Steamboat Springs siblings represent United States in ski jumping World Cup opener

World Cup season is officially underway for the U.S. Ski Jumping Team, which consists of five jumpers from Steamboat Springs — Erik Belshaw, Decker Dean, Jason Colby, Sawyer Graves and Annika Belshaw. 

The Belshaw siblings represented the U.S. in the first World Cup ski jumping event of the season in Lillehammer, Norway last weekend. 

Day 1 was the mixed team event where Annika Belshaw teamed up with fellow jumpers Casey Larson, Paige Jones and Tate Frantz.

Annika Belshaw was the first to jump for the team, setting the mark for the U.S. at 91.5 meters on the HS140 ski jump. Frantz ran into an equipment malfunction, forcing him to miss his jump, resulting in a 273.4-point, 10th-place finish for the U.S. with just three of the team’s jumps counting. 

Saturday was the first of two individual-event days when Annika Belshaw joined three others from the U.S. for jumps off the same HS140 hill. She advanced, alongside Jones, to the competition round after delivering a 100.5-meter jump for 38th place. 

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In the competition round, Annika Belshaw managed to finish in 37th place with a 96.5-meter jump and 56.9 points.

Erik Belshaw and the men’s team followed the women on Saturday, where he and teammates Kevin Bickner and Frantz advanced to the competition round. 

Erik Belshaw mirrored his sister in the competition round with a jump to 37th place after soaring 119 meters for 117.6 points.

The weekend event continued into Sunday where Annika Belshaw once again managed to advance to the competition round, eventually repeating a 37th-place finish with a 95-meter jump. 

Erik Belshaw was unable to make it out of the qualifying round of Sunday’s jump. 

USA Ski Jumping will return to World Cup competition on Friday for another three-day event in Ruka, Finland.

To reach Tom Skulski, call 970-871-4240, email tskulski@SteamboatPilot.com.