Jason Blevins
Outdoors/Business Reporter
Sneak Peek of the Week
Steamboat’s Annika Malacinski fights for women in Nordic combined as Olympic organizers push the sport to the brink
Annika Malacinski, a 24-year-old Nordic combined ski racer, at Howelsen Hill ski area in Steamboat Springs on Tuesday, aspires to represent her community and country at the Olympics in 2030, but Nordic combined is the only sport in the Winter Games that excludes women. (Matt Stensland, Special to The Colorado Sun)“We deserve to be at the Olympics.”
— Steamboat Springs Nordic combined phenom Annika Malacinski
1
Number of Olympic disciplines without a women’s competition
There’s a tension inherent in the sport of Nordic combined. Athletes churn through muscle-searing cross-country ski races and then soar off jumps, airborne for more than 350 feet. It’s a blend of athletic and mental skills unlike any other winter sport.
And despite a centurylong Olympic legacy, the sport is straining under an existential threat. The International Olympic Committee has repeatedly rejected women in Nordic combined Olympic contests. The committee in 2022 informed the sport’s governing body that it may cut Nordic combined altogether from the 2030 Winter Olympics lineup, citing a recent assessment of the last three Winter Olympics that shows low audience numbers and a handful of countries harvesting most of the sport’s medals.
“Most people have no idea that because I’m a woman I’m not allowed to compete at the Olympics,” says Annika Malacinski, a 24-year-old Steamboat Springs Nordic combined phenom who is advocating to get her sport in the 2030 Olympic program.
Colorado Sun freelancer Betsy Welch recently spent time with Malacinski, who grew up splitting her school year between Finland and Steamboat Springs.
“In some sense, I lived a double life,” Malacinksi told Betsy. “Funny enough, the sport I do feels like a double life, too.”
Colorado’s oldest continuously operating ski area, Howelsen Hill, has been a driving force in ski jumping since the 1910s. The Steamboat Springs ski hill has produced dozens of Olympic ski jumpers and cross-country skiers. It’s a continental citadel for Nordic combined. The Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club has sent more athletes to the Winter Games than any school in North America, delivering Steamboat Springs an unrivaled Olympic legacy.
About one-third of the club’s Nordic combined athletes are girls. The surging discipline has hosted women’s world championships and athletes from a growing number of countries. It has met the criteria to qualify for the Olympic stage but continues to be left out of Olympic expansions.
While the IOC espouses a commitment to gender equality, Nordic combined remains the only Olympic discipline without a women’s event.
This summer the IOC will review its plans for the 2030 Winter Games and Nordic combined is on the edge. Malacinski is familiar with the brink. She’s there atop every ski jump and as she pushes her endurance to its limits on the race course.
But this time, Betsy writes, it’s not just about the leap she’s ready to make. It’s about whether the Olympic movement is willing to catch up.
“I want to fight for all the girls training just as hard as the men — and for the little girls who dream of this sport. We deserve to be at the Olympics.”
> Click over to The Sun on Friday to read Betsy’s story
Welcome to The Outsider, the outdoors and mountain newsletter from The Colorado Sun. Keep reading for more exclusive news on the industry from the inside out.
If you’re reading this newsletter but not signed up for it, here’s how to get it sent directly to your inbox.
Send feedback and tips to jason@coloradosun.com.
In Their Words
The founder of Revel Bikes revives brand
Adam Miller founded Revel Bikes in 2019 in Carbondale. He sold the company to private equity investors in 2021. In May 2025 announced he was buying the company back, a month after owners announced it was closing. (Handout)”I feel really lucky to have a second chance to build the company the right way and build it for the long run.”
— Revel Bikes founder Adam Miller
Carbondale’s innovative Revel mountain bikes are built for excelling at both the up and down. The company — born in 2019 with two carbon-fiber models — has been enduring a prolonged descent, with the private equity company that bought the bike maker in 2021 announcing a month ago that it was closing up shop and ending the Revel run, citing more than $8million in debt.
Now the company’s founder — Adam Miller, who first designed the carbon-fiber Revel rides in 2015 — has bought the company back and he’s pedaling up. Plans are underway to re-launch Revel in less than two weeks.
Miller announced the Revel revival Wednesday and he’s been inundated with support from cyclists who love his bikes.
“I was not really expecting this. The outpouring of love and positivity has been overwhelming,” he said Wednesday afternoon. “I mean I knew I loved the bikes and I knew some people were fans, but I never expected this.”
The Sun: Congratulations Adam. What prompted you to get back in after selling?
