Hendrickson celebrates historic victory

And so we want to talk about the facts. The first ever ladies' World Cup competition on the Olympic hill in Lillehammer was a success. 46 participants (Silje Sprakehaug/NOR could not take part because she suffered a knee injury when she fell in training on Friday) showed the about 3000 spectators and media representatives from three continents an exciting competition. And everyone agreed afterwards: Today everything was good, the interest of the fans and the media, the mix of jumps by men and women.

This is Sarah Hendrickson »

Sarah Hendrickon, only 17-year-old and third at the Junior World Championships 2010 in Hinterzarten, won and with her the carefreeness of the youth. She showed the longest jump in both rounds with 100.5 and 95.5 m and won with a lead of 29.3 points - normally such dominance can be seen only of Daniela Iraschko. The Austrian, handicapped by a injury not too long ago, finished fourth.

"I trained well in summer and that paid off", Hendrickson said afterwards, but she remains modest. "Lindsey Van is my idol. I was there when she won the first World Championship title 2009 in Liberec. She made sports history and I thought: I want to be like her. Today I could achieve that, at least a little bit." That she also set a hill record on the HS 100 is only mentioned for the sake of completeness.

Pictures of the competition in Lillehammer »

Coline Mattel (FRA), Junior World Champion and bronze medalist at the World Championships 2011, and Melanie Faisst (GER), fourth in last year's COC, came in second and third. Both told similar stories. "My performances were not consistent recently", said Mattel. "My two jumps in the competition were the best of the last two weeks", told Faisst. And both were happy about the good start. Very important for the sport, said the French, "hopefully it was the last, final breakthrough", added the German.

With athletes from eight nations from three continents among the Top 10, women's ski jumping made clear that it's not a regional phenomenon anymore. In the next World Cup competitions in January, February and March there will be even more than the 14 nations of Lillehammer. And who knows, maybe the Ladies' World Cup can not only get a touch of magic but can become a real myth sooner as expected.

Complete results as pdf-file

Tags:  skijumping| damenskispringen | worldcup | hendrickson

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