Women ski jumpers post top results in Zakopane Continental Cup - pay tribute to Burke, donate portion of earnings

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Zakopane, Poland, Jan. 21, via release — The Visa Women’s Ski Jumping Team continued its strong performance this weekend with four members in the top 10 on Friday and five in the top 15 on Saturday at a Continental Cup (COC) event in Zakopane, Poland.

Sarah Hendrickson, who leads the overall standings on the World Cup, took a 1st and 2nd; Jessica Jerome a 6th and 8th; Abby Hughes a 7th and 10th; Alissa Johnson a 7th and 9th; and Nina Lussi a 15th and 22nd.

This weekend’s COC event replaced a World Cup event scheduled for Jan. 28-29 in Szczyrk, Poland, which was cancelled for technical organizational reasons, according to the International Ski Federation.

“Zakopane can be a really difficult hill for some and especially coming from Predazzo (last weekend) it’s like night and day,” said Johnson. “But I think because it was a COC I was able to relax a little and just focus on bringing my good result from last weekend into this weekend.”

Hughes agreed, saying that the atmosphere was a little less pressure-filled, but still an exciting event because a men’s World Cup competition was taking place during the same time and fans came to watch in droves.

“About 20,000 fans showed up,” Hughes said. “Organizers held the women’s COC award ceremony — for the first day of our comp — in the outrun of the World Cup run. It gave me goose bumps to hear that many people cheering for those six girls, especially Sarah (Hendrickson).”

Lake Placid native Nina Lussi posted one of her best results to date (15th on Saturday) on the COC with a solid first-round leap of 72 meters on the K85 hill. The 17-year-old is an up-and-coming member of the Visa Development Team. She attends Skigymnasium Stams, in Stams, Tirol, Austria — a prestigious school that focuses on balancing competitive skiing and academics.

“I am really happy with my results and my jumping was much better today (Saturday),” Lussi said. “The rest of the girls are so encouraging and make me feel really comfortable even under the pressure of a competition.”

Lussi and her teammates competed in Poland just one day following the death of Sarah Burke, the half-pipe skiing pioneer from Canada who sustained fatal injuries in a fall in the pipe in Park City, Utah, more than a week earlier. As a tribute to Burke, Visa Team members are donating a portion of their earnings from the Zakopane event toward Burke’s medical expenses.

“It was very sad when we got the news about Sarah,” Johnson said. “It definitely hits close to home and makes you take a step back and think about your own life and the lives of the people around you. Donating some of our prize money is the least we could do to help support her family and to honor one of skiing’s greatest pioneers.”

To learn more about Burke and help support her family, go to http://www2.giveforward.com/sarahburke.html. 

Continental Cup

Zakapone, Poland

Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012

HS94

1. Daniela Iraschko, AUT, 215.0 (91.0, 83.5)

2. Sarah Hendrickson, USA, 214.5 (79.5, 86.5)

3. Ema Klinec, SLO, 198.5 (81.0, 76.5)

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6. Jessica Jerome, USA, 188.5 (78.5, 75.0)

7. Abby Hughes, USA, 180.5 (76.5, 73.5)

9. Alissa Johnson, USA, 179.0 (79.0, 71.0)

15. Nina Lussi, USA, 144.5 (72.0, 63.5)

 

Continental Cup

Zakapone, Poland

Friday, Jan. 20, 2012

HS94

1. Sarah Hendrickson, USA, 234.5 (89.0, 89.5)

2. Daniela Iraschko, AUT, 228.0 (88.0, 85.0)

3. Ema Klinec, SLO, 218.5 (84.0, 82.5)

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7. Alissa Johnson, USA, 192.5 (78.5, 77.5)

8. Jessica Jerome, USA, 191.0 (78.5, 78.0)

10. Abby Hughes, USA, 190.5 (78.5, 76.0)

22. Nina Lussi, USA, 135.0 (66.5, 65.0)

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