Park City Ski & Snowboard brings 17 Olympians to ski jumping, nordic combined’s Springer Tournee

1st place, Will Coffin; 2nd place, Erik Lynch; and 3rd place, Ethan Maines at the Springer Tournee. Photo: TownLift // Michele Roepke

PARK CITY, Utah — Adam Loomis of the Park City Ski & Snowboard – Nordic (PCSS) organized the 27th annual Springer Tournee, a competition for North America’s top nordic combined and ski jumping athletes, held Thursday through Saturday at the Utah Olympic Park and Soldier Hollow.

No fewer than 17 Olympians were in town competing, coaching and coordinating, including Billy Demong, Casey Larson, Stephen Schumann, Liz Stephen, Kevin Bickner, Taylor Fletcher, Bryan Fletcher, Lindsey Van, Anders Johnson, Niklas Malacinski, Eric Camerota, Todd Wilson, Jessica Jerome, Luke Bodensteiner, Alan Alborn, Heidi Voelker and Tate Frantz.

Among the standout performers was PCSS Team athlete Donovan Toly, 14, who took first place in the nordic combined and second place in ski jumping on the 90-meter hill/5-kilometer roller ski.

The event remains the largest annual gathering for the ski jumping and nordic combined community.

One photo captured the spirit of that gathering: three girls crossing the finish line hand in hand, not as competitors but as teammates, cheered on by Olympian Annika Malacinski, one of the top athletes in the sport. For those watching, the moment seemed to renew their appreciation for what the sport can be.

Teams traveled from Colorado, Wisconsin, New York, Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Vermont and Canada — the source of the French “Tournee” in the event’s name.

The Norway Ski Team also sent a group of coaches in partnership with the U.S. Ski Team.

Saturday evening’s Target Jump on the biggest hill event drew a large crowd with a beer garden, food trucks and a live band. The top two finishers offered a study in contrasts: Will Coffin, 16, of Lake Placid’s New York Ski Education Foundation, won the $1,250 top prize on his first-ever trip to Springer.

Erik Lynch, 32, originally of Colorado’s Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club, took second and the $750 prize in this, one of multiple appearances at Springer.

PCSS had strong results in the Small Hills competitions, where young athletes train on the 7-, 10-, 20- and 40-meter hills before advancing to the Big Hills’ 60-, 90- and 100-meter jumps — and from running summer races to roller skiing them. PCSS’s Daisy Schmidt, 12, placed second and third in the nordic combined and ski jumping. Teammates Eli Kurek, Jayden Steffan, Blaise Ott and Hailey Boyarski also earned podium finishes.

Other former PCSS Springer competitors returned this year in new roles, including Macey Olden as a coach and Root Roepke on ski patrol.

“I’m really happy to have gotten a PR (personal record),” Target Jump winner, Coffin, told TownLift. “I definitely never expected, at the beginning of this week, to be winning the big jackpot at the end, so it feels really good.”

The week also included social events such as indoor training sessions at the Basin Recreation Fieldhouse, a private pizza party for athletes of all ages at Red Banjo, and a team-building scavenger hunt on Historic Main Street.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.