Anything possible when FIS Ski Jumping World Cup competition arrives at the Olympic Jumping Complex

Competition among the world’s best is flying high as the International Ski and Snowboard Federation’s (FIS) Ski Jumping World Cup prepares to return to Lake Placid February 9 through 11. Around the world, the biggest names in the sport are battling for the podium week after week, and a showdown seems imminent in the only Ski Jumping World Cup event in North America this season.

In addition to the individual competition, one of only two World Cup Super Team competitions in the entire 2023-24 season is also set to take place right here in Lake Placid. At the only other Super Team competition held in Wisla, Poland, Slovenia set the bar high, but a number of other teams are performing well and poised to soar just as high or higher in the Adirondack skies.

At this point in the season, anything seems possible.

The men’s season began in Ruka, Finland in late November, and Austria’s Stephan Kraft has been a dominant force, racking up as of mid-January four World Cup wins and 989 total points. His closest rival in the overall competition is Germany’s Andreas Wellinger with 757 points.

In fact, the German team is performing extremely well with three athletes – Andreas Wellinger, Pius Paschke, and Karl Geiger – all in the top six overall. Geiger was the first to break Kraft’s winning streak this season with a big win in his home country at Klingenthal. In that competition, Kraft went into the final round in the lead and held that lead until the very last jump, when Geiger soared 146 meters, just a half meter shy of the hill record, to grab the win. That moment was especially poignant because no German had ever previously won the World Cup at Klingenthal.

Japan’s Ryoyu Kobayashi, currently third in overall standings with 691 points as of mid-January, was another spoiler, flying to a first place finish in a dramatic final in the men’s World Cup in Wisla, Poland and doing so just ahead of both his biggest rivals, Stefan Kraft and Andreas Wellinger. No stranger to the top position on the podium, Wisla was Kobayashi’s 31st World Cup victory in total and his first this season. In fifth place after the first round, he won the day with a truly outstanding final jump.

Glancing Back & Looking Forward

An image shot from below as three champions stand on the podium against a blue sky as background. Halvor Egner Granerud of Norway wins the 2023 men's Ski Jumping World Cup in Lake Placid, NY. Stefan Kraft with silver and Andreas Wellinger with Bronze to round out the last podium of the weekend.
Halvor Egner Granerud of Norway wins the 2023 men’s Ski Jumping World Cup in Lake Placid, NY. Stefan Kraft with silver and Andreas Wellinger with Bronze to round out the last podium of the weekend

On a bright, beautiful weekend last year in Lake Placid – the first Ski Jumping World Cup event here in 30 years – competition was fierce. Norway’s Halvor Egner Granerud came out on top with his 10th win of the season while Germany’s Andreas Wellinger, Stefan Kraft, Karl Geiger, and Ryoyu Kobayashi finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th respectively.

Bolstered by an enormous turnout of Polish American fans, Piotr Zyla and Dawid Kubacki lifted the Polish team to a stunning triumph in the Super Team competition in Lake Placid over 2nd place Austria and 3rd place Japan. A very strong German team landed in 4th, just slightly under Japan’s point total. All told, the full weekend of World Cup competition, so widely and eager anticipated in the two-time Olympic Village, was one of raw competition that produced unmistakable joy on the part of athletes and spectators alike.

When these international competitors and the throngs of cheering fans return to the Olympic Jumping Complex in Lake Placid the second weekend in February, all things will be possible. World Cup competition is, by definition, a test of the best, and at this point in the season, with excellence being demonstrated by such highly experienced, high flying competitors from many different countries, the podium in Lake Placid awaits.

Click here for competition details and tickets. 

At left, an image of a red-tailed hawk on a branch with a background of blurred winter forest. At right a dark blue background with these words in white bold text: Excitement will prevail as we witness who flies highest and farthest. Following tradition, those who reach the podium will be given a symbolic gift in addition to their highly coveted FIS awards. Red-tailed hawk plushies are being donated by The Wild Center in Tupper Lake, NY, a unique natural history museum whose mission is to ignite an enduring passion for the Adirondacks. The Wild Center is a place of possibilities, where people and nature can thrive together in an example to the world. Here in their natural state in the High Peaks, red-tailed hawks fly gracefully above the Adirondack landscape, a fitting representation of the incredible strength and technique of World Cup Ski Jump athletes.