Stephen Schumann (Park City, Utah). This meant that Fletcher went into the ski jumping competition with a sizeable lead on Jared Shumate and his other teammates.

In the absence of Tara Geragthy-Moats, Annika Malacinski (Steamboat Springs, CO) won Friday night’s race ahead of Tess Arnone (Steamboat Springs, CO). Though she would head into today’s jump with an advantage, she still would need to fend off Tess Arnone on the jump hill for the title.

On the jumping hill, Grant Andrews and Annika Malacinski proved to be the best jumpers. Andrews flew 92.5 meters while Malacinski went to 70 meters, giving her her first national title. A remarkable feat, given the fact that Malacinski started the sport of Nordic Combined just under two years ago.

However, Malacinski is already looking forward. “First I want to better my technique, work on flying, and get faster at skiing,” she says. All of this is with one specific goal in mind. “The end goal is the Olympics,” she says. In five days Malacinski will head to Europe for a training camp, eager to keep improving at the torrid rate she has since starting the sport just two years ago.

While Malacinski’s long jump was enough to cement her title, Grant Andrew’s impressive jump couldn’t quite catapult him into the lead over Fletcher- though it was an exciting effort. Fletcher now has four national titles and continues to set the standard for the nordic combined team. “I’m getting older so it’s nice to show that I can still beat up on the younger guys a bit,” says Fletcher laughing. When asked if he was worried about any of his younger teammates he says, “I was definitely a little worried about Jared, he’s been progressing really well and Grant has been putting in good jumps.”

In the end, Fletcher’s speed on the course still keeps him unrivaled. Now Fletcher and the rest of the nordic combined team will take some time to recover before the Norwegian team arrives in Park City for a joint training camp. This will give the American athletes some exposure to the top competitors in the sport including World Champion Jarl Magnus Riiber.

Source: USA Nordic