July 26, 2006 – Canada’s top female ski jumpers leaped to a strong team effort on the final day of Continental Cup action at Canada Olympic Park on Wednesday, with 14-year-old Atsuko Tanaka of Calgary soaring into a top-10 finish under sunny summer skies.

Tanaka, a gold medal winner last season on the Continental Cup circuit, the international competitive tour for the world’s top female ski jumpers, accrued a distance and style points ranking of 200.5 points over two rounds of jumping, good for ninth place in the Normal Hill event.

“Atsuko is rounding back into form,” said Gregor Linsig, head coach of the Canadian Women’s Ski Jumping Team. “As a team, we definitely jumped well today. To have three athletes in or near the top-10 was a good performance, although there’s always room for improvement.”

Two other Canadian jumpers, Nata DeLeeuw and Katie Willis, finished just shy of the top-10, with DeLeeuw, in only her second season on the circuit, flying to an 11th-place finish for her best career result to date. The 15-year-old drew appreciative cheers from hometown spectators with an impressive second-round jump of 85.5 metres, and finished with an aggregate point total of 197.0.

“Nata has proven she really belongs on the Continental Cup tour,” said Linsig.

Fifteen-year-old Willis, who enjoyed a strong fourth-place finish in Tuesday’s competition, tied with American Abby Hughes for the 12th position, with both athletes accumulating 195.5 over two rounds of jumping.

In other Canadian results, Zoya Lynch, 15, and Jaklyn DeVos, 14, finished in the 20th and 23rd spots, respectively.

Completing a clean sweep of the Calgary installment of the Continental Cup was Germany’s Juliane Seyfahrt, who claimed top spot on the podium for the second consecutive day after posting a two-round total of 242.0. The fabulous fraulein and current circuit leader flew the two longest distances recorded on the day, hitting the ground at 95 and 94.5 metres in the first and second rounds, respectively.

The silver medal position was also unchanged from Tuesday’s rounds of competition, with Austria’s Daniela Iraschko clocking in with a second-best total of 228.5 points. Rounding out the podium was Norway’s Anette Sagen, whose second-round distance of 94.5 metres tied her with Seyfahrt for the top mark posted in the final heat.

With two exciting Continental Cup events recently concluded in Park City, Utah, and Calgary, Ski Jumping Canada officials are excited about the potential inclusion of women’s ski jumping in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. Along with Norway and the United States, Canada helped successfully spearhead a recent proposal to have a women’s individual event included at the 2009 FIS World Championship in Liberec, Czech Republic – a critical first step toward the sport achieving Olympic status.

“The performances of all these young women here in Calgary today and yesterday, as well as last week in Park City, demonstrate how much they deserve to compete at the Olympic level,” said Brent Morrice, chairman of Ski Jumping Canada. “Last season we saw gold medal winners in the Continental Cup from seven different countries, including two from Canada, so it’s a very competitive field. We’re very confident the IOC will vote in favour this fall of including women’s ski jumping for 2010, which will be huge boost to gender equality and a tribute to the great efforts of these athletes over the past many years.”



Top-10 Results
1. Juliane Seyfahrt, GER, 242.0; 2. Daniela Iraschko,
AUT, 228.5; 3. Anette Sagen, NOR, 226.0; 4. Jessica Jerome, USA, 212.0; 5. Ulrike Graessler, GER, 209.0; 6. Lindsay Van, USA, 204.0; 6. Ayumi Watase, JPN, 204.0; 8. Alissa Johnson, USA, 201.5; 9. Atsuko Tanaka, CAN, 200.5; 10. Jaqueline Seifriedsberger, AUT, 198.0.

Other Canadian Results:
11. Nata DeLeeuw, Calgary; 12. Katie Willis, Calgary; 20. Zoya Lynch, Calgary; 23. Jaklyn DeVos, Calgary.