Austrian Hannah Wiegele competes in a women’s FIS Continental Cup ski jumping event in Lake Placid on March 26, 2022. (Enterprise photo – Parker O’Brien)
LAKE PLACID – After two FIS Men’s Ski Jumping World Cups have already been held in this village, a Women’s Ski Jumping World Cup is now to be held in addition to the existing men’s competitions.
According to Anders Johnson, USA Nordic’s sports director for ski jumping and Nordic combined, the event was a top priority for USA Nordic and the state’s Olympic Regional Development Authority.
The event, to be held February 7-9, 2025, at the Olympic Jumping Complex, will be the first North American stop on the annual ski jumping tour, which debuted in December 2011. The Ski Jumping World Cup will continue to feature men’s events as well as a mixed team event.
“We have wanted women since we started hosting,” Said Darcy Norfolk, ORDA communications director. “We think it’s great for the sport and obviously great for women.”
According to Norfolk, the Ski Jumping World Cup will be part of the ORDA events calendar for 2024-25.
The calendar also includes the return of the FIS Freestyle Aerials World Cup to the Olympic Jumping Complex from 18 to 19 January 2025 and the IBSF Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Championships from 6 to 16 March 2025 to the Olympic Sports Complex.
Since two FIS Ski Jumping World Cups have been held in Lake Placid, these events have been considered a great success in the eyes of ORDA. The first event had a total of 15,000 spectators this weekend – mostly Polish-Americans.
In February, this number decreased slightly due to the results of the Polish athletes, but was still well above 10,000.
“You made it (in the first year),” said Johnson. “The second year was really about creating something unique. They proved they were capable of hosting a high-level professional event. They wanted to make sure it was a viable option to include the women’s program in it, and it is.”
Lake Placid is one of many stops on the World Cup tour, which begins in Lillehammer, Norway, on Nov. 22 with both disciplines. Johnson said about half of the FIS World Cup events feature both men’s and women’s disciplines.
“I think that is the strategic direction of the FIS in the future – that the men’s and women’s competitions coincide more often,” he said.
Although the United States has never hosted a women’s ski jumping World Cup, Johnson said it has been a pioneer in expanding women’s ski jumping, both in terms of the number of participants and the hosting of the competitions. Lake Placid even hosted the first-ever Continental Cup.
Although the village continues to host the Continental Cup in women’s ski jumping, these events are held on a much smaller scale than the World Cup, which has previously only been held in Europe and Asia.
“The United States has long been committed to promoting women’s ski jumping, but now, after a few years, we have fallen somewhat behind in this regard,” said Johnson. “Having women involved this year is not only great for our team, but also for the grassroots of development teams and clubs across the country. It allows our top athletes to see that they can have something, strive and compete in one day.”
While the World Cup teams are far from official, the current women’s national ski jumping team consists of Annika Belshaw of Steamboat Springs, Sandra Sproch of Chicago, Illinois, Estella Hassrick of Madison, Wisconsin, and Paige Jones, Sam Macuga and Josie Johnson of Park City, Utah.
The national men’s team includes Tate Frantz of Lake Placid, Casey Larson of Barrington, Illinois, Andrew Urlaub of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Steamboat Springs natives Erik Belshaw, Jason Colby and Decker Dean.
Johnson said the athletes were excited to compete on home soil, especially since most ski jumping competitions take place in Europe.
“The athletes of our national team, who have been doing this for many years and compete on the World Circuit, at World Championships and Olympic Games, do not have many opportunities to compete at home in front of their friends and family on their home hill,” he said.
The first major event on the ORDA calendar is the UCI Mountain Biking World Series from September 27 to 29 at the Olympic Sports Complex. The next major event is the Aerials World Cup.
Lake Placid has been a regular stop on the World Cup tour since 1985, but has not hosted an Aerials World Cup since 2019. On March 1 and 2, the village hosted a NorAm Aerials competition at the Olympic Jumping Complex. This event featured young aerials athletes – who do not compete on the World Cup tour – primarily from the United States and Canada.
Lake Placid is one of only eight venues to host the 2024/25 FIS Aerials World Cup. The event includes individual competitions for men and women as well as a mixed team competition.
