After what always seems like an eternity, World Cup season is finally here! In order to make sure that all of you, our fans, are ready, we wanted to provide a brief introduction to each of our USA Nordic athletes. Every single one of these athletes have spent the past seven months (and many years) preparing themselves to be the best competitors they can be. All of those hot summer days spent hiking up ski jumps, hours in the gym, or the hundreds upon hundreds of miles logged on bikes, roller skis, and running trails will finally pay off as our athletes kick off their respective seasons.
Every year, USA Nordic Sport is proud to provide training and support to a greater number of athletes than the year before. This year USA Nordic is excited to be represented by nineteen awesome young men and women on our national team. And so, before they scatter to all parts of the Northern Hemisphere for the year, we invite you to meet the team:
(Click each athlete to see their full bio)
Grant Andrews, 19, Steamboat Springs, CO,
- Nordic Combined
- Best Result: 27th, Continental Cup (COC), Nizhny Tagil, Russia 2017
- Season Goal: Place Top 10 in a COC
- Fun Fact: Grant loves smoothies and has one almost every day.
Ben Berend, 22, Steamboat Springs, CO
- Nordic Combined
- Best Result: 6th, COC, Park City, UT 2015
- Season Goal: Represent the USA at the Winter Olympic Games
- Fun Fact: “I enjoy backcountry skiing, yet am truly defined by my passion for backcountry sledding. Also I dabble with poetry while on the road for skiing.”
Kevin Bickner, 21, Wauconda, IL,
- Ski Jumping
- Best Result: 15th, Ski Flying World Championships, Vikersund, Norway 2017
- Season Goal: Place top 10 in a World Cup (WC), finish the season in one of the top 30 places on the World Ranking List (WRL)
- Fun Fact: Kevin holds the North American Distance Record at 244.5 METERS! The fact is that was the most fun Kevin has ever had.
AJ Brown, 22, Fox River Grove, IL
- Ski Jumping
- Best Result: 28th, COC, Titisee-Neustadt, Germany 2017
- Season Goal: Compete in the Olympic Games
- Fun Fact: AJ loves baking, but he makes sure to keep it healthy, preferring oatmeal muffins to chocolate cake.
Nita Englund, 25, Florence, WI
- Ski Jumping
- Best Result: 2nd, WC, Rasnov, Russia 2015
- Most Excited For: “Being on the road competing this winter.”
- Fun Fact: Nita has a twin sister that currently lives and works in South Korea!
Bryan Fletcher, 31, Steamboat Springs, CO
- Nordic Combined
- Best Result: 1st, WC, Oslo, Norway “Kings Cup” 2012
- Season Goal: Win an Olympic Medal
- Fun Fact: Bryan and his wife Nikki are parents to a beautiful one year old, Ellery. Bryan is also a cancer survivor.
Taylor Fletcher, 27, Steamboat Springs, CO
- Nordic Combined
- Best Result: 3rd, WC, Sapporo, Japan 2015
- Season Goal: Improvement throughout the season
- Fun Fact: According to Taylor, he is “probably the best sleeper you will ever meet!” According to everyone else, Taylor is one of the fastest guys you will ever meet.
Tara Geraghty-Moats, 24, Fairlee, VT
- Ski Jumping
- Best Result: 9th, WC, Roznov, Romania 2015
- Season Goal: Qualify for the Olympic Ski Jumping team; win a women’s Nordic Combined COC
- Fun Fact: Tara loves green tea lattes and playing her violin, but has a bit of a wild side and has ridden her mountain bike down more than one set of stairs. Offseason, of course.
Michael Glasder, 28, Cary, IL
- Ski Jumping
- Best Result: 1st, COC, Iron Mountain, MI 2016
- Most Excited For: “To shock the world with our team!”
- Fun Fact: Mike recently acquired his MBA with a concentration in project management.
Jasper Good, 21, Steamboat Springs, CO
- Nordic Combined
- Best Result: 9th, COC, Kuusamo, Finland 2017
- Season Goal: Compete in the Olympics; place in the top 30 in a WC
- Fun Fact: Jasper loves anything that gets him outdoors. In the summer, he loves to mountain bike. In the winter, when he’s not on the road competing, you can find Jasper on a pair of telemark skis in the backcountry. Jasper can even ride a unicycle!
Sarah Hendrickson, 23, Park City, UT
- Ski Jumping
- Best Result: 2013 World Champion, Val di Fiemme, Italy
- Season Goal: Qualify for Olympic Team by winning Olympic Trials
- Fun Fact: Sarah is “terrified” of fire alarms. Ironically, Sarah says fire alarms have a tendency to welcome her home, seemingly going off every time she comes home from a trip.
