Women jumpers prep for Lake Placid, Utah meets

The top women ski jumpers in the world — including the six-member U.S. team, led by local favorite and 12-time U.S. champion Lindsey Van — will be in Lake Placid, New York, on Aug. 28-29 for two days of Continental Cup jumping on the 90-meter hill at the Olympic Jumping Complex.
THE TOP WOMEN ski jumpers in the world — including the six-member U.S. team, led by local favorite and 12-time U.S. champion Lindsey Van — will be in Lake Placid, New York, on Aug. 28-29 for two days of Continental Cup jumping on the 90-meter hill at the Olympic Jumping Complex.
    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, finished third in the Continental Cup standings last winter after a sizzling final month in which she won three jumping meets and had four other podiums.
She was second in the standings in the two previous years.
    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 Alissa Johnson, who was born in Lake Placid before her family moved to Utah; and four other Park City women: Jessica Jerome, Abby Hughes, Brenna Ellis and Avery Ardovino. Also expected to compete is another hometown favorite, 13-year-old Nina Lussi of Lake Placid.
    The Continental Cup season continued last Wednesday in Poehla, Germany, where Van led four U.S. jumpers into the top 20 by finishing fourth. A pair of Austrians finished 1-2, and Germany’s Jenna Mohr was third. Click here for complete 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 [Kjell Ivar Magnusson, former Norwegian head 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.”
    Among the top international skiers are Austrian Daniela Iraschko and Jacqueline Seifriedsberger, Germany's Mohr, Ulrike Graessler and Juliane Seyfarth, Canadian teen stars Katie Willis, Atsuko Tanaka and Nata De Leeuw and Norway’s Line Jahr.
    Competition starts at 2 p.m. daily with two competition rounds. Admission is $14 for adults, $8 for juniors/seniors and children 6 and under get in free.
    The Lake Placid visit marks the first of four Continental Cup events for the women jumpers. They will head to Park City, Utah, for two more days of action over Labor Day weekend (Sept. 1-2) at Utah Olympic Park.