Q&A in the Leadup to World Cup Competition
By Jaime Collins
Born and raised in Lake Placid, Tate Frantz has been skiing all of his life. In elementary school he joined the After School Ski Program at Whiteface and became an experienced cross-country skier at Mt Van Hoevenberg, too. Then he started ski jumping, and trained with local New York Ski Educational Foundation (NYSEF) coaches Larry Stone and Colin Delaney.
Through the years, he grew tremendously as an athlete until 2023 when something quite rare and remarkable happened. Reaching his debut participation in FIS Ski Jumping World Cup competition – a special time in the career of any athlete – came at exactly the same time his hometown was hosting its first such World Cup in 33 years. “The way that things lined up is unbelievably special,” says Tate.
Now in his third year on the World Cup circuit, Tate is back at the 2025 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Lake Placid, returning home as the highest performing men’s ski jumper on the U.S. Team. I had the honor of sitting down with Tate for a conversation about his career and this upcoming competition:
Question: How does it feel to be back in Lake Placid for World Cup competition?
Tate: Being back in Lake Placid and coming back here for the World Cup is always special. But also coming back to a place where two Olympic games are written into the history of the town itself is really unique. Everyone is really enthusiastic about the event coming back here and supportive. People are looking forward to having us in town and having the competition right here in Lake Placid on the same hills where they competed in the 1980 games. So it’s kind of inspiring knowing that there’s so much history in the sport, not only the town itself but also right here on these hills in the town where I grew up. It’s a full circle moment for me.
Question: What was it like growing up in Lake Placid and having the coaching you did in the NYSEF program?
Tate: Growing up here in Lake Placid was definitely a very lucky happening for me in the sense that it’s difficult to get introduced to ski jumping as an American athlete. If you’re not from a town where there are ski jumps right there in the town, odds are you won’t start the sport and may not even ever hear about it. So I was lucky enough to grow up right here in Lake Placid where we have these looming towers on the skyline of our town, and I was always looking at them when I was young and curious about what they were. And then when I got the opportunity to come out with NYSEF and try the Hills with the afterschool program one day.
I vividly remember the first day that I was jumping the 20 meter. I looked up to the K 120 meter, the biggest tower up there. That was the first time that I got to watch the older athletes jump that hill, and I was watching them on the biggest jump in the complex while I was on the smallest. I clearly remember telling myself that’s something I have to do one day. Setting that goal the first day really inspired me to want to work my way up to those bigger hills.
Having the NYSEF coaches working with me from when first started ski jumping on the 20 meter all the way through to when I was on the biggest jump here in Lake Placid was also really special. The coaches were able to follow me from a very young age through my developmental years and be with me through that whole process. That was really important. I worked a lot with Colin Delaney. He was my main coach for many years. Another really important coach was Larry Stone. He’s been a big part of a lot of athletes’ careers in Lake Placid. He was really enthusiastic with me from the time I started when I was nine on the 20 meter all the way until now. Larry has a lot to give for every athlete.
Question: What does it mean for you to be part of this first ever women’s World Cup competition?
Tate: This event is going to be a special one in a really big and different way than the first time I was here for a World Cup. 2023 was the first time the World Cup was back in the US after many years. Now, it’s a much bigger event with the women competing alongside us. It’s the first time the women will be competing in a World Cup in the United States, so I think there will be a great crowd and a great atmosphere at the hill. And it will be special for not only me but also the other athletes, the women, the coaches, the volunteers, and everyone there.
Question: You’ve risen to great heights in this sport in the last couple of years. What do you attribute that to?
Tate: It’s hard to put a finger on what has allowed me to have such great success in the last two years. I’ve been successful climbing the ranks from the lower level competitions all the way to the World Cup, and I’m now climbing into the top levels of the World Cup as well. I’m working extremely hard in training, but that’s something a lot of other athletes do, too.
For me, the biggest factor is sitting down with the coaches and creating an clear picture of what we want to achieve and what the focus is going to be and how I’m going to get there. What makes me good is I am always trying to push myself and wanting to do better, but that can also make me over-complicate things in a sport where technique and small adjustments are so important. So, I’ve worked a lot with our coaches and staff to make sure that we’re simplifying the tasks I’m trying to get at. That allows me to go into a training session or a competition with one or two specific and simple things in mind, and that allows me to be more relaxed and more confident.
