From left are U.S. men’s ski jumpers Jason Colby, Henry Loher, Tate Frantz and Bryce Kloc after placing second in the FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championship’s men’s team competition on Feb. 14 in Lake Placid. (Provided photo — New York Ski Educational Foundation)

LAKE PLACID — Tate Frantz sat on the cold bar of the HS100 ski jump on Feb. 12 waiting to soar through the air. Behind him was no one. In front of him was a bunch of eager jumpers and were spectators waiting to see his result.

The Lake Placid native was in first place in the FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships individual competition with only one jump to go. It was unfamiliar territory for not only himself, but for any U.S. ski jumper still, he was ready for the moment.

Following a nearly 10-minute delay, Frantz leaped further than anyone else that night.

However, it wasn’t enough to earn the gold medal. Austria’s Stephan Embacher, who won the event last year, bested him by only 0.4 points. The less than half-a-point was deducted because of the wind, as jumpers are scored based on their distance and style points given by judges, before compensation for wind speed is added or subtracted. Frantz happened to lose 2.7 points as a result of the wind, enough to knock him down to second place.

“When it came down to the points, I was kind of surprised and definitely kind of frustrated,” he said. “I wasn’t sure how to feel because I was frustrated and happy at the same time.”

It was a historic moment for him and USA Ski Jumping, as Frantz became only the second U.S. men’s jumper to medal at the event. Erik Belshaw of Steamboat Springs, Colorado won the silver medal last season.

“At the end of the day, being on a World Championship podium is pretty unbelievable, so I’ve just got to take that with me,” Frantz said.

The young jumper who grew up skiing for the New York Ski Educational Foundation — first as a Nordic combined athlete, before switching to just ski jumping in 2022, following an injury — was thrilled to have posted these results at his home jumps.

“I had my grandparents, my brothers, my parents and everybody was there,” he said. “It was fun to know that they were cheering me on and my brother brought some of his friends as well, so it was fun to sit on the podium with a medal around my neck with my family there in the crowd.”

Frantz posted the best score in both the qualification round and the opening round, which put him within reach of the podium. In that first round he jumped 95.5 meters for 127.9 points.

In the final round, he soared 98.5 meters for 129.8 points — for a combined 257.7 points — to earn the second place finish. Embacher had a two-jump score of 258.1, while his Austrian teammate Simon Steinberger placed third with a score of 255.3.

Because Frantz landed on the podium, the U.S. ski jumping team secured an extra spot on the FIS World Cup circuit for all of next year.

“(It’s a) really big deal that we’re going to also have an extra man be able to start for the next 12 months,” he said. “Development-wise, it’s going to be an important factor going into the Olympic season just having another spot available.”

The U.S. also had strong finishes from other athletes. Steamboat Springs, Colorado native Jason Colby, who’s father Scott grew up in Lake Placid, placed ninth with 228.7 points. Meanwhile, NYSEF athlete Henry Loher of Wilmington was 21st with a two-jump score of 203.3, and fellow NYSEF jumper, Bryce Kloc of Clifton Park was was 40th with a one-jump score of 85.9.

“If you look at the top 10 currently in the World Cup standings, all of those athletes podiumed at World Juniors,” NYSEF’s head ski jumping and Nordic combined coach Colin Delaney said, noting how historic these results have been.

In the women’s individual competition, Josie Johnson led the way with a 13th-place finish, putting together a strong performance. Sandra Sproch followed closely behind, securing 17th place in an impressive showing. Estella Hassick finished 37th, while Kaija Copenhaver, making her Junior World Championships debut, gained valuable experience and finished 43rd.

As the week progressed, the team events provided excitement as well. Frantz, Loher, Colby and Kloc became the first ever U.S. men’s team to reach the podium in a team event, finishing third behind Austria, which won the gold and Slovenia, which took the silver medal.

Meanwhile, the women’s team of Johnson, Sproch, Hassick and Copenhaver also put in a strong effort, placing seventh overall.

The final event of the competition, the mixed team event, added yet another historic milestone for the U.S. Featuring Frantz, Colby, Johnson and Sproch, the team delivered a performance to remember, securing a second-place finish with 861.6 total points. The Slovenian team won with 919.8 points.

This marked the first time the U.S. has ever reached the podium in a mixed team event, following up on the historic men’s team podium finish from the previous day.

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Nordic combined

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In the Nordic combined events, Lake Placid native and NYSEF athlete, Kai McKinnon, led the U.S. women with a 12th place finish in the Individual Gundersen Normal HS100 event in a time of 17:34.4.

“The event in Lake Placid was amazing, ORDA and Lake Placid did a really great job getting everything ready and the conditions were perfect,” McKinnon said in a statement. “I didn’t perform as well as last year but I am really excited to turn that around for World Championships.”

The U.S. women were rounded out by Steamboat Springs, Colorado natives Haley Brabec (17:59.0) in 20th and Ella Wilson (19:36.4) in 26th.

Norway’s Ingrid Laate was the overall winner in 14:58.6. Slovenia’s Teja Pavec (15:12.9) was second and Germany’s Trine Goepfert (15:15.5) was third.

Two days later, McKinnon and Brabec teamed up in the women’s team sprint event and placed eighth in 23:16.1. The Finnish duo of Beta Hirvonen and Minja Korhonen won the race in 20:52.2.

On the boys side, Caleb Zuckerman of Hanover, New Hampshire led the U.S. in individual competition, placing 30th in 28:35.8. Austria’s Paul Walcher (24:12.2) won the event. Japan’s Atsushi Narita (24:18.2) was second and Germany’s Richard Stenzel (24:54.7) was third.

Also for the U.S., Arthur Tirone of Steamboat Springs, Colorado was 37th in 29:05.4, Anders Giese of Wilmette, Illinois was 42nd in 30:14.9 and Ethan Maines also of Steamboat Springs, Colorado was 44th in 31:20.3.

In the boys team sprint, Zuckerman and Tirone partnered up to place 10th in 33:30.3. Austria’s duo of Walcher and Andreas Gfrerer won in 30:03.5.

Later that day, in the mixed team Gundersen, the U.S. team of McKinnon, Wilson, Giese and Ronen Woods of Anchorage, Alaska placed eighth in 49:16.5. Germany had the top team in 42:27.3 This week McKinnon will head to Trondheim, Norway to compete in the Women’s Mass Start Normal Hill HS102/5K event at World Championships at the end of this month with the possibility of also competing in the team normal hill competition and women’s individual normal hill.