Lake Placid native Tate Frantz, right, stands atop the FIS Summer Grand Prix Podium in Wisla, Poland on Sept. 15. Also pictured are Norway’s Marius Lindvik, center, and Estonia’s Artti Aigro.
(Provided photo — FIS)
LAKE PLACID — Tate Frantz has spent nights dreaming about what it would be like to earn a ski jumping podium finish on one of the world’s highest highest stages. On Sept. 15, his dream finally became a reality.
The 19-year-old from Lake Placid placed third overall in the International Ski Federation fourth Summer Grand Prix of the season on Sept. 15 in Wisla, Poland. He became the first American men’s ski jumper to earn a podium finish at that event since Clint Jones in 2002.
While his performance was nothing short of historic, Frantz has always known he can hang with some of the best, considering he placed 16th in a World Cup level competition last winter and has recently been posting solid results.
“Throughout the weekend, the jumps were improving and getting better and I was feeling really dialed in,” he said on Monday. “After the first jump of the competition, I was sitting in third and I knew that I was capable of jumping on to the podium if I was already in third after the first round. I just had another really solid jump, so when I got down to the bottom there were two people left and I went into the lead. I knew then and there that I secured it. It was just the greatest feeling ever. All of my team was at the bottom waiting for me. I could see the coaches reaction on the big screen of the TV replay.”
Frantz cleared 132.5 and 131.1 meters on his two jumps for a combined score of 271.2 points on Sept. 15. He trailed only Norway’s Marius Lindvik, the overall winner, and second place finisher Artti Aigro, of Estonia.
Frantz beat out some elite jumpers, such as 2022-23 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup overall champion Halvor Egner Granerud, of Norway, and two-time Olympic bronze medalist Dawid Kubacki, of Poland.
“Being able to beat them, but also feel supported by them is super cool,” Frantz said. “Seeing what some of those guys that I have beat, have achieved in their career, things are hopefully coming together and it just gives you a boost of confidence that the plan is working.”
Some the top athletes during the competition included jumpers that Frantz has been training with in Norway.
He’s been living there for the past few years, through a partnership with USA Nordic Sport and Norway’s governing body for ski jumping. The U.S. and Norway share coaches, and the athletes train together.
“Getting to train with the Norwegian team, which is obviously historically a really good team ski jumping, is not only really helpful with coaches and training — plan-wise — but it’s motivating to be training with the guys that have sort of have been dominating the sport for many years as I was growing up,” he said.
Frantz calls it a full-time job, as he’s doing something six or seven days a week.
“Training one to two times a day, we’ll have a couple of days in the weight room with more strength-focused stuff,” he said. “(We do) a couple days on the hill and a lot of days are about technique and video refinement, our coach lives in Norway.”
So far, the partnership in Norway has been working, as U.S. jumper Kevin Bickner earned a third-place finish in Rasnov, Romania on Saturday.
“Additionally, Andrew Urlaub was fifth just yesterday at the Summer Grand Prix,” Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Sport Director Anders Johnson said on Monday. “It shows that the team has a lot of depth, and they’ve been working really hard over the last several years and it’s nice to see this positive momentum in the whole group.”
Johnson said Frantz’s podium was not only historic, but it set the tone for the rest of the team and shows that the U.S. is capable to stand on the podium.
“It really just took one athlete to break through and do it, to prove to the whole group that it’s possible,” he said. “Tate is still a teenager and has many years to go with his career, and as long as we can keep doing our job of developing him the right way, keeping him healthy and performing at a high level, then I think he’s going to have a really amazing career ahead of him.”
While Frantz has turned into star with the U.S. ski jumping team, he intended on being a Nordic combined athlete but switched over to just ski jumping in 2022. The move has catapulted his career.
“We knew early on that we had a generational talent with Tate,” Johnson said. “He’s extremely hard working, dedicated, focused and had all the right tools and he’s also really competitive and wants to be the best in the world.”
Frantz was recently named to the U.S. Ski Jumping Team’s men’s A team — the top team — which is a jump from last season when he was on the D team. He also signed with a manager/agent named Martin Schmitt, a former German ski jumper. Frantz said having a manager allows him to focus on himself, while having the other side of things taken care of.
“It’s definitely been helpful to have somebody sort of guiding me throughout the summer,” he said. “We’re on the hunt for sponsorships and to create partnerships and get logos on my equipment, it’s been really good to have somebody sort of giving me advise and he was a former ski jumper himself.”
Frantz is hoping this victory is the first of many.
The FIS Ski Jumping World Cup season will kick off on Nov. 23 in Lillehammer, Norway and will wrap up in late March.
