August 28, 2007 (Lake Placid, NY) – The top women ski jumpers in the world – including the six-member U.S. Ski Team – will be in Lake Placid Aug. 28-29 for two days of Continental Cup jumping at the 1980 Olympic Jumping Complex. The Team, led by 12-time U.S. champion Lindsey Van (Park City, UT), then moves to the 2002 Olympic venue in Park City, Utah as the summer competition period concludes Sept. 1-2.

Continental Cup is the highest level of competition for women jumpers, who will debut at the World Championships in 2009 in Liberec, Czech Republic. They hope to be included in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Van, who spent a year at the National Sports Academy in Lake Placid when the Utah Olympic jumps were being constructed, has been ranked in the top three of the Continental Cup standings for all three seasons of the tour’s existence. She was second in 2005 and ’06, then third last season when she dominated the final month of the Continental Cup schedule, winning three events and producing four other podiums.

First-year Head Coach Kjell Ivar Magnusson expects the U.S. women to be very competitive because of their familiarity with the two Olympic venues, which will be the biggest hills the women have competed on thus far in the 2008 season. “I think the girls will be comfortable with these hills,” he said as the Team returned from the first round of competition in Europe. “They are motivated even more to do better here and I think they will have good results.”

“We’re excited about getting these two jumping competitions in Lake Placid,” U.S. Nordic Director Luke Bodensteiner said. “We’ve got a bigger team this season and they have a new coach, who’s got them making some advances with their technique, and they’re all anxious to do well as they come to the United States after opening the season in Europe.”

In addition to Van, who won both women’s jumping events in Lake Placid during Fourth of July festivities, the U.S. Ski Team includes five other Park City skiers: Alissa Johnson, who was born outside Lake Placid in Plattsburgh, NY, before her family moved to Utah; Jessica Jerome, Abby Hughes, Brenna Ellis and Avery Ardovino, who collected her first top-5 result in Bischofsgruen, Germany, when she was fifth this month. In addition, one or two other American jumpers are expected to compete at each site, Bodensteiner said.

The schedule:

– August 28-29 – Olympic Jumping Complex, Lake Placid, 100-meter hill
– September 1-2 – Utah Olympic Park, Park City, 100 meter-hill