The 2019 Summer Grand Prix wrapped up for women’s nordic combined last weekend. Tara Geraghty-Moats (West Fairlee, VT) continued to show her dominance winning three out of the four events. She was ready to wrap up the overall title on Sunday but due to an unfortunate disqualification, ended up in second overall.
However, the point of Summer Grand Prix for Geraghty-Moats was not just to win the overall, it was to get back into competition and do her part in continuing to grow the sport of women’s nordic combined- a growth that is evident. “It was amazing to see the team event and all the young girls starting in the youth cup,” says Geraghty-Moats. The future of women’s nordic combined continues to shine and Geraghty-Moats continues to be a great leader and role model for the up and coming athletes.
Geraghty-Moats also left Summer Grand Prix with rave reviews for her coach Tomas Matura who has helped her continue to improve and stay ahead in a fast-growing sport. “I’ve had such great support from Tomas,” she says.
When asked to talk about the Summer Grand Prix, Matura shares Geraghty-Moats’s sentiment that it’s not necessarily about the individual, as much as it’s about the whole. This is evident when he says, “I am happy with how Tara represented USA Nordic and women’s nordic combined. Overall, all the women competing from every nation have made huge improvements since last winter.”
Geraghty-Moats is now headed home for some quality rest and recovery after a busy ten days of SGP. The next nordic combined competition for her will be on snow in Park City, UT- an event USA Nordic is already looking forward to hosting.
The men’s ski jumping team was also competing this past weekend in a Continental Cup in Rasnov, Romania. Andrew Urlaub (Eau Claire, WI) posted a career-best result finishing 23rd on Saturday. He followed that up with a 28th on Sunday making this by far Urlaub’s best weekend of the summer season. His teammate Patrick Gasienica also snuck into the top 30 on Sunday finishing in 29th place. Now, the entire men’s ski jumping national team has created a headline over the last month with great results internationally- Urlaub was that missing piece.
When asked about what made the difference for Urlaub, he says, “(Coach) Jan and I have been working through some mental aspects of this sport and I think that was the confidence I needed to get two solid results.” Mental confidence continues to be a point brought up by athletes and coaches throughout the summer- it’s apparent the mental work is being put in and results are coming out on the other end. “My goals from here are to have two solid weeks of training and continue this momentum into the last competition of the summer in Stams, Austria,” says Urlaub.
Up next for the ski jumping team is a Continental Cup in Lillehammer, Norway. Ski jumping coach Jan Druzina is excited about the team being brought to Norway, “In Lillehammer we are going with a strong team including Kevin Bickner, Casey Larson, and Decker Dean,” he says. The women’s ski jumping team will be competing in Lillehammer as well so stay tuned for updates on all the action.
1 Comment
How about a big congratulations for this wonderful spokesperson for Women’s NC AND SKI JUMPING! And lets celebrate her successes this summer. Well done young lady!