March 01, 2013 (Park City, UT) – Women’s ski jumping will be featured on NBC’s “Rock Center with Brian Williams” on Friday, March 1 at 10 p.m/9 central. The segment, “Flight Delay”, shares the story of Lindsey Van and her teammates as they train to compete and make their Olympic debut in Sochi 2014.

“Rock Center” Correspondent Kate Snow interviewed and spent time with Van, Jessica Jerome, Sarah Hendrickson, Abby Hughes, Alissa Johnson, and Deedee Corradini, Women’s Ski Jumping USA president, in Park City and in Germany during World Cup competition.

“I’ve watched Olympic ski jumping since I was a kid, but I simply never realized there was a reason I was watching only MEN do the jumping,” said Snow. “When I heard about the fight these women have waged, I wanted to meet them.”

The Visa Women’s Ski Jumping Team is ranked No. 1 in the world going into the final two World Cup competitions of the season. The team is led by 18-year-old Hendrickson, who recently won gold at the World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy.

“The next year is going to be both exciting and critical for our U.S. women ski jumpers and we’re thrilled that Kate Snow and NBC’s ‘Rock Center’ chose to tell their inspiring story in prime time,” Corradini said.

February 04, 2013 (Sapporo, Japan) – Park City’s Sarah Hendrickson was 3rd and 7th in a pair of tough and windy competitions in Sapporo this weekend, boosting her to second place overall on the World Cup.

Hours before Sunday’s event, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake rattled the northern Japanese island of Hakkaido, the epicenter of which was about 120 miles east of Sapporo. There were no reports of damage, though it made for an interesting start to Sunday’s competition.

Hendrickson endured multiple gate change delays to finish on the podium in 3rd place with jumps of 93.5 and 87.5 meters. U.S. teammates Lindsey Van clinched 8th with jumps of 91 and 87 meters, Jessica Jerome was a strong 15th with jumps of 87 and 90.5 meters, and Abby Hughes was 29th with jumps of 80 and 78 meters. Austria’s Jacqueline Seifriedsberger claimed her first World Cup victory and Norway’s Anette Sagen had a huge leap of 99 meters in her second round to take 2nd.

“It was typical weather for this area and made the comp very difficult,” said Van. “You never know what kind of wind you are going to get, so it is like a lotto game. I enjoy the randomness most of the time, though. It is an outdoor sport and is always fun.”

Saturday’s event ended after the first round of jumping due to high and irregular winds, leaving Hendrickson in 7th, Jerome in 10th, Van 28th and Hughes 34th. France’s Coline Mattel was 1st over Seifriedsberger and Sagen.

Home country favorite and current World Cup leader Sara Takanashi, 16, finished 12th on Saturday and 5th on Sunday.

World Cup competition continues Feb. 9-10 in Zao, Japan.

Results at www.fisskijumping.com

October 25, 2011 – Women’s Ski Jumping USA has nominated eight of the top women athletes in the nation to represent the Visa Women’s Ski Jumping Team in one of the most historic seasons ever for the sport. Jessica Jerome, Lindsey Van, Sarah Hendrickson, Alissa Johnson and Abby Hughes (all of Park City, UT) will make up the Visa Team. Nita Englund (Florence, WI), Nina Lussi (Lake Placid, NY) and Emilee Anderson (Eau Claire, WI) will represent the Visa Development Team.

Women’s ski jumping makes its debut on the International Ski Federation World Cup circuit this winter, which means better ski jumping venues and more international support and broadcast time for the events. Also, the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, AUT, in January will be the first International Olympic Committee-sanctioned event to include women’s ski jumping on the program.

Alan Alborn, WSJ-USA head coach, said team members have worked hard this summer in preparation for the season and believes they have gained strength not only physically and technically, but mentally as well.

“The World Cup season will push them to their limits and I believe that we have the strongest team in the world,” Alborn said.

