ZAO, Japan (Feb. 10) - A weekend of erratic winds and constant restarts came to a close Sunday with a doubleheader FIS Ski Jumping World Cup. Sarah Hendrickson (Park City, UT) led a strong USA effort with three Americans in the top eight in the second of two events Sunday in Zao. Lindsey Van (Park City, UT) was sixth with Jessica Jerome (Park City, UT) eighth. In the opening event early Sunday morning, Hendrickson was fourth, Jerome fifth and Van seventh. Japan's Sara Takanashi swept both wins. The circuit now heads back to Europe with a pair of events in Ljubno, Slovenia before the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Sarah Hendrickson (Park City, UT) was fourth and third in a FIS Ski Jumping World Cup doubleheader Sunday in Zao.
- Hendrickson capped a strong pair of events for the USA with Jessica Jerome (Park City, UT) fifth and sixth and Lindsey Van (Park City, UT) seventh and eighth.
- Japan's Sara Takanashi won both competitions.
- The opening competition was conservative with no one hitting 90 meters. That all changed in the second comp where Takanashi opened first round with a 102.0 meter ride - just a half meter off her hill record set last March.
- Hendrickson was strong with jumps of 93.0 and 92.0.
- The double on Sunday capped a weekend of erratic winds that forced multiple restarts on Saturday before the event was bumped to early Sunday morning.
- The series now swings to Ljubno, Slovenia for a pair of World Cups before the opening of the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships in Italy.
QUOTES
Sarah Hendrickson
There have been a lot of delays during the past days and we did not know how the weather would look like today. Nice to see that everything worked out well and that the conditions were so fine. For our team it was not an easy week because our coach had to leave Japan (death in family), but right now I am really happy about my result.
Jessica Jerome
Because of all the snow and wind, we were all really glad that the comp was canceled yesterday (Saturday) even though that meant we would have two comps in one day. We managed fine with everything. Today was great and we were able to get off four jumps with no problem at all.
I think that I had the conditions on my side today, but aside from that I've been making improvements on my in-run and it felt really good to put two jumps together and make it work. It was a really good day.
RESULTS
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