Some of the best athletes have competed on the global stage at the 2026 Winter Olympics. A historic venue here in the North Country gives visitors a front-row seat to Olympic dreams. NBC 5’s Blake McQueary went to the Lake Placid jumping complex for an inside look at ski jumping. At the top of ski jumps, jumpers launch themselves into the sky, chasing distance, precision, and Olympic Glory.”You don’t need super strong ski skills to, to be a ski jumper necessarily. You just need to be able to go straight and want to jump far,” said the head coach of ski jumping at NYSEF, Colin Delaney. At the jumping complex, that pursuit is part of daily life.”Amazing sport to watch, amazing sport to be a part of,” said ORDA Communications Manager, Jaime Collins. “We’ve got platforms right up by the launching area there that is so fun for spectators to go and watch and see these athletes just feet away go woosh, right off the end of that thing.”You may think it’s complex, but to be a ski jumper, you really only need three things.”One is actually flexibility. You need to be able to sit in that really low and run position and be comfortable in that position,” Delaney said. “Then explosive power, being able to just have a really clean long push with a lot of power coming from the legs and then, mental control awareness.”Also, a bit of fearlessness. “You have to acknowledge the risk of what you’re doing, but then being able to, then rise above it, to be able to still be thinking to yourself, ‘If I do what I am supposed to do, I’m going to be safe. I’m going to have a good jump,'” Delaney said. Steps are also taken to preserve weather conditions, including new ceramic in runs and a wind net system. It’s to ensure equal competition for everyone.”One of the big things in this sport is to ensure as consistent conditions as possible for all of the athletes to still be jumping throughout the course of, you know, several hours and all day long. So we want those conditions to be even,” Collins said. Even seeing it up close, it’s still a hard thing to process. “The fact that someone can ski jump from this high is just like mind-blowing. And I’m still trying, like, process it,” said Julie Sessman, who was visiting the Jumping Complex. The jumping complex is also made for both the summer and winter, giving world-class athletes the opportunity to train right here year-round.
Some of the best athletes have competed on the global stage at the 2026 Winter Olympics. A historic venue here in the North Country gives visitors a front-row seat to Olympic dreams.
NBC 5’s Blake McQueary went to the Lake Placid jumping complex for an inside look at ski jumping.
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At the top of ski jumps, jumpers launch themselves into the sky, chasing distance, precision, and Olympic Glory.
“You don’t need super strong ski skills to, to be a ski jumper necessarily. You just need to be able to go straight and want to jump far,” said the head coach of ski jumping at NYSEF, Colin Delaney.
At the jumping complex, that pursuit is part of daily life.
“Amazing sport to watch, amazing sport to be a part of,” said ORDA Communications Manager, Jaime Collins. “We’ve got platforms right up by the launching area there that is so fun for spectators to go and watch and see these athletes just feet away go woosh, right off the end of that thing.”
You may think it’s complex, but to be a ski jumper, you really only need three things.
“One is actually flexibility. You need to be able to sit in that really low and run position and be comfortable in that position,” Delaney said. “Then explosive power, being able to just have a really clean long push with a lot of power coming from the legs and then, mental control awareness.”
Also, a bit of fearlessness.
“You have to acknowledge the risk of what you’re doing, but then being able to, then rise above it, to be able to still be thinking to yourself, ‘If I do what I am supposed to do, I’m going to be safe. I’m going to have a good jump,'” Delaney said.
Steps are also taken to preserve weather conditions, including new ceramic in runs and a wind net system. It’s to ensure equal competition for everyone.
“One of the big things in this sport is to ensure as consistent conditions as possible for all of the athletes to still be jumping throughout the course of, you know, several hours and all day long. So we want those conditions to be even,” Collins said.
Even seeing it up close, it’s still a hard thing to process.
“The fact that someone can ski jump from this high is just like mind-blowing. And I’m still trying, like, process it,” said Julie Sessman, who was visiting the Jumping Complex.
The jumping complex is also made for both the summer and winter, giving world-class athletes the opportunity to train right here year-round.
