Kai McKinnon (Provided photo — NYSEF)

LAKE PLACID — While the New York Ski Educational Foundation will be celebrating its 50th anniversary at its annual Summer Benefit on Saturday, Aug. 19, one of the organization’s top athletes won’t be in attendance: Lake Placid native Kai McKinnon.

McKinnon is currently at a Nordic combined training camp in Norway, where she’ll be until Sept. 1. She hopes to one day make the Winter Olympics in the sport she grew up loving.

She doesn’t remember the first time she put on Nordic skis, but she knows she was young.

Her parents, Jodi and Neil McKinnon, told her she was about 1 or 2 years old when she first put on skis. Back then, McKinnon would ski around her house and down her driveway.

What she does remember is the first time she attempted ski jumping. She was just 7 years old and took flight during a free ski jumping night in her hometown.

Kai McKinnon, center, stands atop the podium at the Eastern Championships-Jumpfest in Salisbury, Connecticut in February. (Provided photo — NYSEF)

Almost instantly, McKinnon became addicted to the thrill of soaring through the air.

“It only lasts for a few seconds and it’s so hard to get the one (good) jump. You feel like you’re flying,” she said. “You really do feel like you’re flying. It’s the most incredible thing ever.”

McKinnon, now 15 years old, hasn’t stopped jumping, and she definitely hasn’t stopped Nordic skiing. She competes in the sport of Nordic combined, a sport that combines both ski jumping and Nordic skiing, through the NYSEF, based in Wilmington.

In May, McKinnon took her journey to new heights when she was named one of two women on the U.S. Junior National Nordic Combined Team. She said joining the team opens the door for more training camps and coaches, as well as getting new suits and gear.

Since then, McKinnon has already spent most of her summer on the road, having trained in Colorado with the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club. McKinnon said it’s cool to train on new hills, while also getting to know other skiers.

Kai McKinnon, center, stands atop the podium at the Nordic Combined Junior National Championships in Coleraine, Minnesota on Feb. 24. (Provided photo — Colin Delaney)

“I don’t actually travel out of the country too much, but I will be traveling a lot in the future,” she said.

McKinnon dreams of one day making it to the Olympics, but unlike the more than a dozen NYSEF athletes that have gone to the Games, McKinnon’s path is trickier.

“Unfortunately, women’s Nordic combined, it’s not in the Olympics right now,” she said.

It’s the only Winter Olympic sport that doesn’t include a women’s program, despite the men’s program having existed since the first-ever Winter Olympics in 1924.

Even after the worldwide Nordic combined community asked the International Olympic Committee to put the women’s program into the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, the IOC ultimately decided not to include it. The IOC instead threatened to remove men’s Nordic combined from the Olympics. But McKinnon stays hopeful that one day she’ll reach the Olympics.

“I can’t get too hopeful,” she said. “There is quite a greater chance that it will never (happen) and that men’s will get taken out — it’s upsetting.”

McKinnon’s long-term goal right now is to join the Women’s Nordic combined World Cup circuit and post good results.

She also doesn’t seem to have any plans on switching to either ski jumping or cross-country skiing. She said there’s something unique about training for two sports rather than just one.

“If I get frustrated with one thing, I’ll always have another thing to be focused on,” McKinnon said. “I just love the competitiveness and the intricacy of the sport.”

She has dominated in most Nordic combined events that she has competed in. She won the Junior National Championships in Coleraine, Minnesota in February after landing the best jump and recording the fastest time on the Nordic course.

In that same event, she took second place in the special ski jumping competition. The only person who beat McKinnon was a member of the women’s U.S. Junior National Ski Jumping team.

This upcoming season, McKinnon will likely compete in the 2024 Youth Olympic Games in South Korea, the Junior Worlds competition in Slovenia and the Junior Nationals in Alaska.

Growing up in Lake Placid, McKinnon had easy access to training since the ski jumps are near her house.

“If I didn’t live in Lake Placid I wouldn’t be as into the sport as I am,” she said. “I wouldn’t have as much success (either) because our venues are just really nice and I love the hills.”

McKinnon, who is a sophomore at Lake Placid High School, runs both cross country and track with the school’s varsity team during the offseasons. She said running long-distance sports has helped with her Nordic combined journey.

“I used to not run, but the year that I started running going into the winter season I was so much faster than I used to be. So, that has definitely helped out a ton,” McKinnon said.

In both cross country and track, she dominates as well. For the past two seasons, she played a pivotal role in helping the cross country team win back-to-back sectional titles, and during the track season, McKinnon was the lone Blue Bombers girls’ athlete to qualify for the state meet.

As with most elite-level athletes, the balance of training and dealing with school work becomes difficult, so during the winters, McKinnon is a part of NYSEF’s Winter Term program. With the program, she is able to remotely participate in the school’s curricula through one-on-one tutoring support with NYSEF.

“That helps a lot with school because I don’t have to worry about deadlines and things,” she said. “It’s definitely difficult to do school while you are traveling and training.”

For McKinnon, a daily training schedule consists of jumping in the morning and skiing — or sometimes weight lifting — in the afternoon.

“It’s pretty intense,” she said. “You do two jump sessions in the day and then ski as well. It’s pretty intense because you can’t just do one thing, you have to do two things.”

McKinnon’s ski jumping coaches include Lake Placid natives Colin Delaney and Larry Stone. While she also works with Delaney sometimes on the Nordic side, she is also coached by Julianne Stemp and Paul Smith.

“I just started working with them this year, and they’re super incredible coaches and my Nordic skiing has improved so much,” she said.

As one of the top NYSEF athletes, McKinnon encouraged younger skiers to never give up on their journey.

“I know everybody says, ‘Don’t give up,’ but you really can’t give up,” she said. “You just have to keep trying because it will come. It will take a long time and a lot of hard work, but if you stay with it you will succeed.”

NYSEF will wrap up the summer season with an annual benefit, which will pay tribute to its 50 years of existence. The NYSEF Summer Benefit will honor both the past and the future NYSEF athletes like McKinnon from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 19 at the Olympic Jumping Complex in Lake Placid.

For more information, visit www.nysef.org.