American Nordic combined athlete Alexa Brabec earned her first career podium finish at the women's World Cup season opener in Trondheim, Norway, marking the first time a U.S. athlete has earned a World Cup medal in five years.

Brabec, age 21, leapt 94.0 meters (about 308 feet) in the jumping portion of the individual Gunderson normal hill on Dec. 4, earning a 5th-place starting position for the 5km cross-country race. After skiing up to a pack of the four skaters who began before her, Brabec pushed her way into 3rd, holding her position the whole way through the finish line. She finished the race in 14:45.3 minutes for bronze. 

Brabec also finished 4th in the mass start normal hill/5k.

“I have been working so hard this summer, and without the Olympics on the plate for us, podiuming in a World Cup was my big goal," Brabec told Nordic Combined USA after the race. "It feels so insane to have achieved it and at the first World Cup of the season, too.”

Nordic combined is the only Olympic sport, winter or summer, which does not include a women's event. The International Olympic Committee is expected to make a decision regarding whether or not to include the event on the 2030 Olympic program sometime after the 2026 Games in Milan Cortina.

Americans Annika Malacinski and Tara Geraghty Moats finished 17th and 19th, respectively, in the women's individual normal hill/5k.

Niklas Malacinski earned the men's highest finish of the weekend, placing 15th in the mass start normal hill/10k. In the World Cup opener a week before, no American placed higher than 26th (Ben Loomis) in any event.

The United States has not earned an Olympic medal of any color since 2010, when the team exploded for four podium finishes (1 gold, 2 silvers) and busted an 86-year-long Olympic medal drought. 

Shortly following the Beijing Games in 2022, USA Nordic Sport, which then included both the Nordic combined and ski jumping disciplines, struck a deal with the Norwegian national team in which the two countries would share resources, training staff, technology, and more. American athletes began living and training in Norway through much of the year, and the two American teams drastically have seen increased success in international competition in the years since.

The Nordic Combined World Cup continues with a men's competition Dec. 13 and 14 in Ruka, Finland. The women will compete next Dec. 18-20 in Ramsau, Austria.