Nordic’s Winter Olympic Season Kicks Off With U.S. Championships

The Olympic ski season will kick off at the Utah Olympic Park in Park City, Utah July 29-31 with USA Nordic’s U.S. Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Championships. Top athletes from around the country will compete for national titles and a tuneup event for the important year ahead that will be highlighted with the 2022 Olympic Winter Games next February in Beijing.

It will mark the first national championships in two years after last season’s pandemic delay. The U.S. Championships are part of the 22nd annual Jindro Mayer Springer Tournee, a weeklong ski jumping festival for athletes of all ages. This event is sponsored by the Utah Office of Tourism and the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation. It is produced by Park City Ski & Snowboard and the Utah Olympic Park, along with USA Nordic.

The U.S. Ski Jumping Championship on the HS100m hill is set for Friday, July 30. On Saturday, July 31, action will shift to the HS134m hill for both the U.S. Ski Jumping Championships and the U.S. Nordic Combined Championships.

“The U.S. Championships are a vital event for our athletes in preparation for the Olympic season ahead,” said USA Nordic Sport Director Jed Hinkley. “Winning a national title is always important, but this year athletes also need to be prepped for competition as they head into Olympic qualifying events on the Grand Prix and Continental Cup tours around the world this summer and fall.”

The weeklong Springer Tournee festival features ski jumping and nordic combined workshops, training sessions and competitions across the full range of jumps at the Utah Olympic Park. Athletes of all ages from around the country will come to Park City for the annual event, organized for USA Nordic by Park City Ski & Snowboard. 

This year’s Springer Tournee is dedicated to a pair of ski jumping officials who passed away in the past year. The event will honor former athlete and Olympic coach Corby Fisher, who died in April, 2020, along with legendary ski jumping official Chuck Heckert, who passed in November 2020.

This year’s U.S. Championships will include title events on both the HS100 and HS134 meter Olympic hills. The U.S. Nordic Combined Championship will be contested on the HS134m jump combined with a 10k roller ski event. The jumping events will be held on the Olympic hills at the Utah Olympic Park in Park City, with roller skiing finals for nordic combined at the Olympic venue at Soldier Hollow near Midway.

The last time the event was held, in July 2019, Kevin Bickner (Wauconda, Ill.) and Nina Lussi (Lake Placid, N.Y.) won jumping titles on the HS100m hill, with Taylor Fletcher (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) and Annika Malacinski (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) claiming nordic combined. There was no HS134m championship in the 2019-20 season.

The ski jumping championship on Friday will also kick off the 2021-22 US Cup series. The season-long tour will continue on through the on-snow season with events across the country.

USA NORDIC U.S. CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Friday, July 30 (US Cup)
7:00-9:30 a.m. - U.S. Ski Jumping Championships, HS100m, Utah Olympic Park

Saturday, July 31
8:00-11:30 a.m. - U.S. Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Championships, HS134m, Utah Olympic Park
5:30-7:00 p.m. - U.S. Nordic Combined Championships 10k roller ski, Soldier Hollow