Week 1 of World Champs!

​It has been a fun week or two since I was named to the World Championship team. After a short break in Park City I headed back to Europe for the second half of our pre-championship training camp. I traveled back to Slovenia with Ben and Taylor where we were joined by our coaches for the week leading into World Champs. We had awesome weather that was ideal for productive training. We stayed at the same apartments we always do, so we were able to cook for ourselves and spend time in a place we are quite familiar with. It was rather warm in Slovenia, however not warm enough for the snow to melt. It was really nice to get awesome training in the sun and almost spring-like weather. I made some good improvements on the jumping hill making for some fun sessions that my coaches and I were psyched about! We also had several intensity sessions on the cross country side of things in great conditions! Overall it was a productive and fun week, check out some photos below. 

​Earlier this week we then drove to Seefeld, AUT the location of this year’s Nordic World Championships! Seefeld is one of my favorite places on tour as it is incredibly beautiful and has great venues. We are staying at a hotel with the ski jumpers and Nordic skiers representing team USA which is super fun as we don’t all end up in the same place that often during the season. The views from everywhere in town are incredible, even right off of the balcony we can see incredible mountains. The week kicked off with Opening Ceremonies which was quite the Austrian party scene and lots of excited fans! Our first event was on the Large Hill in Innsbruck on the legendary Bergisel Ski Jump. We had a few days of training leading into the event to dial everything in. I was very excited for my first start in a World Championship event, I didn’t have a great performance for myself however it was still a fun competition day. At both the jumping and the cross country race there were tons of fans making for a super fun atmosphere! The cross country stadium was totally packed making the tough course fun to race on. If you want to check results click here, below are some photos from the first week. 

Jumping in my first World Champs! PC: Ben Pieper

​We now have a few days off before we start training on the ‘Normal Hill’ located here in Seefeld. I am super pumped for another competition in a fun atmosphere and a great venue. One of the other things that I love about this event is the fact that all of the Nordic disciplines are together making it super easy and fun to watch fellow Americans compete! It will be another fun week so stay tuned for more! 

The view from my coach Jan Matura's balcony!