Bryan Fletcher is a childhood cancer survivor who fell in love with Nordic Combined at a young age. “Like most professional athletes the itch to find out what I am made of is what drives me today. I love learning new things about myself with each competition season that passes. I am humbled by what I have shown to myself I can accomplish thus far and I can’t wait to see how far that goes in the future.”
 

 
We were lucky enough to catch some time with USA Nordic athlete, Bryan Fletcher, between family time, training, and studying.

How did you get into Nordic skiing/jumping?

As a child, I loved the thrill of flying through the air and jumping off things. So, while undergoing chemo, as a distraction from that part of my life, my parents signed me up for a learn to ski jump demo day. I was hooked from the first jump and that same day was enrolled in the program. That was the beginning of my quest to see how far I could take the sport.
 
Tell us about a day in the life:

Right now, I am a full-time athlete, dad, husband, and student. I co-founded a charity called ccThrive which I also work on part-time. A typical day consists of family and training obligations first, followed by school. After my career in Nordic Combined, I hope to pursue a career as a physician assistant.
 

How do you balance your personal life with all the demands of being a world-class athlete?

It’s challenging but one thing that helps is turning your training sessions into stress relief sessions. Being outside, jumping or working on endurance in any form (biking, running, cross-country skiing, backcountry skiing, hiking etc) is when my head is the clearest and my priorities are in focus. This clarity helps me make a plan of action as to how I will accomplish and balance all the tasks at hand.
 
What is your training regimen like?

Finding perfection in two sports is extremely challenging. Training for Nordic Combined requires both endurance and explosive power focuses. That means that nearly every day will have both endurance focused workouts and weight and plyometric focused workouts. Those two physical traits do not like to be balanced so finding the right balance of training for each individual is what our training regimen is like. For me personally, it’s a yearly 60/40 split between endurance and jumping specific training which amounts to nearly 1000 hours a year.
 
How do you keep your body in shape during the off season?

Our competition season runs from Nov to March but the bulk of the training is done in April-Nov. So after the season wraps up mid-march I usually take two weeks off to enjoy as much backcountry skiing as possible and come April 1st it’s back to the plan. However, at this point in the season, I love to mix it up with road biking, running, and backcountry skiing as much as possible.
 

What is your favorite aspect of being on the USA Nordic Team?

The community, our sport has an amazing community surrounding it. From the athletes to the coaches and fans, being on this team is unique. Everyone is involved for life and the love and support is endless. I couldn’t ask for a better family to be a part of.
 
Dogs or cats? Dogs
 
Tinder or Bumble? What are those?
 
Sunrise or Sunset? Both, I love to be up early and enjoy the sunrise from the great wide-open but I also love to be home in time for that sunset BBQ with family and friends!
 
Check out Bryan’s flavor of the week:
 

Keep in touch with Bryan!