Ski Jumping in the Eastern USA -- Elite Ski Jumpers

ski jumping
in the
eastern u.s.a.

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EASTERN SKI JUMPING & NORDIC COMBINED FOUNDATION, INC.
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Meet the Athletes: Ski Jumpers in the Eastern USA

Elite Ski Jumpers

Nordic Combined skier Bill Demong (left -- b. March 29, 1980) of Vermontville NY (near Saranac Lake) enjoyed a spectacular season in 2006-07. Following a pair of fourth place finishes in World Cup events in which Bill lost frantic sprints for the bronze medal, he scored a silver medal at the World Championships in Sapporo, Japan (left). The best Combiners in the world then traveled to Lahti, Finland, where Bill won the next World Cup event. He capped a career season with a bronze medal in the season-closing event at the Holmenkollen in Oslo, Norway!
Bill's 2007-2008 season was even better! He reached the podium at six of the twenty World Cup events and finished third in the season-long World Cup standings, the highest ever placement by an American Nordic Combined competitor. See a review of Bill's competition season.
In 1998, seventeen year old Bill Demong skied his way onto the U.S Team for the Nagano Olympics where he made some waves with his long jumps. In 1999, he moved to Steamboat Springs, CO and was named to the U.S. Nordic Combined Team. In the next few seasons, he won consecutive National Nordic Combined championships and won the U.S. National Championship Large Hill ski jumping crown. He won a World Cup gold medal and skied well in the Salt Lake Olympics. A freak swimming accident put Bill on the sidelines for two seasons, during which he worked on his cross country skiing and recommitted himself to his sport. In January 2005, he got back on track, finishing in the top 10-15 in World cup competition. At the 2005 World Championships, Bill finished 12th (top American) in the traditional 15 km Gundersen event, and 19th in the NC sprint. In 2006, Bill's skiing was good, though not spectacular, with two World Cup top-ten finishes and fifteenth at the Olympic Games. He now lives in Park City, Utah, but wears "Lake Placid" on his hat and still calls Vermontville his home.

For several years, Willy Graves (left, b. Sept. 10, 1986) of Putney Vermont was the only athlete to wear the colors of the Brattleboro Outing Club. He had a spectacular season in 2004-05, winning early competitions in both Lake Placid and Ishpeming against all comers. Later in the season, he won both the special jump and the nordic combined competitions at the initial North American Junior Championships in Lake Placid.
In 2006, Willy was chosen to represent the U.S. at the World Junior Championships in Kranj, Slovenia, and later he was named to the U.S. Nordic Combined Team.

The Andover Air Force Over the last couple of decades, the program of ski jumping and Nordic Combined skiing run by Tim Norris at Proctor Academy's blackwater Ski Area has poured out a continuing stream of excellent athletes. Among the first of these were Jed Hinkley and Fairall, Lamb and Freire in 2007

Carl VanLoan (see below), and more recently Chris Lamb, Peter Freire and Nick Fairall.
In 2006 Freire and Fairall joined Willy Graves (above) and others traveling to Kranj, Slovenia for the World Junior Championships. The next year, Chris Lamb joined Fairall and Freire at the 2007 WJC in Tarvisio, Italy. (The jumping was relocated to Planica, Slovenia because Tarvisio lacked snow.) Nick Fairall was the top junior jumper at the 2007 National Championships in Steamboat Springs.

After the 2007 ski season, the last two members of the U.S. Ski Jumping Team, Alan Alborn and Clint Jones, retired from competitive jumping, and soon the USST terminated its men's ski jumping program.
Nick Fairall A small group of interested people, spearheaded by Alan Johnson, began a new initiative to fill the gap. The new program, which has been nicknamed Project X, is independent from USST & USSA and has gathered its own funding, hired Jochen Danneberg as coach and named six young jumpers as charter members, including Chris Lamb (right, b. June 21, 1989) and Nick Fairall (left, b. July 6, 1989).

Andrew Bliss In 2009 Project X took a several new skiers to Europe for training and competition, including Andrew Bliss (left) of Lake Placid and Peter Frenette (right) of Saranac Lake.
During the winter season of 2009, our top two U.S. ski jumpers Anders Johnson of Park City and Nick Fairall of Andover NH, both went ski flying and both scored World Cup Points. [ Read Nick's thoughts on flying ]

Chris Lamb also went ski flying as a forejumper. [ Read his report ] And Chris won the 2009 Canadian Championships on the new Olympic jumps at Whistler, BC. Then when Anders Johnson injured his knee with an awkward landing (he didn't fall), Fairall continued his excellent jumping but was joined, and even eclipsed, by a neighbor from down the road in Lebanon, NH.

