November 22, 2012 (Park City, UT) – It’s only hours now until the exciting kick-off of the FIS World Cup ski jumping circuit, set to commence Friday at the site of the 1994 Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway. The hill is ready and is in great shape and reflects much work and effort on behalf of the Organizing Committee in getting the hill in tip top shape.

As both the men’s and women’s jumping teams are safely on the ground in Norway, we look forward to three-days of stunning competition, including the wonderful, new Mixed team event- two men, two women per team. The U.S.A. women boast a bevy of top skiers, including last year’s World Cup winner, Sarah Hendrickson, 18, of Park City, UT. Canada also features the talented, youthful flyer that enjoyed such a fine off-season, Alexandra Pretorious of Calgary, who won a Grand Prix event this summer.

Other women to watch will be the likes of Austria’s Daniela Iraschko and Japan’s Sara Takanashi or perhaps Ulrike Grassler of Germany, or perhaps one of Hendrickson’s own teammates like former World Champion, Lindsey Van or Jessica Jerome. Jerome said she likes the team concept, saying…”People have responded well to the mixed team event, some teams have strong men and some teams have strong women, so it’s cool to mix it up. It’s cool that countries can come together and call the men or women their “teammates” and really depend on each other. It brings us closer and we genuinely support each other. We are not the strongest mixed-team out there, but if we all have two good jumps we can definitely be a threat.”

In the men’s competition the U.S.A squad will include Pete Frenette and Anders Johnson and the Canadian jumper Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes of Calgary. USASJ coach Clint Jones will be working with the trio.

We spoke with Anders Johnson this morning who offered the following comments…”For the first competitions of the season I want to transfer the positive work from our limited on-snow training into the competitions. The past few seasons it’s taken me longer than I had hopes to get comfortable competing, and this year I would like to start the season in a positive way right from the first jump with a bib on. As far as the team event is concerned it will be interesting to see where Team USA is compared to the summer events in Courchevel and Hinterzarten. We saw some good success for our team, but we were also shorthanded without Sarah and Lindsey. If those two can ski as well as they have in the past, and Pete and myself continue to show progress, who knows, that could be exciting.”

The Austrian team, it has been reported has been in Norway for a number of days, and are getting the feel for the Lysgardsbakken Hill, will likely be among the teams to beat.

The competition in Norway will kick off on Friday, November 23rd, with the Mixed Team event. The HS 100.0 meter hill has a K-Point at 90.0 meters and a World Cup hill record set by Andreas Kofler of Austria at 105.5 meters done in 2011, it was constructed in 1992.

The second week of competition rolls into the Northern climes of Finnish Lapland starting on November 30th in Kuusamo, FIN.