Casey Larson, 18, Barrington, IL
- Ski Jumping
- Best Result: 8th, Junior World Championships (JWC), Park City, UT 2017
- Most Excited For: “Excited to see all of the positive training from this summer and fall begin to payoff on snow.”
- Fun Fact: Casey has an offseason job repairing dog blow dryers.
Adam Loomis, 25, Eau Claire, WI
- Nordic Combined
- Best Result: 21st, WC, Chaux-Neuve, France 2015
- Season Goal: Qualify for the Olympic Team; finish the season in the top 50 places on the WRL
- Fun Fact: Adam just completed his BS in Business Administration from Devry University in October.
Ben Loomis, 19, Eau Claire, WI
- Nordic Combined
- Best Result: 2nd, Youth Olympic Games, Lillehammer, Norway 2016
- Most Excited For: Ben is looking forward to WJC in Kandersteg, SUI as it’s his last year of eligibility; he is aiming for a high result this year
- Fun Fact: Ben’s family has a cabin in Ontario, Canada. He calls it his “favorite place in the world” and enjoys visiting the cabin to “relax and escape from normal life.”
Nina Lussi, 23, Lake Placid, NY
- Ski Jumping
- Best Result: 1st, COC, Falun, Sweden 2014
- Season Goal: Nina has always “dreamed of representing the USA at the Olympics and will do everything that she can to make that a reality.”
- Fun Fact: Nina says she “loves kiteboarding and soft serve ice cream, in that order!”
Nick Mattoon, 22, Eau Claire, WI
- Ski Jumping
- Best Result: 16th, COC, Erzurum-Kiremitliktepe, Turkey 2017
- Most Excited For: “I am excited for Olympic Trials and the opportunity to compete for the USA.”
- Fun Fact: Nick is an avid sports fan and he loves to read in his free time. His favorite team is the Green Bay Packers, and he is currently reading “Soul of the World.”
Abby Ringquist, 28, Park City, UT
- Ski Jumping
- Best Result: 9th, WC, Sochi, Russia, 2012
- Most Excited For: Competing at US Olympic Trials in her hometown
- Fun Fact: Abby loves to back country ski, especially in her backyard with husband Jake and their family of animals (three dogs, two goats so far).
Will Rhoads, 22, Park City, UT
- Best Result: 2nd, COC, Sapporo, Japan 2015
- Most Excited For: Excited to have a chance to compete in the Olympics
- Fun Fact: In addition to being a world class Ski Jumper, Will is also quite the basketball player. He even claims to have once had a triple double in a pickup game of basketball.
Stephen Schumann, 17, Park City, UT
- Nordic Combined
- Best Result: 10th, JWC, Park City, UT 2017
- Season Goal: Podium at JWC; qualify for Olympic Team
- Fun Fact: Stephen would like everyone to know that his nickname is Skunk.
At the moment all of our athletes are busy with their final preparations for the season. Some are getting one more night’s sleep before they begin the season, others are taking advantage of winter conditions in Europe, and a few still will begin the season at home. Here is a brief picture of where our athletes will start the season:
Kevin, Michael, and Will will begin the season in Kuusamo, Finland, on the Men’s Ski Jumping World Cup. HS142 Qualification Nov 24, HS142 Team event Nov 25, HS142 Individual event Nov 26.
Ben B, Bryan, and Taylor will begin the season in Kuusamo, Finland on the Nordic Combined World Cup with a “triple” competition weekend. Jasper will be joining the team in LIllehammer, Norway, and Adam will be joining the team in Ramsau, Austria. HS142/5.0 Km Individual event Nov 24, HS142/10.0 Km Individual event Nov 25, HS142/10.0 Km Individual event Nov 26.
Abby, Nina, Nita, Sarah, and Tara will begin the season with a snow camp in Falun, Sweden, Nov 23 through Nov 28, before heading to Lillehammer, Norway, for the opening weekend of the Ladies’ Ski Jumping World Cup. HS98 Qualification Nov 30, HS98 Individual event Dec 1, HS98 Individual event Dec 2, HS138 Individual event Dec 3 (top 30 from previous two events).
AJ, Casey, and Nick, joined by a handful of junior skiers, will travel north to Whistler, Canada, for a weekend of Ski Jumping Continental Cups and FIS Cups. HS104 Individual event Dec 9, HS104 Individual event Dec 10.
Ben L, Grant, and Stephen will begin their season in Steamboat Springs, CO, competing in the opening weekend for the Nordic Combined Continental Cup “triple.” HS75/10.0 Km Individual event Dec 15, HS75/10.0 Km Individual event Dec 16, HS75/10.0 Km Individual event Dec 17.
And there you have it, our all-star line up for the 2017/2018 season. As always, we will do our best to keep you as updated as possible on each of our athletes so you can be sure to follow all of your favorite USA Nordic skiers!
