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Germany’s Vogt Wins Olympic Gold as Women’s Ski Jumping Debuts at Games in Sochi – Jerome 10th, Tanaka 12th

by skitrax.com

Carina Vogt (GER) [P] Nordic Focs

February 13, 2014 (Sochi, Russia) – Carina Vogt (Germany) stunned favourite Sara Takanashi (Japan) to win the first Olympic gold medal in women’s ski jumping on Feb. 11 night at RusSki Gorki Jumping Centre.

Vogt, who has never won a world cup event, led after her first round jump of 103m and held on to win with a final round jump of 97.5m. Daniela Iraschko-Stolz (Austria) moved up from fifth after the first round to win silver, while Coline Mattel (France) claimed bronze.

(l-r) Daniela Iraschko-Stolz (AUT), Carina Vogt (GER), Coline Mattel (FRA) [P] NordicFocus

USA’s Jessica Jerome (USA) logged the top North American finish in 10th place, followed by Canada’s Atsuko Tanaka (CAN) in 12th, Taylor Henrich (CAN) in 13th, Lindsey Van (USA) in 15th, and Sarah Hendrickson (USA) in 21st.

“It’s hard not to notice all of this. Of course, I was trying to zone it out and treat it like any other competition just to keep my nerves down,” Jerome told reporters after the historic night that saw women’s ski jumping debut at the Olympic Games.

“There’s a camaraderie that all of us girls share, even from other countries, because we’ve all been fighting the same fight for so many years. At the top of the jump we’re high-fiving Norwegians and Canadians and Finns. Everyone is just really happy,” she added.

However, the night was bittersweet for Jerome: “I can say top 10 and that’s great, but of course I would have liked more.”
Teammate Van described the emotional roller coaster of the event. “It was the best experience ever. I had a lot of emotion coming in to it. I’m surprised I didn’t cry,” she said. “I feel way better now and more relieved than in any time in my whole career. It’s the first time in my life I’m living in the now and not talking about what I’m going to do. Today made me extremely happy.”
Former ski jumping world champ, Hendrickson received a very significant honour in the competition in wearing the number one bib. “I’m used to being among the last ones in bib numbers (last to go) and then someone pointed out that I would be the first girl ever to jump in the Olympics and that’s a pretty cool thing. It’s an honor to open up this competition to the 29 girls behind me and I think we put on an awesome show tonight and the world saw what we we’ve been working for,” she said.
Takanashi, who was third after the first round, finished in fourth place. She had not missed the podium in her last 19 world cup events entering Sochi 2014.

Vogt’s victory is the first by a German woman in a major ski jumping competition since the inception of women’s world championship and world cup events.

Full results here.