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Belshaw, Schumann lead USA in Lake Placid COC

Tate Frantz of Lake Placid competes in the FIS Continental Cup for Nordic combined on March 26, 2022, in Lake Placid. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

LAKE PLACID — It was a great weekend for two USA Nordic Sport athletes, who earned a combined three medals in the International Ski Federation Continental Cup for men’s Nordic combined and women’s ski jumping in Lake Placid.

Annika Belshaw, of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, earned a gold and silver medal in the ski jumping event, while Stephen Schumann, of Park City, Utah earned a bronze in Nordic combined.

The competition kicked off on Friday, March 25 with the men’s Nordic combined normal hill jumping round at the Olympic Jumping Complex. Lake Placid native and New York Ski Educational Foundation athlete Tate Frantz had an 89-meter jump. While Frantz’s jump was not the farthest in the round, he was still able to earn 121.7 points to earn the top spot in the jumping round.

Germany’s Wendelin Thannheimer and American Jasper Good had identical 92.5-meter jumps, but Thannheimer took the second spot with 121.0 points, while Good had 117.4 points.

The top five were rounded out by Schumann with a 91.5-meter jump (117.0 points) and Germany’s Jakob Lange with a 91.5-meter jump (115.5 points).

Paige Jones, of Park City, Utah, soars through the air during the Lake Placid Continental Cup at the Olympic Jumping Complex on March 26. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

The jumping round was followed by the 10K Gundersen race for men’s Nordic combined, with Lange earning the top spot. Lange soared through the course in 24 minutes, 8.4 seconds. Thannheimer took second place with a time of 24:13.4 and Schumann was not far behind in 24:17.2 for third place.

USA Nordic athlete Good took fifth (25:03.1). American Grant Andrews then finished in eighth (26:51.7), followed by Erik Lynch in 10th (27:50.7), Henry Johnstone in 11th (27:50.9), Frantz in 12th (27:59.2), Aidan Ripp in 13th (29:53.9) and Caleb Zuckerman in 14th (30:02.7).

The men’s Nordic combined competition continued on Saturday, March 26, with Germany’s Lange, Thannheimer and David Mach taking all three podium spots. The competition was a bit different from Friday, with the athletes having to jump twice and do a 15K race rather than one jump and a 10K.

Lange had the highest point total with 254.8 points. Lange had jumps of 98.0 and 95.5 meters.

The second-best jumper was Thannheimer with 99.0 and 100.0-meter jumps (253.9 points), followed by

Germany’s Nick Siegemund’s 97.5 and 94.5-meter jumps for 247.6 points.

The top Americans in the jumping round were Good and Frantz, who had identical 243.4 point totals to tie for the fourth-best spot. Good had jumps of 93.5 and 96.0 meters, while Frantz had jumps of 94.0 and 91.5 meters.

The top two Germans were in a league of their own in the 15K Gundersen race, with Lange taking home his second gold medal. Lange paced the course with a time of 39:39.2. Thannheimer took second place with a time of 40:39.7. Third place went to Mach in 40:53.7

Schumann, who competed in the 2022 Olympics, narrowly missed the podium with a fourth-place finish in 41:00.9. His teammate Good finished in sixth place in 41.52.5.

Andrews finished in ninth place (44:32.5), followed by Ripp in 10th (50:52.0), Johnstone in 11th (49:57.0), Lynch in 12th (50:25.4), Frantz in 13th (29:53.9) and Zuckerman in 14th (52:17.2).

In the women’s ski jumping competition on the normal hill, Belshaw, 19, was able to come away with her two best results in a Continental Cup to date.

During Friday’s competition, Belshaw had a two-jump point total of 221.8, which tied her for first place with Austria’s Katharina Ellmauer.

Belshaw had jumps of 87.5 and 93.5 meters, while Ellmauer had jumps of 85.5 and 91.5 meters. The bronze medal went to Hannah Wiegle, of Austria, with a two-jump total of 209.0 points.

Nina Lussi, a Lake Placid native who competed for the final time in her career this past weekend, took home fourth place.

Lussi, 28, just missed the podium with a two jump total of 207.7 points (83.5 and 87.5-meter jumps).

Anna Hoffman, who competed in the 2022 Olympics, finished her day in sixth place with 204.8 points. The next three Americans were rounded out by Paige Jones in seventh place with 195.7 points, Josie Johnson in 11th with 159.4 points and Estella Hassrick in 13th with 97.5 points.

On Saturday’s competition, Wiegle was the top jumper earning 228.6 points from her two jumps of 92.5 and 94.0 meters.

Belshaw took home the silver medal with a two-jump point total of 226.8, while Ellmauer finished in third place. Belshaw had jumps of 87.5 and 93.5 meters, while Ellmauer had jumps of 85.5 and 91.5 meters.

Hoffman took sixth place once again with 212.8 points and Lussi earned seventh place with 202.3 points.

Jones (194.5 points), Johnson (159.9 points) and Hassrick (94.6 points) rounded out the Americans in eighth, 12th and 13th place, respectively.

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