MIDWAY, Utah — A Park City native is flying and gliding closer to achieving another Olympic dream – and he has the backing of the Utah business community.
Stephen Schumann competes in the sport of nordic combined. He fell in love with the sport when he first saw a ski jump hill as a child some 20 years ago. “I grew up in the area so obviously the 2002 Winter Olympics had an impact on my life,” he said.
Nordic Combined is a sport that includes two disciplines – the thrill of ski jumping and the endurance of cross country skiing.
“Nordic Combined originally was the best skiers in the Olympics,” Schumann said. “The only skiing sports in the first Olympics in 1924 were ski jumping and cross country skiing. Nordic Combined was basically the king of skiing.”
The sport is widely popular in places like Norway, Finland and Austria. However, in the United States it takes a backseat to more popular events like figure skating and alpine skiing.
Training to compete against the most elite athletes in the world requires a full-time effort. “It's 30-40 hours a week of training,” Schumann said. “We train cross country and ski jumping 50 percent each. We have a morning session. We have an afternoon session.”
Because of the required commitment, sponsors are critical in giving athletes the means to invest their time in training.
Schumann recently connected with Tooele-based Beehive Broadband for a sponsorship deal. “He is driven and focused, focused on his goals,” said Cameron Francis, CEO of Beehive Broadband.
The company has been part of the community for decades. “We are currently celebrating our 60th year in business,” Francis said. “We were founded by a local entrepreneur, an Air Force veteran who served in the Korean War time frame.”
Beehive also sponsors high school teams in the Tooele area. Francis believes it's important to have these community connections because the company's employees and customers are its neighbors.
He’s also impressed by the dedication of the athletes. “I am amazed and astonished when I watch those events,” he said. “Seeing those ski jumpers and the cross country events, it's phenomenal. It’s just unbelievable. I don't know how they develop those skills.”
Schumann, who finished 25th at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, now has his sights set on the 2026 Winter Games scheduled for Italy. He’ll spend much of this upcoming winter training and competing in Europe. He appreciates the assistance from his sponsors like Beehive. “Olympic sports aren't the best funded things from an organizational standpoint,” Schumann said. “So the companies that support us are really important to us as athletes.”
And even though the 2034 Olympics in Utah are more than nine years away – Schumann isn’t ruling out the possibility of competing in those Games when he is in his 30’s. “It's an opportunity almost nobody gets to compete in their home Olympics, in their home nation, let alone in their hometown and in a town is a reason they do what they do,” he said.
