March 17, 2013 (Oslo, Norway) – Sarah Hendrickson (Park City, UT) flew 133.5 meters to her fourth World Cup win for a historic victory at the women’s large hill debut and season finale at the legendary Holmenkollen. Hendrickson jumped 133.5 and 129.0 meters and, with her more polished telemark style on landing, won over Japanese rival Sara Takanashi’s distance.

Sarah Hendrickson © Women's Ski Jumping USA

Hendrickson ended up second in the World Cup overall standings behind Takanashi (1,297-1,047), while Lindsey Van (Park City, UT) placed eighth and Jessica Jerome (Park City, UT) ninth. For the second year in a row, Women’s U.S. ski jumping clinched the women’s nation ski jumping World Cup title.

HIGHLIGHTS

– Sarah Hendrickson (Park City, UT) flew to her fourth World Cup win at the women’s large hill debut and season finale at the legendary Holmenkollen.
– It was the women’s first time on the large hill and Hendrickson and Japanese rival Sara Takanashi consistently jumped to the bottom of the 134-meter hill.
– Hendrickson jumped 133.5m and nailed a perfect telemark landing while Takanashi went out to 134.0m but had a weak landing with no telemark.
– In the second round, Takanashi went before leader Hendrickson and flew out to 133.5m.
– Hendrickson jumped quite a bit shorter at 129m, but much better style points and less wind compensation earned her a winning score.
– Lindsey Van (Park City, UT) was fourth after her first 122.5m jump and Jessica Jerome (Park City, UT) was 9th, but they both dropped in second jump to seventh and 10th respectively.
– Alissa Johnson (Park City, UT) and Abby Hughes (Park City, UT) finished 19th and 28th.
– Sunday’s event was the first time that men and women jumped together on the same hill and alternated rounds, which worked out great for the crowd on hand.
– Holmenkollen is one of most legendary and prestigious jumping venues in the sport.
– Hendrickson won four World Cups this year, including one of the Sochi test events.
– She won back-to-back World Cups this week in Norway, Trondheim on Friday and Holmenkollen on Sunday.
– Hendrickson ended up second in the World Cup standings behind Takanashi (1,297-1,047), while Van placed eighth and Jerome ninth.
– Women U.S. ski jumpers clinched the women’s nation ski jumping World Cup title for the second year in a row, winning the title in each of the two years that the sport has been a part the World Cup.
– Hendrickson will be honored by Utah Governor Gary Herbert as Olympian of the Year for 2012 on April 16.

QUOTES

Sarah Hendrickson
We put on red lipstick to celebrate the season final and show that we’re girls and we’re proud of it. We’ve come a long way with women’s ski jumping. It’s a historical day for us jumping the big hill and we’re proud of it.

Winning here just increases the love I have for ski jumping. Every day I just show up to have fun and to have so many people out here to watch the girls competing on the big hill, it’s just awesome.

Jumping here today, I can hardly put into words. I love jumping big hills. We’ve been able to train on big hills for the past couple weeks at home, which is what I love. The bigger the hill, the better, for me. Then jumping in front of so many people and with the guys. It’s an amazing experience and I love ski jumping more and more every day. Yeah, wonderful day to remember forever.

Yeah, Sara (Takanashi) had wonderful jumps today, as always. Luckily I was able to squeeze it out with style points.

Official Results
Official World Cup Standings