Miller: Things were going great for the industry when I sold to private equity. I stayed on to run the company but I was not really seeing eye-to-eye with the private equity firm and I had to make the difficult decision to leave in 2024. I didn’t really want to, but it was the right thing to do. I was gutted when I heard they were closing. I didn’t expect that. I immediately knew I had to buy it back. I really didn’t think my next venture would be Revel Bikes, but when I heard the news of the shutdown, there really was no other decision I could make.
The Sun: The bike industry has been in a bit of a slump coming out of the pandemic. Why get back in?
Miller: Yeah, the industry is in a really difficult time but I think we are starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. This year might not be amazing but next year should be better. To me, that’s OK and we are going to scale back to accommodate a softer industry and kind of build for the long haul. Every industry has its ups and downs and everything is cyclical. Sure this is a bit of a gamble, but it’s one I’m willing to take. I’m confident we can make this work. I feel really lucky to have a second chance to build the company the right way.
The Sun: The new bikes look amazing. It was kinda wild to see an email April 8 with news of three new Revel models — including a brand-new enduro bike and e-bike — and then a week later there was an email announcing the company was closing.
Miller: Yeah those new designs are projects I started in ‘21-’22 with the private equity owners. They were very willing to fund new product development and those are the best of the best Revel has ever made. We moved production to the best bike factory in the world in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, we partnered with (e-bike motor manufacturer) Bosch for the e-bike and it was so cool to see them finally launch into the world. My guess is that they launched those bikes in a hurry because they knew the company was going to fold and I bet it was a last ditch attempt to find a new buyer before the bank took over. It was so brutal.
The Sun: Did you not amass that kind of debt when you owned the company?
Miller: We never got into that position. If we needed to, we just said “Let’s grow slower.” Instead of trying to hit financial targets, we focused on growing within our means, staying small and growing the right way. In my mind, a company should never get into a position where the lenders are controlling decisions. This is a prime example of what happens when a company is not run responsibly from a financial perspective.
The Sun: Are you worried about production in Asia and all this tariff turmoil?
Miller: I think the tariffs may have been what pushed this company over the edge a month ago. A couple years ago I set up a branch office in Taichung, Taiwan. It’s a small facility with six employees. It’s the best possible setup to be able to sell bikes globally amid this whole tariff disaster. We will be shipping bikes directly from Taiwan. Right now, with these (proposed) tariffs, there is no way we can ship a bike from Colorado to Canada and have it make any kind of financial sense to the customer. And we have a lot of customers in Canada. Now that bike can ship from Taiwan and that customer gets a financially reasonable bike. I have to be optimistic that reasonable minds will prevail here and support good global trade.
The Outsider now has a podcast! Veteran reporter Jason Blevins covers the industry from the inside out, plus indulges in the fun side of being outdoors in our beautiful state.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Breaking Trail
Colorado’s Democratic D.C. delegates enlist bipartisan support for Gunnison public lands bill
Early morning light illuminates Mount Baldy in the Elk Mountains near Crested Butte on July 24, 2022. Areas around the peak would be protected under the GORP Act. (Dean Krakel / EcoFlight, Special to The Colorado Sun)903,000 acres
Colorado public lands that are targeted for increased protections under three land bills proposed this year by Colorado’s federal lawmakers
As federal lawmakers narrowly rejected an amendment to the federal spending bill that allowed the sale of nearly 450,000 acres of public lands in Nevada and Utah, Colorado’s delegates are pushing for increased protections of federal land.
It’s not surprising that Colorado’s Democratic U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper last week reintroduced the Gunnison Outdoor Resources Protection Act — or GORP Act — which marks Colorado’s most ambitious public lands bill in decades. What is surprising is the GORP Act’s co-sponsor, Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd — a first-year politician representing the Western Slope’s sprawling, public lands-rich Congressional District 3.
In a statement, Hurd said he was “honored” to support the bill alongside Bennet.
“This legislation reflects strong local support for the responsible stewardship of our land,” Hurd said.
Earlier this month Hurd was the only Republican on the House Committee on Natural Resources to vote against an amendment to sweeping tax legislation that would allow the federal government to sell more than 450,000 acres of public land in Nevada and Utah.
“I voted no on that because it would violate one of the fundamental principles of public lands management I campaigned on, which is that the decisions should be made by local communities when it comes to federal lands issues,” Hurd told the Grand Junction Sentinel last week. “I don’t believe the government should be imposing top-down land management decisions on federal lands that affect communities — in my district or in others.”
House Republicans on Wednesday stripped the public lands disposal provision from the federal budget bill, with several Western Republicans vowing support for public lands.
Bennet and Hickenlooper first introduced the GORP Act in September after more than a decade of work with the Gunnison Public Lands Initiative, a coalition of 10 public lands groups that include recreational users, ranchers, conservationists, water managers and local elected leaders in Delta, Gunnison and Pitkin counties. The proposal establishes six public lands designations spanning more than 415,000 acres with increased protections impacting Delta, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Ouray, Pitkin and Saguache counties, all of which support the legislation.
