October 4, 2008 (Park City, UT) – Lindsey Van (Park City, UT) led the U.S. Ski Jumping Team in a Continental Cup competition Friday, finishing sixth in Liberec, Czech Republic on the hill where in three months she will once again compete in the first women’s World Championship ski jumping event. “I had one pretty good jump, so it was close,” Van said. “The good jump was like my last jump in Germany. It’s like I finally figured [the jump] out. I felt like it was the second jump of the competition and I just had to do what I needed to do and hoped for the best.”

The competition, which was won by Ulrike Graessler of Germany, was the women’s first taste of competition on the Czech hills, which are, according to Van, very unique. “It’s a very unique hill so it takes a bit to figure it out. It has a really long and flat in-run and the takeoff is really short. Then you’re only a foot and a half over the knoll and you’re on the ground. So it’s a really low flying hill,” Van said. “You could pretty much land at any second. You really have to try and jump far.”

Allissa Johnson was next up for the U.S. women in 12th, Jessica Jerome was 17th, Abby Hughes was 20th and Avery Ardovino (all Park City, UT) was 24th. According to Van, the competition was incredibly close, but surprisingly unaffected by high winds. “The field is pretty strong and it was really close today. It makes things really reliant on style as well,” Van said. “Also, I thought this was going to be the place with the craziest wind, but when we had the competition, it was the most fair competition we’ve had.”

Germany’s Magdalena Schnurr took second place in the competition and Izumi Yamada of Japan was third. The two sit in the top three with Graessler who leads the Continental Cup overall standings. Alissa Johnson is the highest ranked American in seventh.

The women compete again on Saturday in the Czech Republic and will return Feb. 20 to compete in the inaugural women’s ski jumping World Championship event. “I’m just trying to carry over my good jump today and do it tomorrow,” Van said. “Hopefully I can have two good jumps.”

For complete results click here.

Results

1. Ulrike Graessler, Germany, 247.5 (points)
2. Izumi Yamada, Japan, 247.0
3. Magdalena Schnurr, Germany, 244.0
4. Elena Runggaldier, Italy, 237.0
5. Anette Sagen, Norway, 236.5
6. Lindsey Van, Park City, UT, 235.5
7. Ayumi Watase, Japan, 234.5
8. Maja Vtic, Slovenia, 234.0
9. Nata de Leeuw, Canada, 229.5
10T. Line Jahr, Norway, and Jenna Mohr, Germany, 225.5
–
12. Alissa Johnson, Park City, UT, 223.5
17. Jessica Jerome, Park City, UT 212.0
20. Abby Hughes, Park City, UT, 207.0
22. Atsuko Tanaka, Canada, 197.5
24. Avery Ardovino, Park City, UT, 186.5
34. Katie Willis, Canada, 76.5