Question: I have to ask about ski flying because it’s just incredible. I’ve seen the videos, and you do so well at it. Can you tell us what ski flying is and about your success at it?
Tate: Just your mentioning ski flying puts a smile on my face. It’s a really special thing. In ski jumping, normally we’re competing on 120-meter hills. That’s the size of the hills we use in most World Cups and in the Olympic Games. Ski flying is technically the same thing, but it’s a different classification. The hill size is usually 240 meters so about double the size of the hill that you see in the Olympic Games. And that allows us to fly well over 220 meters in distance. That’s two and a half football fields in the air, and we’re able to fly for six, seven, eight seconds at a time.
Last year was the first year I was old enough to ski fly. You have to be 18 to even go off one of those hills. My first ever chance was at the Ski Flying World Championships in Kulm, Austria, and I went in with very little expectations for myself. I really just wanting to have fun and land on two feet but ended up coming away from that weekend with a top 20 finish, which was the best finish for an American in Ski Flying World Championships in over 30 years. That was a really unexpected and mind-blowing experience.
Just last week actually, I just got home from Oberstdorf, Germany, where we had the first ski flying competition of this season, and I started it off with a new personal record of 227 and a half meters. I had two top 15 finishes in Oberstdorf, so it was a great weekend full of long, super fun, super far jumps and really great consistency. I was proud of flying well over 200 meters on all of my competition jumps, and I’m going to take that confidence with me in the next couple of weeks.
Question: Here in Lake Placid, your family will be at the competition. What is it like for you to have them there?
Tate: Having my family in the stands at the hill will be quite a special experience for me. Almost all our competitions are in Europe, which means my family isn’t around to watch. My parents will be here and my brothers and my grandparents. The whole support system that watched me and helped me grow up and develop as an athlete and a person will be there to watch me compete. It will be fun and motivating, but I also don’t want to get too nervous and try too hard to do too well at home. I just have to forget they’re there when I’m at the top, and once I’m at the bottom after a good jump, I can celebrate with them.
Question: How have you evolved personally as a jumper since the last time the local fans here got the chance to see you compete at the World Cup level two years ago?
Tate: Since my World Cup debut, which really was only two years ago, I feel like I’ve changed an unbelievable amount, not only as a person but also as an athlete and as jumper. It’s been really cool for me to look back at where I’ve come from, not only last year but also two years ago when I was in my first World Cup here in Lake Placid. I was just gaining experience and having fun then, and now I’m coming back having had some great results so far this year. It’s just awesome to scroll back on my phone and look at videos of myself from even 12 months ago and see how much I’ve changed as an athlete. I’m grateful for everything our staff and our coaches have put into me, and I’m also proud of the work I’ve put in. The direct results from that hard work has been really amazing.
When the World Cup came back to Lake Placid in 2023 after 30-plus years, that also happened to be my first ever World Cup. The fact those two things lined up perfectly is so special. And now, as the World Cup in Lake Placid continues to develop, so is my career. I feel like we’re two peas in a pod, both developing at the same high rate. We’re both turning heads. People are focusing more on this event in Lake Placid. The women are here now, and it’s gaining attention. And at the same time, my career has been developing. I’m gaining more focus and attention internationally as well, so it’s a double whammy. It’s pretty special that everything lined up the way it did.
Question: I remember you telling me a couple years ago about how you started as a Nordic-combined athlete and got injured in training. As a result of that injury, you made the decision to focus specifically on ski jumping instead. How do you feel about that decision today?
The decision to go from Nordic combined to ski jumping I made about two years ago, and that same season I debuted in the World Cup here in Lake Placid. Changing sports was not something I wanted to do. It wasn’t my first choice. I was a cross country skier my whole life and grew up as a Nordic combiner, so that’s really all I had ever known. Ski jumping was a little bit of the dark side and the unknown for me at the time.
But I took the opportunity I had in front of me and decided to run with it. Almost immediately I found success in my first season, and it’s only been going up from there. Although it wasn’t my first choice at the time, now I’m 100% grateful that I made that decision. I’m grateful for the injury that happened. I feel like that’s not something that somebody would usually say, but I’m grateful for that negative side of things because it has led to such positive things. I’m feeling lucky and grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to do everything I have and achieve the results I’ve had as a ski jumper. That makes me really look forward to what’s to come as well.
Don’t miss this very special FIS Ski Jumping World Cup. Details and tickets available at this link.
*This interview has been edited slightly for conciseness and clarity.