To make the Visa Team, the jumpers had to meet criteria including performance benchmarks on last year’s Continental Cup. Development team nominations are per the coaches’ discretion and the athletes have to be junior-level status.

“The World Cup is something bigger compared to the Continental Cup and it will present a new challenge even for the most experienced athletes,” said WSJ-USA International Coach Paolo Bernardi, who will be traveling with the Visa Team. “I want to make that challenge and the new atmosphere a plus for their performance.”

There will be 14 competitions on the women’s World Cup (WC) circuit, including stops in Germany, Italy, Poland, Austria, Slovenia and Japan. The WC opener is Dec. 3 in Lillehammer, NOR and the season ends March 9, 2012, in Oslo, NOR on the Midstubakken hill, the same venue that hosted the 2011 World Ski Jumping Championships.

Also this year, Jessica Jerome and Lindsey Van have met U.S. Ski Team criteria to receive some support and access to elite athlete resources offered through the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association in addition to the primary support they receive from WSJ-USA.

2012 Visa Women’s Ski Jumping Team Nomination

Team A
– Jessica Jerome, Park City, UT
– Lindsey Van, Park City, UT

Team B
– Sarah Hendrickson, Park City, UT

Team C
– Abby Hughes, Park City, UT
– Alissa Johnson, Park City, UT

Development Team
– Nita Englund, Park City, UT
– Nina Lussi, Lake Placid, NY,
– Emilee Anderson, Eau Claire, WI

Fifteen-year-old Emilee Anderson, of Eau Clair, WI, will represent the U.S. and the Visa Women’s Ski Jumping Team at the Innsbruck 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games.

The Winter Youth Olympic Games is an international multi-sport event held under the authority of the International Olympic Committee that will take place every four years, consistent with the current format of the Olympic Winter Games. The Innsbruck Games will run from Jan. 13-22, with an expected 1,057 athletes between the ages of 14-18 from more than 80 countries participating.

Anderson won her spot on the team through a qualifying competition at the Flaming Leaves Festival ski jumping competition in Lake Placid, NY, in October.

Anderson started ski jumping when she was 5, following in the footsteps of her older sister, Elisabeth, a former jumper who now attends Westminster College in Salt Lake City. “My sister stuck with it and did so good and I wanted to be able to do that,” Anderson said.

Anderson’s longest jump so far of her young career is 86.5 meters on a K90 jump. While she travels many weekends for competitions, she’s never been to Europe to compete.

“It’s a really big honor for me (to go to the Youth Games),” she said. “It’s one of my goals and a dream come true.”

Julie Anderson, Emilee’s mother, said she’s excited for her daughter to be part of something so historic. “This is so important because women’s ski jumping is finally a legitimized Olympic event now and Emilee has a big responsibility to represent that well.”

According to the IOC, the Youth Olympic Games aim to inspire youth around the world to embrace, embody and express the Olympic Values of excellence, friendship and respect. It will create a lasting sport, culture and education legacy for youth from around the world, as well as enhance and elevate the sporting culture locally and regionally.

“I’ve watched her come up for the past two years and Emilee has gained confidence and increased her technique on the hill,” said WSJ-USA Head Coach Alan Alborn. “We’re excited for her to be part of this team.”

September 30, 2011 (Fox River Grove, Illinois) – The Visa Women’s Ski Jumping Team is in suburban Chicago this week to participate in the U.S. National Ski Jumping Championships, hosted by the Norge Ski Club.

Jessica Jerome, Sarah Hendrickson, Alissa Johnson and Abby Hughes will jump Saturday, Oct. 1, in the normal hill (K70) competition. Jerome won the large hill national title in July in Park City, Utah. Lindsey Van is nursing a leg injury and will not be competing.

The Norge Ski Club is hosting a National Championship for just the second time in the club’s 107-year history.

“It’s terrific to have Nationals here,” said Visa Team Head Coach Alan Alborn. “The Norge hill is one of the few in the nation of this size (K70). It’s not too big and not too small, so it’s a great venue for older, more experienced jumpers and the young up-and-comers, too.”

