RAMSAU, Austria (Dec. 14) - U.S. ski jumpers continued to show increasing depth with five women in the top 12 at a FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Ramsau. Lindsey Van (Park City, UT) led the way in fourth with Jessica Jerome (Park City, UT) fifth - both season best results. Defending World Cup champion Sarah Hendrickson (Park City, UT) was seventh and stands third in the overall World Cup standings. Japan's Sara Takanashi won over France's Coline Mattel. The women's World Cup now takes a holiday break before resuming in Schonach, Germany in January.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Lindsey Van and Jessica Jerome (both Park City, UT) were fourth and fifth to lead five U.S. women into the top 12 at a FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Ramsau.
- Defending World Cup champion Sarah Hendrickson (Park City, UT) was seventh and stands third in the overall World Cup.
- Abby Hughes (Park City, UT) was 11th and Alissa Johnson (Park City, UT), who led qualifying on Thursday, was a career best 12th.
- Van had the long ride of the day for the U.S. women with an 89.5 meter effort on her second jump.
- Johnson and Jerome had especially strong performances in qualifying on Thursday, finishing one-two.
- The tour takes a break until resuming in January at Schonach, Germany
QUOTES
Lindsey Van
Of course I’d love to be on the podium, but I am happy with my results. I had three really short jumps in a row in training — I’ve really been off balance in the in-run. During the comp today I tried to focus on the basics and make it as simple as possible and tried not to over think it. I literally told myself to stand-up at the take off. My body knows what to do better than my mind.
It’s pretty amazing and we have great depth and we work really well and feed off each other. It was a hard comp and we have a lot of experience on the team to get through that.
Jessica Jerome
I had really good training on the hill here before Sochi and good training yesterday and so I knew I could do well. That’s my best result so far this season and it was night and day from last week. I’m really excited.
I do like the hill. Conditions were a little tough with a lot of tailwind. The American girls have more advantage with tail wind because it feels a lot like how we jump in Park City because of the higher elevation. We know how to handle those conditions better than other jumpers on the tour.
It’s so amazing and I’m so psyched for all the girls on our team. No other team to has come close to doing that right now. We do better when we’re all closer as a team. We have a good dynamic off-hill and we have a lot of fun and we know each other pretty well. All that translates to good results on the hill.
Paolo Benardi, Head World Cup Coach, Women's Ski Jumping USA
Having five athletes in the top 12 is a really big deal. The other coaches told me yesterday (Thursday) how impressed they were with the team. For me, it’s not about the quality of just one athlete, it’s the team that makes us strong. We are definitely the strongest team right now.
Last week we trained here a couple days to test the jump because it’s a little different and hard to understand. Our strategy has been to relax a little so we could be mentally ready. It was a tough-fought competition with some tough conditions. We had no special secret, just wanted to have a good mindset and rest because we have been spending a lot of time in the van, on the plane and on boats traveling.
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