Colorado skier ends 5-year Nordic combined World Cup podium drought in Trondheim
Nordic Combined USA/Courtesy Photo
Steamboat Springs native and Winter Sports Club alum Alexa Brabec made history Friday.
The 21-year-old ended a five-year Nordic combined podium drought for United States athletes, taking third in the Individual Gundersen Normal Hill HS102/5km in Trondheim, Norway.
Norway’s Ida Marie Hagen and Germany’s Nathalie Armbruster finished No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. With a time of 14:45.3, Brabec was 13.8 seconds behind Hagen’s winning time. However, Brabec was 31.4 seconds ahead of the fourth-place finisher, Katharina Gruber of Austria.
“It was insane, and I was definitely nervous since this was the first event of the season,” Brabec said. “Podiuming at the World Cup was my goal for this year. I just did not expect it to come so soon in the season.”
Brabec started in fifth position, after jumping 94 meters, and began one minute 12 seconds behind the pole position. She quickly caught up to the top four, and pulled away with Armbruster. Hagen caught up, and the breakaway trio stuck together for most of the second lap. Finally, Hagen edged out Armbruster by 0.1 seconds.
Support Local Journalism
“My jump went really well this morning, and I was like ‘woah I can put this all together,'” Brabec explained. “I felt confident in my skiing and had a great race.”
Annika Malacinski, another SSWSC alum and Steamboat native, finished 17th, with a time of 17:37.6. American athlete, Tara Geraghty-Moats finished in 19th, with a time of 17:43.4.
The last American athlete to podium in a Nordic combined event was Geraghty-Moats, who won the Dec. 18, 2020 race in Ramsau, Austria. Coincidentally, it also marked Brabec’s World Cup debut.
Brabec finished top-10 in the World Cup overall standings last year. Her highest previous finish in an event was fourth on Feb. 2, in Seefeld, Austria. She is the first SSWSC women’s Nordic combined athlete to podium at a World Cup event.
The women will compete again on Saturday in the Individual Mass Start Normal Hill HS102/5km.
“I trained hard all summer, and today’s race shows that hard work pays off,” Brabec said. “I hope that I can bring the momentum into Saturday and this whole season.”
This story is from SteamboatPilot.com.