Nick Alexander

National Champion for 2009-2010 Nick Alexander (b. Aug 24, 1988) grew up in Lebanon NH where he learned to ski, and then to ski jump, at Storrs Hill in the junior skiing program of the Lebanon Outing Club. Always showing great potential, Nick stepped up his jumping when he spent the summer of 2007 training in Austria. He returned to Austria in 2008 and in the summer of 2009, as a member of Project X, Nick became the top U.S. ski jumper, scoring high placements in international competitions. He capped a stellar summer season by winning the U.S. National Championsips in October in Lake Placid!

Evan Bliss (left, b. Mar. 5, 1987), who grew up in Lake Placid but moved to Utah, joined the Project X team during its first year.
In 2009 Evan moved back to Lake Placid and has de-emphasized his training. However, he has not left the sport as he still skis a little, and very well at that, and he is coaching for the NYSEF program at the Lake Placid ski jumps.

Carl VanLoan (right, b. Aug. 20, 1980) of Webster NH was a member of the U.S. Nordic Combined Ski Team for several years, where he alternated between the World Cup and World Cup B circuits. He qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in both 2002 (Salt Lake City) and 2006 (Torino), and joined Bill Demong and three others at the 2005 World Championships in Oberstdorf GER, where he competed in all three Nordic Combined events: the 15 km Gundersen event, the big hill sprint, and the team competition. Carl was a member of the gold medal NC team at the World Junior Championships in 1999 (see below). He retired from competition at the end of the 2006 season, but in 2009 he decided that he had more skiing in him and came back.

Jed Hinkley (b. June 5, 1981) of Andover NH was a member of the U.S. Nordic Combined Ski Team for several years, competing mostly on the World Cup B circuit. In 2002, he qualified for the U.S. Olympic team competing in Salt Lake City. With Demong and VanLoan, he was a member of the gold medal NC team at the World Junior Championships in 1999 (see below). Jed continued as a member of the U.S. Nordic Combined Ski Team, retiring from competition in 2006.
Jed is at the University of North Carolina in Asheville studying health and wellness, and plans further study toward a masters degree in dietetics and a dietitian's license.

In 1999, the U.S. team of Bill Demong, Carl VanLoan, Jed Hinkley and Johnny Spillane won the gold medal in the Nordic Combined team event at the World Junior Championships.
The same four returned to the 2000 WJC and nearly succeded in defending their crown, bringing home the silver medal.

Spillane, VanLoan, Hinkley, Demong,
1999 World Junior Gold Medalists!

Brian Welch
(left -- b. July 18, 1984) grew up in Scarborough, Maine.
With only spotty financial support from the Ski Team, Brian nabbed a spot on the 2002 Olympic team and also the 2005 world Championships. Brian retired from competition in 2006 and went off to study at Purdue University.

Morgan Goodwin
(right -- b. July 15, 1984) grew up in Keene NY and learned to ski in the Lake Placid program. He spent two years living in Steamboat Springs, with the goal of being the best Nordic Combined competitor that he could be. He has retired from the U.S. Ski Team and is studying at Williams College and plans to race XC on the Williams ski team.

Casey Colby (left -- b. Nov. 3, 1974) of Lake Placid NY was 1997 U.S. National ski jumping champion and went on to Nagano, Japan for the 1998 Olympic Games. At the end of the 1999 season, Casey retired from international competition to continue his college education, but late in 2001 he decided to take one more shot at Olympic jumping. He missed the team by the thinnest margin but played an important role at the Games as a very experienced forejumper. He retired again, but instead of returning to college, Casey moved to Park City to coach some very talented junior jumpers. He spent two seasons coaching the U.S. Women's Ski Jumping Team, but has come home to Lake Placid to be the head ski jumping coach in the NYSEF program.

Taylor Hoffman (b. Nov. 17, 1979) of Lake Placid was a member of the U.S. Ski Team for several years. He tried out for the 2002 Olympic team but fell short and became a forejumper. He is now a car dealer in Lake Placid and has not jumped much recently.

Liz Szotyori of Saugerties NY committed to ski jumping at age 15. She lived and trained in Lake Placid for several years during which she collected medals at U.S. Championships and travelled several times to Women's competitions in Europe. She spent a couple of seasons as a weekend warrior as she finished her studies in Kinesiology at Cortland State. She married and lives and works in Lake Placid where she has paused from Masters alpine racing to become a proud Mom. (Click on the jumper at right to see a spectacular picture of Liz in flight, jumping on plastic in Lake Placid.)

Next, find out about the Pride of the Upper Valley , a group of New England athletes who dominated U.S. jumping for more than a decade, or choose to meet: