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Paul Smith’s roommates to take on 2023 FISU Games

Timothy Ziegler (Provided photo)

SARANAC LAKE — Paul Smith’s College roommates and Nordic ski team members Aidan Ripp and Timothy Ziegler were in two different mindsets at this time last year. Ripp was helping the team win race after race while Ziegler watched from the side.

Ziegler had suffered a displacement fracture in his left foot about a year ago, which negated most of his freshman year at the school. He was also sidelined for the team’s first-ever combined United States Collegiate Ski Association National Championship victory in March 2022 in Lake Placid.

While he spent that time waxing skis and cheering on teammates, Ripp went on to capture two individual titles at the USCSA championships.

But now the pair will compete together — or rather, against each other — in Nordic combined at the upcoming FISU Winter World University Games in Lake Placid. Nordic combined is a sport that combines cross-country skiing and ski jumping.

“I was out of skiing for I think eight months and jumping for about 10 months, so I’ve been working out and kind of picking up the pieces and getting back into it,” Ziegler said. “I’m very excited that I was able to put down some results that got me selected.”

Aidan Ripp (Provided photo)

Ripp said he is super-excited to compete in the games, but he thinks that it’s even better to be joined by one of his Paul Smith’s teammates.

“I think it just shows that we have a program here, and it’s really exciting to show people that we’re kind of strengthening our tie with USA Nordic and Paul Smith’s,” Ripp said.

Ziegler said it’s special since both he and Ripp have always been close friends.

“He grew up in Minnesota and I grew up in Michigan, and we’ve known each other — jumping and skiing Nordic combined — for years now,” Ziegler said. “It’s just awesome to be both chasing similar goals and ending up in similar places. Seeing how we can push each other on skis but also as teammates, it’s a lot of fun.”

The complete U.S. men’s Nordic combined team was officially released on Tuesday, and while many of the athletes have competed in Lake Placid, it might be safe to say that Ripp and Ziegler will have a bit of an edge on the competition. Through most of their time with the Paul Smith’s team, the pair have trained on the Mount Van Hoevenberg cross-country trails.

Paul Smith’s College student Aidan Ripp jumps through the air at the U.S. Olympic Nordic Combined team trials in Lake Placid on Dec. 24. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

“It will be nice to know the flow of the trails because there is some steep uphills,” Ziegler said. “If you don’t really know the course, it’s easy to blow yourself up and to have too much too quickly and waste your energy.”

Ziegler expects the FISU Games to be one of the biggest events he has ever competed in. The sophomore at Paul Smith’s said he has trained at an international level before but has never competed internationally.

“While it’s not international overseas, it’s against international skiers,” Ziegler said. “I’m just very excited to see what I can do against some Europeans that I haven’t skied against before.”

The competition is expected to be one of the largest international winter events for collegiate athletes; Ripp said he wasn’t sure where this competition ranked amongst the biggest events he has competed in. That’s because Ripp has competed in his fair share of major competitions.

“This competition will definitely be up there, I assume,” Ripp said. “Junior Worlds when I was younger was a pretty big deal as well because they were pretty competitive at that point. A lot of those juniors were winning World Cups or pretty competitive skiers at that point. Last year, I got to ski in the Olympic Trials, and I’m not sure if that was the biggest field, but it was still a quality race.

“I’m excited to see a really in-depth field, I think that will be cool to race against a lot of the people,” he added. “Nordic combined is such a small sport that it’s pretty rare that at least in the U.S. we get to race against a big group or in a big pack.”

Both Ripp and Ziegler said they didn’t really have a goal in mind in terms of a result.

“I’m just looking forward to trusting the process, I know our coach Matt Dougherty doesn’t really get jawed with those kinds of things, and he has definitely prepared us,” Ripp said. “He makes it easy for me, so all I’ll have to do is finish what he writes down on the training plan, and I don’t really try and worry about how good I’ll be. I just sort of trust that I’ll be ready when I show up there. I’m just trying to keep everything as best as I can.”

The first Nordic combined competition will take place on Jan. 13 with the individual Gundersen event at Mount Van Hoevenberg and the Olympic Jumping Complex.

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