Iraschko jumps to pair of wins in Park City

Austrian Daniela Iraschko, of the pink hair and with small Japanese characters tattooed down the top of her spine, has a simple solution for women’s Continental Cup ski jumping: “We should stay in Park City all the time,” she beamed Sunday night after sweeping a doubleheader, with defending champ Anette Sagen of Norway second each time. Iraschko won in the morning by 10.5 points and by a half-point at night after continued weather headaches.
PARK CITY, Utah — Austrian Daniela Iraschko, of the pink hair and with small Japanese characters tattooed down the top of her spine, has a simple solution for women’s Continental Cup ski jumping: “We should stay in Park City all the time,” she beamed Sunday night after sweeping a doubleheader, with defending champ Anette Sagen of Norway second each time. Iraschko won in the morning by 10.5 points and by a half-point at night after continued weather headaches.
    In July 2004, as the International Ski Federation upgraded women’s jumping from Grand Prix status to Continental Cup level, the first two contests were at Bear Hollow’s Utah Olympic Park on the outskirts of Park City. Iraschko won both of ’em.
    This season, she’s the points leader as the schedule heads into a three-month cocoon. Things pick up again Dec. 11-12 in Norway and then Finland before the Christmas-New Year’s break. Taking both ends of the extremely rare twinbill, she boosted her lead over Sagen to nearly 100 points, 636-540.
    “It’s my secret,” Iraschko said playfully after the morning victory at UOP when asked what clicked so well for her at Bear Hollow. “I can’t tell,” she said with another smile. But she picked up her skis and point to three code words, complete with symbols to indicate how to keep her knee, to keep looking straight ahead (as in down the in-run and out over the knoll, and then certainly to her landing) and, finally, focus. Don’t get distracted by what’s going on elsewhere on the hill.
    In other words, it ain’t just the hill, it’s the jumper. Perhaps it also should be noted Iraschko holds the women’s distance mark: 200 meters, set a couple of years ago when she, Sagen and Lindsey Van became the first women allowed to train
    Winds troubled the Visa Women’s International Ski Jumping Festival. After two events at Lake Placid, each won by Sagen, the jumpers traveled Thursday, but when they arrived Friday afternoon to train, the winds were so bad, they didn’t get a single jumper down the hill. After three training rounds Saturday at 8 a.m., the winds returned for the first competition at 4:30 p.m. and again stymied organizers; not a single women’s training ride, so the event was rolled back about 15 hours and rescheduled for Sunday 8 a.m. (trial round).
    Organizers had a few hiccups in the sequences, but basically the morning program went according to plan. Iraschko caught a break when Sagen uncorked a 103-meter jump but crashed on landing; she got great distance points and even with the deduction in style points for the spill, she tied for fourth in the round. But she gave away 12 points to the Austrian, who landed her 96.5 m jump, and although Sagen outjumped her again by two meters (87-85 m) in the final round, Iraschko won. Jessica Jerome had the best U.S. result, tying for sixth place, with Alissa Johnson, in her first action since suffering a sprained ankle in Germany three weeks earlier, in eighth place.
    At night, the trial round proceeded nicely but just before the 5:30 start, a lightning-and-thunder storm pelted the region, producing a 45-minute setback. When the storm passed, more than three-quarters of the perhaps 2,500 previously sunbathed spectators had staged a jailbreak for home.
    Those who endured the wait and, once the sun dropped behind the hill, the creeping chill, were treated to some outstanding jumping. The start gate was lowered to keep things safe in the first round, but as the winds retreated, the jury — looking to safely launch a few eye-opening rides — raised the gate 10 start points above where it had been for the morning comp. Distances rose 15-20 meters … and in the end, Iraschko — who had been sixth in the first round, laid down a crowd-pleasing 99.5-meter jump. Sagen answered with a 99 m ride, but — docked a bit on what judges may have seen as a shaky landing — came up .5 south of Iraschko’s 221.5 points.
    “Two wins, a good day. I’m happy,” Iraschko said as she packed her gear and prepped for the awards ceremony.
    In third place Sunday night was emerging Canadian star Nata de Leeuw, 16, who had led the first round but went just 93 m on her final jump. She had been fourth in the morning. Teammate Katie Willis, also 16, was 10th in the morning, eighth at night.
    Lindsay Van, noting, “I’m not a summer jumper; I hate summer,” but pleased to be moving into the winter prep period, was ninth for the best U.S. showing under the lights. She was 13th in the morning.

— Paul Robbins

CONTINENTAL CUP WOMEN'S SKI JUMPING
Visa Women's International Ski Jumping Festival
Utah Olympic Park
Park City, Utah – Sept. 2, 2007
HS100 (jump distances in meters)
Morning meet (postponed from Saturday)

1. Daniela Iraschko, Austria, (96.5-85 meters) 226.5 points
2. Anette Sagen, Norway, (103-87) 216.0
3. Jacqueline Seifriedsberger, Norway, (91.5-82.5) 215.0
4. Nata de Leeuw, Canada, (90.5-83.5) 210.5
5. Salome Fuchs, Switzerland, (91.5-80.5) 203.5
–
6T. Jessica Jerome, Park City, Utah, (85-82.5)
8. Alissa Johnson, Park City, Utah, (89-78.5) 190.5
12. Avery Ardovino, Park City, Utah, (86-74) 176.5
13. Lindsey Van, Park City, Utah, (85.5-70) 169.0
15. Brenna Ellis, Park City, Utah, (82.5-67) 151.5
25. Karin Friberg, Roseville, Minn., (64-58) 90.0
26. Elisabeth Anderson, Eau Claire, Wis., (61.5-54) 73.0

Evening meet
1. Daniela Iraschko, Austria, (79-99.5) 221.5
2. Anette Sagen, Norway, (80.5-99) 221.0
3. Nata de Leeuw, Canada, (82.5-93) 215.0
4. Salome Fuchs, Switzerland, (82-92) 208.0
5. Jacqueline Seifriedsberger, Austria, (79-93.5) 205.0
–
9. Lindsey Van, Park City, Utah, (73.5-88.5) 188.5
12. Jessica Jerome, Park City, Utah, (72.5-88.5) 180.5
13. Alissa Johnson, Park City, Utah, (75-85.5) 177.0
15. Avery Ardovino, Park City, Utah, (74.5-81.5) 168.5
20. Brenna Ellis, Park City, Utah, (69.5-76.5) 147.0
25. (tie) Elisabeth Anderson, Eau Claire, Wis., (61.5-67) and
Karin Friberg, Roseville, Minn., (61.5-69.5) 101.5 each