February 22, 2013 (Val di Fiemme, Italy) – Park City’s Sarah Hendrickson out-jumped Sara Takanashi of Japan, the World Cup overall title winner, to win the Women’s Ski Jumping title at the 2013 Nordic World Championship in Val di Fiemme, Italy.

Hendrickson’s two jumps of 106 and 103 meters combined with near-perfect style points were more then enough to take the title. Teammate Jessica Jerome had a huge first jump, 100 meters, placing her in 6th, which matches her rank from the 2009 World Championships. Austria’s Jacqueline Seifriedsberger was 3rd.

“I can’t even put it into words right now. I’m so happy. I had confidence on this hill and knew I could have good jumps. But standing at the top before the first round my heart was beating and everything was shaking.

“I didn’t know if I could pull it off, but, obviously, I put together two good jumps. The first jump is important for me mentally. If I have a good first jump I know I can have a good second jump. If I have a hard first jump sometimes I mentally shut down, so it was really important for me,” commented Hendrickson.

Canada’s Atsuko Tanaka scored two strong jumps at 92.0 and 93.0 meters to land 15th overall with 200.2 points.

The USA’s Lindsey Van had a short first jump of 89 meters, but bounced back in the second round to jump 93.5 meters to capture 16th. Teammate Abby Hughes, battling some nerves, didn’t make the second round and finished 33rd.

Two more Canucks also completed with Alexandra Pretorius finishing 34th (85.0, 79.8) and Taylor  Henrich finishing 41st ( 67.0, 49.7).

Americans now have won two of the three World Ski Jumping Championships ever to allow women to compete. Van won the inaugural event in 2009.

Full results HERE.