“Coloradans have spent over a decade at trailheads and kitchen tables to find common ground and protect Gunnison County’s spectacular landscapes, economy, and natural resources,” Bennet said in a statement announcing the reintroduction of the GORP Act. “This bill proves that people with wide-ranging interests can develop a common vision to preserve our public lands for future generations.”
Bennet and Hickenlooper earlier this month reintroduced their Dolores River National Conservation Area and Special Management Area Act, which would protect more than 68,000 acres of public lands around the Dolores River. Bennet, Hickenlooper and U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse in February reintroduced the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act — known as the CORE Act — which would create additional protections for 420,000 acres of public land in the Colorado high country.
Remembering Ryan
Ryan O’Donoghue in July 2024 snapped a selfie with members of a family who helped his mother when she fell near a homeless camp in Denver. (Courtesy)”When we met eyes it was as if the world stopped turning.”
— Ryan O’Donoghue
It’s been almost two weeks since our friend Ryan O’Donoghue took his life. The outpouring of love, grace and support has been utterly inspiring as his family and friends grieve, celebrate his light and slowly recognize the enormity of the pain and darkness he was navigating.
The beautiful, rallying response to Ryan’s death reflects the empathy and compassion he embodied every day as a father, husband, friend and boss at First Descents, a group that offers adventures to young adults stricken with life-threatening illnesses.
Here’s one of my favorite Ryan stories. It reveals the loving energy Ryan manifested in every step of his life and how those ripples will forever resonate his beauty.
It was a very cold night in February 2024 when Ryan, walking out of a Walgreens in Denver, met a young man from Venezuela. He had a child in a stroller.
“They were literally freezing,” Ryan wrote in a text to friends. So Ryan took the shivering man inside and they picked out diapers, wipes, medicines, healthy foods and drinks and the last gloves in the store. He gave the man a blanket from his car.
Here’s what Ryan wrote to us months later: “He immediately wrapped it around him and his kiddo. It was a real moment of panic for him / them. As a new father, I drove away devastated, feeling hopeless. I can’t remember the last time I cried that hard.”
Fast forward to July 2024. Denver is broiling in 100-degree days. Ryan got a call from his mom’s assisted-living home near his house. She was missing. He joined the police, looking for his mom. A radio cackled while they searched. Someone had seen a woman looking like his mom nearly 2 miles from the facility. He followed police to the location. And there she was. She had wandered and fallen near a homeless camp and people there had helped her, given her water and flagged down help.
She was OK, maybe a bit more confused than usual. He was hugging his mom and helping her into an ambulance when a young man began using his phone to translate how he had found and helped the woman in need.
“When we met eyes it was as if the world stopped turning,” Ryan wrote. “It was the same young man I’d met at a distant Walgreens on the coldest day of the year.”
They embraced. The man introduced him to the rest of his family.
“The time that has passed since has felt like slow motion. Not sure what to make of it,” Ryan wrote. “The math involved is quite profound.” (That last bit is a Phish lyric. Ryan was a big fan of the Phish.)
That act outside a frigid Denver store was only one of millions of ripples Ryan sent out into the world in his 46 years, each a wave carrying — I know this sounds trite, but it’s truth — unfiltered love. Ryan expressed surprise that his outreach for a random man who didn’t speak his language would bounce back when he was in need. No one who knew Ryan was surprised. It’s hardly shocking that his daily light would eventually return to him.
In the months since, friends have shared how Ryan’s open heart has helped them see things they might have earlier missed. He tuned our antennas to new frequencies.
“He’s inspired me to take action where I usually would not,” said a friend who recently provided a woman — “someone who looks like she could be any one of our mothers” — with housing while she struggled through a stretch of homelessness in his rural community. “I was inspired not because his good deed came back around to help for his mother, but because of how emotional it was for him when he gave all the help he could.”
Those ripples, stirred by the man we called “Wolf,” are changing the world with an energy that will last forever.
Thank you Ryan. Godspeed, my brother.
Check out the GoFundMe campaign to support Ryan’s family in the coming months.
And hey, if you or someone you know is going through something that feels too heavy, please reach out for help. Call or text 988.
— j
The Colorado Sun is part of The Trust Project. Read our policies.
Corrections & Clarifications
Notice something wrong? The Colorado Sun has an ethical responsibility to fix all factual errors. Request a correction by emailing corrections@coloradosun.com.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The Outsider .. Steamboat athlete pushing for women in Nordic combined in 2030 Winter Olympics as storied discipline soars )
Also on site :