Wow it's been a crazy month since I last updated my website. Following Winter Start in Steamboat, I traveled to Park City, Utah for the first Continental Cups of the winter. Continental Cups are the step below World Cup and are very competitive! Last winter my best ever result was 36th place. I went into the week with a goal of placing in the top 30. I shattered my expectations on the first day. I had a very solid jump putting me into 4th place! I started the race in 4th and hung the best I could throughout the 10 km course. I remember 7.5 km's into the race I was in 9th place. That's when it kind of hit me how well I was doing. I ended up finishing in 14th place. This was a huge accomplishment for me and gave me confidence that I can be very competitive at this level. The next day I jumped to 13th and finished 23rd. Once again I was in the top 30 which earned me COC points. At the end of the week I had 26 COC points which put me 22nd overall on the Continental Cup Circuit. My results during this week qualified myself for the Olympic Trials, World Junior Championships, and in three weeks I get to compete in my first ever World cup in Oberstdorf, Germany. After the Continental Cups I had a week off in Steamboat and my girlfriend Sofi came to visit for the holidays. It was an awesome relaxing week then off to Park City again for the Olympic Trials. The Trials were awesome and the fans were great! That was the most people I have ever seen spectating for the sport of Nordic Combined. It was an awesome atmosphere with all the fans, my family, and my girlfriend watching. Unfortunately I couldn't put together the jump I know I'm capable of. I ended up winning the practice round with a 92.5 meter jump. My nerves got the best of me and the competition jump was 84 meters and put me towards the back of the race. I was a little discouraged but ended up skiing one of my best races of the year! I learned that I need to work on handling the pressure of big competitions but I also gained more confidence in my racing. I showed myself that if I put a good jump and race together I can compete with the best. So this is now my last week in Steamboat for the winter. I leave January 14th for Europe and return home March 17th. While in Europe I will be competing in my first ever World Cup. I will then travel to the World Junior Championships in Val di Fiemme. After that I will continue onto the Continental Cup Circuit for the rest of the winter. A lot of fun to come and I will update you on all of it! Thank you for all the support. I couldn't do it without you! - Ben Berend
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