Einsiedeln, SUI, August 6th – Kevin Bickner jumped to 8th place in a FIS Grand Prix, earning his career best finish at a World Cup level event. Bickner jumped 111.5 and 114.5 meters against a strong field featuring 14 nations.
Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes of Canada, who trains with the USA Nordic team, was 14th, just 5 points behind Bickner. Mike Glasder was the only other US athlete in the event but did not make the final cut. Bickner finished ahead of 2015 Four Hills Champion Stefan Kraft (AUT). 2016 World Cup Overall Champion Peter Prevc (SLO) finished off the podium in 4th.
Following the competition Kevin told USANS, “ I knew today if I jumped like I’ve been jumping the last couple of weekends, a decent result would come. But it was a little unexpected for this result to come so soon in such a high level competition. But it just gives me more confidence knowing it wasn’t my best performance”.
Bickner’s finish was the first top 10 finish by an American in a Grand Prix or World Cup event in over a decade. The last top 10 finish was by Clint Jones, the Director of the USANS Ski Jumping program, who had a 2nd place finish in Innsbruck, Austria in 2002.
Bickner, from the Norge Ski Club in Fox River Grove, Illinois finished 2nd in the Large Hill National Championships in Park City, Utah last weekend.
The team will have a short break from competition before the next Ski Jumping Summer Grand Prix on August 26 – 28 in Hakuba, JPN.
Full results are available here.
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Congratulations to everyone involved – jumpers, coaches, board members and all the other support staff. This is just the beginning of something really big. So keep it going!