Local skier stands alone atop U.S. Junior Nationals
DELMAR—Bethlehem native and high school senior Jack Kroll became the U.S. Junior National Champion in ski jumping at the 2025 Nordic Combined Junior National Championships, held February 27-28 at Utah Olympic Park.
The 18-year-old, who competes in the under-20 division, also brought home a silver medal in the men’s individual Nordic combined event and contributed to gold and silver medals in the men’s Nordic combined and men’s ski jumping team events, respectively.
For the junior national champion title, Kroll edged out 17-year-old Arthur Tirone from Steamboat Springs, Colorado, who finished second. Kroll was particularly surprised by his victory, as he and Tirone had identical combined jump scores for distance—132.5 meters. While Tirone recorded the higher single-jump score, 68.5 meters to Kroll’s 66.5, Kroll’s total of 250.7 points secured the win based on style scores.
Being named champion is “pretty cool, I guess,” Kroll said in a hometown interview. However, he remained humble about the victory, noting that many of his skiing friends who are “better than me were not there, but it still feels pretty good.”
Kroll said he never felt certain of his win—and, for a time, he wasn’t. Due to a scoring error, Tirone was initially announced as the champion before officials corrected the mistake.
Kroll admitted that seeing Tirone’s disappointment dampened his own excitement. “I actually felt bad for him because he was celebrating, and then he found out he didn’t win,” Kroll said. “I know how bad I felt when I thought I hadn’t won. For 5-10 minutes, it really sucked, so knowing that Arthur was going through the same thing indefinitely made it not as great.”
Kroll’s championship builds on his 2024 performance at the same event, held last year in Anchorage, Alaska. In that competition, Kroll won four medals, including one gold.
“2025 was a long season with lots of ups and downs, but I stuck with it, and it paid off,” Kroll said.
Kroll’s next challenge may be balancing ski jumping with college or taking a gap year if he cannot incorporate the sport into his education. He hopes to qualify for the Junior World Championships or another international competition.
“I have to prove myself at the next level,” Kroll said.
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