Alexa Brabec remembers the panic in June, questioning whether there was a future for her in Nordic combined.

That month, Brabec and her teammates were notified by USA Nordic Sport (now known as USA Ski Jumping) that the organization would no longer fund the Nordic combined national team program or its partnership with the Norwegian National Team.

The setback was detrimental to the offseason, but the emergence of Nordic Combined USA righted the ship for American athletes. Now just a handful of months later, Brabec is turning heads following two top-five finishes at the Seefeld Triple in Austria over the weekend. 

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Brabec even impressed herself. 

“I was happy with the previous seasons, and I thought even if I can be a little better than that, I would be satisfied,” Brabec said. “I had big goals but I knew the situation was rough. To be here now, with a fourth and fifth place after where we were, is absolutely incredible.” 

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Following 11th- and fifth-place performances on Friday and Saturday, respectively, Brabec had her eyes on climbing the ladder even further in the three-event weekend. 

The 20-year-old sat atop the inrun of the 109-meter ski jump Sunday with a lot on her mind.

“It can be hard with ski jumping to get it right every time so I was nervous, but I knew I had the capabilities to jump into the top,” Brabec said. 

The Steamboat Springs native soared 98.5 meters, the farthest jump of any woman on Sunday. 

“Right when I got in the air, I was not so sure it was going to be a good jump,” Brabec explained. “It ended up building quite well and I flew all the way to 98.5 (meters), which is a pretty good distance. Also, I landed in tele which is something I had been struggling with in previous days and previous comps.” 

Landing in tele means the athlete touches down with one ski in front of the other, similar to the Telemark skiing stance. It helps with balance and maximizes style points. 

Brabec’s fourth-place jump gave her great position to jockey for a podium spot in Sunday’s 7.5-kilometer cross country race. This was the closest to the front Brabec had ever started in a World Cup race, spurring slight changes to her typical race strategy. 

In Saturday’s race, Brabec had the third-fastest time. She knew her biggest competitor for a podium place on Sunday was Haruka Kasai (Japan), who started in sixth position. 

Originally, Brabec had planned to ski controlled and keep pace with Kasai early on, finishing the race with an all-out sprint. 

“That strategy ended up falling apart,” Brabec said. “I ended up leading most of the race and getting a pretty good gap on the pack in the third lap, but (Kasai) ended up being stronger than me on the last hill and I couldn’t keep up with her.” 

Brabec took fourth, missing the podium by just nine seconds. It was a full-circle moment for her, improving on her previous career-best 10th-place finish in Seefeld last year. 

Brabec has seen marked improvements in both her ski jumping and cross country performances this season. Still, she says she can make up ski jumping points with improved tele-landings and make-up time in cross country with a stronger final-lap sprint. 

Brabec looks to hone in on those final tweaks this weekend at the World Cup event in Otepää, Estonia.

“I don’t try to put too much pressure on myself in terms of results,” Brabec said. “I mostly try to focus on the process, but obviously getting on a podium in a World Cup would be absolutely amazing.”