DELMAR – 17 year-old Bethlehem native Jack Kroll was jumping for gold at the 2024 Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Junior National Championships held February 27-March 2 in Anchorage, Ala. He did just that, and more by bringing home four medals, including a gold.
So what is it like to ski 55-60 mph before taking off for a leap of over 100 meters? “The air is surrounding you and cushioning with your skis. Instead of feeling like you’re falling, it feels like you are flying away from the hill,” Kroll said. He admitted that when he jumps a hill for the first time he feels “a little bit scared, but then you do it and say it wasn’t so bad.” Kroll explained that he becomes “immune to the fear. It is always there in the back of your mind, but you put it out of your mind to be a good jumper and you build up to bigger jumps.”
Kroll, who competes in the under 20 division and skis for the New York Ski Educational Foundation, won a silver and a bronze in individual events for men’s nordic combined and men’s ski jumping, respectively. He was also a two-time gold medalist in team events for ski jumping and nordic combined, representing team east, one of the five regions in the United States.
Even though he won gold and silver, Kroll said the bronze medal meant the most to him because he had made “not my best jump” and then that event’s second round was canceled due to weather. Although dissatisfied with his performance, he remained positive and his jump was good enough to land him on the winner’s podium with two of his teammates in the first and second spots.
In addition to his medals won in Alaska, Kroll was just awarded two silver medals as part of the U.S. cup regular-season national standings for ski jumping and nordic combined in the men’s under 20 division. He trains in Lake Placid at the Olympic Jumping Complex and spent the last two summers training in Norway. On the 90 meter he has to climb about 300 steps with his skis to reach the top of the 90 meter hill. An elevator takes him to the top of the 120 meter.
Apart from training year round, Kroll is a student at the Northwood School in Lake Placid after attending Doane Stuart through 9th grade. Northwood has a joint program that allows athletes to get their education while training in their sport. Kroll started ski jumping at age 9, after already being an alpine skier. “I thought this looked kind of cool so I tried it and never stopped,” he said.
Kroll estimates he jumps 120 times monthly. In the last 7 months alone, he made just over 1,000 jumps. He thinks his best jump ever, which was not in competition so not officially measured, was about 123 meters in Lillehammer Norway this summer.
Besides the physical training, Kroll said ski jumping takes “incredible mental discipline.” He attributed his perseverance and hard work to “being with a really good group of people. I know 80% of the ski jumpers across the United States. It is a small and tight knit group, “ Kroll said. He said that although it is an individual sport, you know your teammates on a level that no one else does and “know what to say to them when they are having their worst days.”
Kroll, now a high school junior, hopes to follow the path of other Alpine skiers and go to Dartmouth where he can take classes in spring and summer and compete in skiing during the fall and winter seasons. He said for his future, he wants to “stick with ski jumping as long as he possibly can”, but he realizes there is no NCAA for ski jumping. He said when he is done jumping maybe he would become a competition judge or a coach. “I’m into logistics and transportation, so maybe I’ll plan the world cups, we’ll see.”
This story was featured on page 1 of the March 13th, 2024 edition of The Colonie Spotlight and The Spotlight.