‘Hungry for more’: Steamboat’s Malacinski opens World Cup season with new personal best

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Steamboat Springs Nordic combined skier Niklas Malacinski recorded a new World Cup personal best during a competition in Ruka, Finland on Saturday. Malacinski took 13th place.

Niklas Malacinski competes with the heart of a champion.
The U.S. Men’s Nordic Combined Team opened the 2024-25 World Cup season in Ruka, Finland over the weekend for three competition days where the 20-year-old Nordic combined phenom from Steamboat Springs recorded a new personal best and yet, he is never satisfied.

On Saturday — the second competition day — Malacinski battled the windy conditions and managed a 126 meter jump off the HS 142 ski jump to 12th place. During the cross country ski race, he found himself in a chase group with two of the fastest World Cup skiers on the circuit.

“I was hanging on there for dear life,” Malacinski said, who managed to stick with the pair ahead for three of the race’s four laps. He hung with the two ahead long enough to have the 10th, 11th and 12th place finishers in eyesight, but his energy was zapped and he was unable to sprint for the top-10.

Malacinski placed 13th, a new personal best World Cup result.

“I was actually very critical of myself,” Malacinski said. “My first thought was that I could have had 10th. I usually don’t take a step back until after the race, and after things have calmed down and realize how great it is. It did leave me a little unsatisfied. No matter how happy I am about that result, I’m hungry for more.”

The World Cup weekend began Thursday with the Provisional Competition Round jumps, known as PCRs. The purpose of the PCR is to act as a back-up in case jumping is canceled on competition day due normally to weather concerns.

Malacinski was nervous for his first jumps of the season because he was up against a hill he was not used to and was intimidated by its profile. His first PCR landed him in 27th but by the second PCR, “it all clicked.”
Malacinski turned heads on that second jump, soaring 126.5 meters for fifth — an incredibly encouraging feat ahead of the competition days.

The athletes used their first PCR jumps on day one of the World Cup, putting Malacinski in 27th at the start of the 7.5-kilometer race. All four U.S. men finished in the top 40 by the end of the day with Malacinski leading the Americans with a 21st place finish.

Malacinski concluded the weekend battling sickness, but managed a 30th place finish in the mass start competition.
This was a near perfect start to the season for Malacinski who, along with his American teammates, endured a rollercoaster offseason with off-snow distractions.

In June, USA Ski Jumping — then USA Nordic Sport — announced that the organization would no longer fund the Nordic combined national team program or its partnership with the Norwegian National Team. This left athletes desperate to find funding on their own.

“Honestly, no one can be prepared for such a thing,” Malacinski said. “When we heard official word, it was pretty devastating for us. It turned into scramble mode where I was balancing school, training and also fundraising — even more so than in the past. It turned into a lot of busy days but we were very fortunate to have the support around us.”

Volunteers nationwide quickly assembled to form the nonprofit now known as Nordic Combined USA, to take over leadership and fundraise for the sport. The efforts proved valuable for the athletes who managed to maintain their partnership with the Norwegian team after raising enough funds to extend the agreement which had ended after last season.

Despite the uncertainties of the offseason, Malacinski was proud of his training. He put emphasis on his jumping consistency and shape while trusting his ability to maintain solid cross country results that he held all season a year ago.

In technique training, it came down to focusing on the “power of the push” during a jump, but it went much further beyond technique.

“A lot of it was in nutrition,” Malacinski explained. “I’ve always been a very healthy athlete, but in the sport we are in, I need to cut down in weight. No matter how lean I am, weight is weight. My project over the summer and leading up into the winter has been cutting down in size so I can fly further while maintaining that cross-country shape so there is no teeter-tottering, or give and take. I’ve been slowly working at that and trying to do so in a smart way.”

Malacinski and the rest of the U.S. Nordic Combined team will next travel to Lillehammer, Norway for another World Cup competition. This will be the women’s first event of the year.

Malacinski plans to shoot high this season at his goals and hopes to continue earning personal bests through the end of the winter season.

“My goals going into the season were extremely ambitious and I had some doubt, I’m not going to lie about that,” Malacinski said. “My goals were finishing in the top 10 overall of the World Cup season and being in medal contention for the World Championships in February. Those were really high fetched and still are, but given that, I kicked off the season with a personal best and historically it has only been up from the first weekend. I am excited to see what this season has to come.”

Nordic Combined USA is hosting a fundraising event “Past, Present & Future” from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Friday at SBNY in downtown Steamboat Springs. The event gives participants a chance to connect with and hear stories behind one of Steamboat Springs’ most notable sports, Nordic combined. Walk-ins are welcome with a $25 donation.