Alexa Brabec is part of a new generation shaping the future of Nordic Combined. Alexa brings together ski jumping and cross-country skiing at the highest level – but there’s more to her than what you see on competition day.
Since moving to Norway three years ago, it feels like I pretty much started over again learning this sport. It has been three years of trying to absorb everything new I can and pretty much rebuilding my ski jumping from the basics up. Over the three years, it has been what felt like a slow process of learning and trying to execute new ideas, but it has been a relatively consistent path of improvement each year, and this year feels like it was just the next step on the path and culmination of the last couple of years of progress rather than any big change or click.
I think most people who only see me competing in the World Cup might not expect that I grew up alpine skiing and dreamed of going to the Olympics for mogul skiing until I was about 12 years old.
Growing up, I think two of the most consistent things in my life were alpine skiing on the weekends with my family and friends, and always having some sort of art project spread across my desk. One year, I was skiing and the top sheet on my skis started to delaminate. I ended up having to rip the delaminated layer off of my skis which took the graphic off with them. At the time, I had wanted a pair of Bentchetler skis, because I liked the art and graphics on them, and I thought hey, I have a blank pair of skis now, why don't I try painting them and creating my own graphic. After the first pair, I had so many other ideas for things to paint and I really liked the idea of combining skiing with something I loved.
I’m currently studying civil engineering, mainly because of the flexibility of online classes. I study part-time and have found that taking two or three classes a semester is usually pretty manageable alongside skiing During the spring, summer, and fall when I’m mainly training, I actually enjoy having schoolwork to focus on between sessions—it gives me something else to work toward for the future.
On the other hand it can be a bit overwhelming during competition season, and it is usually a game of crunching schoolwork from Monday to Thursday so that I can focus only on skiing on the weekends during competition. Most of the time I am pretty successful in balancing it, but sometimes things slip through the cracks.
I think I would most like the decision makers to see just how hard we've all been working to not only raise the level of competition, but also to bring more eyes and viewers to our sport. And also that Nordic combined is a very unique and difficult sport in that it combines two different disciplines with very different necessary skill sets, and I would hope that they could come to recognize how that makes the sport so cool and challenging, and worthy of continuing to be in the Olympics for both genders.
