It’s been a strong start to the new year here at USA Nordic, which was kicked off with an extremely successful event at Olympic Trials on December 30 and 31 in Park City, UT. The Olympic Park hosted over 11,000 spectators over the course of two days of competition, culminating on a bluebird day for men’s and women’s ski jumping events. Titles were earned by Bryan Fletcher (NC), Michael Glasder (SJ), and Sarah Hendrickson (SJ). Congratulations to Bryan, Michael, and Sarah for being the first members of the 2018 Olympic team in each of their respective disciplines.
Following the Trials, the Men’s World Cup jumping team immediately left for Europe to return to competition. The Men’s Nordic Combined World Cup team had an unexpected weekend off following a cancellation in Otepaa, Estonia, while the Nordic Combined COC skiers were busy with another “triple” weekend in Germany. And the Women’s World Cup jumping team headed in the opposite direction to Japan for five competitions spread over two weekends. There is still one weekend of competitions left for all of our USA Nordic athletes to try to clinch their spots to Korea, so good luck to all of our athletes. We’re proud of all that you have accomplished so far!
While our athletes are busy on the road, representing USA Nordic, we haven’t been resting on our laurels in the office.
USA Nordic has hit the road for the next month to follow the Five Hills tournaments in the Midwest, which are part of our US Cup series. These tournaments have such great history and tradition, so we’re excited to bring them all to you live. Dan England, Mike Johns, Tom Bickner, and Alex Glueck will be bringing you all the action on our Livestream channel and on Facebook, as we drive all over the Central Division. We would like to extend a huge thank you to all of the clubs and their volunteers who will be helping us with this endeavor. We are a family and we couldn’t do what we do without all the support that we get across the country. Here’s our schedule if you want to catch up with us on the road:
Jan 19-20, Eau Claire, WI
Jan 23, Ishpeming, MI
Jan 27-28, Fox River Grove, IL
Jan 30, Minneapolis, MN
Feb 2-3, Westby, WI
Feb 10-11, Iron Mountain, MI
Feb 17-18, Brattleboro, VT
Feb 20, Lake Placid, NY
Don’t forget to follow us on social media. We plan on posting as much as possible and if you’re at one of the events, look for Alex at the USA Nordic tents. He’ll be slinging swag, including awesome new additions from some of our newest sponsors, including Nike and Jaybird headphones!
Finally, we all know what’s coming up next month and we couldn’t be more excited to support our athletes as they represent all of us in the upcoming Games. But we also want to remind our fans and our athletes that, no matter what happens, this journey that we’re on is much bigger than two weeks in February. We’re proud to support all of our athletes, at all levels, and we will continue to work hard on our end to be the organization that you all deserve.
Go USA Nordic!