Cara Larson, center, and Erin Bianco hug after the Mixed Team Nordic Combined Sprint at the 2023 FISU World University Games on Jan. 19 in Lake Placid. Also pictured is Niklas Malacinski. (Photo by Hailey Trejo/FISU Games)

LAKE PLACID — If Niklas Malacinski hadn’t already put the Nordic combined world on notice, he definitely did it at the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Winter World University Games.

Malacinski, of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, won his fourth medal of the FISU Winter World University Games — a bronze — on Thursday, Jan. 19. He won it alongside women’s ski jumper Cara Larson of Barrington, Illinois, and cross-country skier Erin Bianco of Ely, Minnesota, in the mixed team Nordic event. They finished 48.5 seconds behind the gold-medal-winning team from Japan.

Malacinksi said it feels great to medal in all four Nordic combined competitions.

“There’s really not any words for it other than just to be thankful for the opportunities I’ve gotten,” he said, “and to be healthy for all of the training season to hit my peak this time of the year.”

The top Japanese team of Sakutaro Kobayashi, Rin Sobue and Machiko Kubota won the event with excellent speed on the course but an even better jump that earned them 234.4 points. They finished in a time of 12:14.7.

The Polish team of Nicole Konderla, Andrze Szczechowicz and Weronik Kaleta placed second with a cross-country time of 12:22.2 and an overall jump score of 209.7.

This was the first time the mixed team Nordic event was held during a World University Games. It requires a team of three, with one male and one female competing in ski jumping and cross-country skiing. Teams had to pick a Nordic combined athlete, a ski jumper and a cross-country skier to compete.

The competition started at the Olympic Jumping Complex in Lake Placid, where Malacinski and Larson jumped out to a combined score of 188.2, which landed them in fifth place heading into the cross-country portion of the race.

Malacinski earned a jump score of 107.6 — the fourth best among male jumpers ­– while Larson had a jump score of 80.6, which was the sixth best among female ski jumpers.

“I think I did well,” Larson said. “I definitely needed some help from them, but hopefully I set them up well, and that’s all you can ask for.”

After the ski jump, the U.S. team was forced to start 1 minute and 2 seconds behind the top Japanese team based on their jump scores. However, the delayed start didn’t hold Malacinski and Bianco back.

Malacinski jumped out to the third fastest time by a male cross-country skier before tagging Bianco.

“For me, starting second, I just wanted to chase down whoever was in front of me,” Bianco said. “This course, on those long climbs you can see them, so I just tried to hunt them down and stay on my feet.”

She did just that, edging out two teams while recording the fastest time by a female on the course. The medal marked her and Larson’s first of the games.

The second U.S. team of Logan Gundry, Tess Arnone and Cameron Wolfe took 11th place out of 12 teams. Arnone, of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and Gundry, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, competed in the ski jumping competition and earned a combined jump score of 91.8.

Arnone and Wolfe, of Vail, Colorado, competed in the cross-country portion and recorded a time of 13:08.8.