October 13, 2013 (Lake Placid, NY) – This is clearly how it’s done – put two monster jumps together under pressure and have superb technique. It made for a fine day for Nick Alexander (Lebanon, NH) to win his second-ever national championship title in ski jumping in this two-time Olympic village today. He won his first national crown here in Lake Placid in 2009.

Competing on the normal hill, the K90meter in Lake Placid, amidst the beautiful fall folliage, Alexander served up two 99-meter jumps, to win the US title. Alexander, a 2010 US Olympian, scored 263.5 total points to take the win. Competition was close for second and third as Nick Fairall (Andover, NH), the Large Hill national champion was second followed by Park City’s Anders Johnson.

US Men's Ski Jumping podium (l) Johnson 3rd, Alexander 1st, Fairall 2nd © Peter Graves

Alexander said he tried to relax and enjoy the competition today and it showed. “You got to be able to relax and enjoy things out there and not put too much pressure on yourself,” the newly crowned champion told us after the competition. “We’ve had a great summer of training and when you get these kind of consistent results it makes you believe your supposed to be there. So I am doing my best to be consistent and that’s my goal now and for the winter – to be consistently among the top 30 in the World Cup, and I plan on making that happen.”

Head US Jumping Coach Clint Jones told the USASJ News Bureau that today proved very exciting. “The level of our guys is quite high now and I was very happy with the overall team performance, ” Jones commented. “Nick Alexander actually struggled a bit the last few days in training, but he made some small changes and had two strong jumps today.”

Jones also said that he was pleased to see a real fight for the podium with Nick Fairall, Anders Johnson and Pete Frenette and said that he was also pleased to see the positive performances notched by some members of the US Development squad today. “With a win on Saturday and a solid fifth place today Will Rhoads (Park City, UT) showed some of his strongest jumps of the summer,” the head coach noted.

Coach Jones also said that this marked…”a great way to end of the season and I have been happy to see the improvements that our team has made over the last five months.”

In the women’s event Lindsey Van, the 2009 FIS Women’s world ski jumping champion, landed two jumps of 92 and 96.5 meters to win the national title, followed by Jessica Jerome while third went to Alissa Johnson – all three women hail from Park City, UT.

In the Nordic Combined Nationals it was Olympic gold medalist Billy Demong taking the title followed by brothers Taylor and Bryan Fletcher, both from Steamboat Springs, CO). following the conclusion of the day of ski jumping and roller skiing.