Norge Ski Club is part of the U.S. Central Division for ski jumping. There are 14 clubs in Central (Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin), with each having at least one ski jump. Alborn said the Central Division has by far the most active young female jumpers in the nation – at least 60 between the ages of 5 and 16.

“This atmosphere and this competition will provide a great opportunity to naturally see how our team is performing and it will be a good indicator for what’s to come this winter,” Alborn said. The inaugural FIS World Cup tour for women begins Dec. 3 in Lillehammer, Norway. World Cup status means better jumping venues and more television broadcasts for the women’s events, as well as increased prize money.

Alborn, the Visa Team’s new head coach, is based in Park City and also is the head coach for the Nordic Program at Utah Olympic Park. Growing up in Alaska and later Steamboat Springs, Colo., Alborn was a natural ski jumper. He competed on the World Cup for 10 years and is a three-time Olympian. He notched six National Championship titles in his career and still holds the American distance record for ski flying – 221.5 meters, or 720 feet, which he earned in the spring of 2002 at Planica, Slovenia. He retired in 2007.

Alborn is joined by International Coach Paolo Bernardi to help lead this year’s Visa Team. Bernardi, from Italy, was the ski jumping head coach for the Italian Nordic Combined Team and most recently was the wax tech and technical consultant for the USA Nordic Combined Team. He is a former Nordic Combined athlete who twice won Italy’s National Championships.

For more information about Saturday’s National Championship event, go to www.norgeskiclub.com.

The Visa Women’s Ski Jumping Team is sponsored and organized by Women’s Ski Jumping USA, a 501c3 nonprofit foundation. To learn more, go to www.wsjusa.com.

January 27, 2011 (Otepaa, Estonia) – Coline Mattel brought home the gold for France at the Junior World Championships in Otepää on Thursday after placing second last year and third the year before. Leading after the first round Mattel was in a tight race with Spela Rogelj (SLO) for the top spot besting her by a slim margin of 3.5 points followed by Japan’s Yuki Ito only 5.5 points back.

It was Rogelj’s first podium at a COC or World Championship event. Ito had the longest jump of the day at 99m for a career-best result.

“I am very happy, because I jumped well and even if I was nervous I knew that a lot of people were expecting me to win, because of the last year and year before that,” said Mattel in a FIS interview post-race. “The competition was difficult because of the wind. I think I was very nervous and maybe I didn’t jump as well as I am capable of. It was nice competition because everyone was fighting for the win.”

Sarah Hendrickson (Park City, UT) was the top U.S. finisher in 18th Hendrickson’s score of 205.0 with jumps of 86.5 and 84.1 meters was followed up by fellow Americans Nita Englund (Iron Mountain, MI) in 18th, Avery Ardovino (Park City, UT) in 37th and Nina Lussi (Lake Placid, NY) in 38th.

Top Canadians were Taylor Henrich (Altius Nordic Ski Club) in 25th with a score of 188.5 followed by Charlotte Mitchel (Altius Nordic Ski Club) in 29th with 175.5.

The FIS World Junior Ski Jumping Championship men’s HS 100 is scheduled for Friday.

Complete results HERE.

Results

1. Coline Mattel (FRA) (96.5, 98.5) 257.5
2. Spela Rogelj (SLO)  (96.5, 96.5) 254.0
3. Yuki Ito (JPN) (93.0, 99.0) 252.0

18. Sarah Hendrickson (USA) (86.5, 84.5) 205.0
25. Taylor Henrich (CAN) (81.5. 84.5) 188.5
28. Nita Englund  (USA)  (83.5, 76.5) 178.0
29. Charlotte Mitchell (CAN) (79.5, 80.0) 175.5
37. Avery Ardovino  (USA) (74.5) 76.5
38. Nina Lussi  (USA) (73.5) 75.0