Oberwiesenthal, Germany (August 28, 2022) – Men’s and Women’s Nordic Combined kicked off the Summer Grand Prix circuit in Oberwiesenthal, Germany, this weekend. Alexa Brabec and Tess Arnone were able to record new personal bests in the Summer Grand Prix, as well as Jared Shumate and Grant Andrews. Andrews also scored his first-ever Summer Grand Prix points.
The weekend’s competition started off on Saturday with the Mixed Team HS105 / 4x5km event, consisting of Grant Andrews, Niklas Malacinski, Alexa Brabec and Annika Malacinski. Andrews recorded a jump of 91.5 meters, followed by Annika Malacinski with a 91.0 meter jump, Niklas Malacinski at 84.0 meters, and Brabec with a 71.5 meter jump. This gave the group a total of 85.9 points, placing them 7th overall for the 4x5km race. They then finished 7th overall, with a total team time of 39:49.9, +4:26.5 behind Germany in 1st place.
On Sunday, Women’s Nordic Combined kicked things off with the Normal Hill HS105 / 5km event. Annika Malacinski recorded an 88.5 meter jump (89.2 points), placing her 15th overall for the 5km race. Brabec was close behind with a 86.5 meter jump (84.9 points), putting her in 16th place for the 5km race. Arnone then jumped to 22nd place for the 5km race, with a 64.0 meter jump (38.1 points).
Brabec was then able to ski up from 16th, finishing 9th overall in the 5km, a new Summer Grand Prix personal best. Annika Malacinski was close behind, skiing up from 15th to finish 10th overall. Arnone rounded things off with a 19th place finish, skiing up from 22nd, to record a new Summer Grand Prix personal best.
“I will say it was a great day for Alexa, she put together a good jump and she skied fast,” said Women’s Nordic Combined Head Coach, Tomas Matura. “It was a good day for Annika and Tess as well. We are looking forward to the Oberstdorf Summer Grand Prix competition on Wednesday.”
Sunday’s action then concluded with the Men’s Nordic Combined Normal Hill HS105 / 10km event. Shumate recorded a 98.5 meter jump (110.8 points), putting him in 18th for the 10km race. Andrews was close behind with a 92.5 meter jump (97.3 points), placing him in the 28th position for the 10km race. Niklas Malacinski then jumped to 84.5 meters (90.4 points), giving him the 33rd position for the 10km race.
Shumate skied up from 18th place in the 10km race, finishing 13th overall, a new personal best for him in the Summer Grand Prix circuit. Andrews was also able to record a new Summer Grand Prix personal best, placing 27th overall, while also scoring his first-ever Summer Grand Prix points. Niklas Malacinski was close behind, finishing 31st overall, to wrap up the Oberwiesenthal Summer Grand Prix.
Jared put in a really solid effort in the loops on the cross country course before going into the final climb. I think Jared is very happy with himself, as he now has a new personal best Summer Grand Prix finish,” said Men’s Nordic Combined Team Director, Nick Hendrickson. “Grant also had a new personal best and scored his first-ever Summer Grand Prix points. It was really great to see Grant fighting in the top 30 during the whole race. Behind him was Niklas Malacinski, he had a really great race, nonetheless and battled hard. We have some great momentum starting off the season here, and we’re moving onto Oberstdorf this week. I’m excited we’ll see what we can do there.”
Results
Women’s Nordic Combined Normal Hill HS105 Results
Women’s Nordic Combined 5km Results
