Lake Placid, New York (October 11th, 2023) – The 2023 USA Nordic Ski Jumping National Championships wrapped up this afternoon with the Men’s and Women’s Ski Jumping HS100 event. Annika Belshaw placed first overall in the women’s competition, followed by Paige Jones in second and Josie Johnson in third. Erik Belshaw then finished first overall in the men’s competition, with Andrew Urlaub in second and Tate Frantz in third.
Women’s Ski Jumping HS100 National Championship
In the first round of action, Belshaw was able to go 96.0 meters for 122.6 points, putting her in first place for the final round. Jones then jumped to 93.5 meters in the first round, giving her 118.4 points and placing her second overall for the final round. Johnson was right behind, going 90.0 meters for her first jump, scoring 107.5 points which placed her third overall for the final round.
Johnson then went 89.0 meters for her final jump (102.4 points), as she carded 209.9 total points, securing third place. Jones put together a 91.5 meter jump (110.8 points) in the final round, giving her 229.2 points on the day, giving her the second place finish. Belshaw then continued her dominance, soaring to 95.0 meters (123.8 points), earning 246.4 points on the day and solidifying her first place finish. With this national title, Belshaw has now won three Normal Hill Nationals in a row.
“My jumps are getting better and I’m going to continue to work on the little things, but I think everything is headed in a good direction,” said Belshaw. “It was also a really great experience to win with Erik on both days.”
“All of the girls really showed up these past two days at nationals,” said Women’s Ski Jumping Head Coach, Trevor Edlund. “They were able to display all of the hard work that they’ve put in during training and have a high level competition amongst each other. It was exciting to see how well they performed, and I’m looking forward to the winter competition season.”
Men’s Ski Jumping HS100 National Championship
Following the women, the men then took the hill. Belshaw soared to 102.0 meters during the first round of action, tallying 140.7 points, which placed him first overall for the final round. Urlaub then went 99.5 meters for 132.6 points, with Frantz matching the distance at 99.5 meters as well, carrying him into the final round with 132.2 points.
Frantz then put together a 97.5 meter jump (139.2 points) in the final round, giving him 271.4 points on the day, as he secured his second podium of the weekend with a third place finish. Urlaub was able to best his first round jump, going 101.5 meters (145.8 points) and notching 278.4 points on the day, placing second overall. Belshaw was then able to hold off Urlaub and Frantz, as he went 103.0 meters (147.6 points), carding his second National Championship victory of the weekend.
“My jumps are getting better, the venue was amazing and so was the atmosphere,” said Belshaw. “It feels great to be a national champion, it was awesome to win alongside my sister and I hope to do more of that in the future.”
“It was really great to see Erik back in business again,” said Ski Jumping Head Coach, Tore Sneli. “He has had a tough time with jumping this summer, but he two really great performances during this week’s national championships. We know the level that Erik can be at, and this is some great motivation for him before the winter competition season starts. Andrew has been making great strides, and continues to be one of our strongest athletes. I was impressed by Tate this week, and was very satisfied with his performance over these past two days.”
