Junior Worlds on tap for trio of teen ski jumpers - Hendrickson heads to Turkey after Continental Cup victory

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Park City, Utah, via release — Sarah Hendrickson heads into the 2012 Junior World Ski Jumping Championships on a serious roll after winning two World Cup events and one Continental Cup event in the last two weeks.

Now, the 17-year-old hopes that momentum carries over on a new facility and new hill in the non-traditional Nordic ski location of Erzurum, Turkey. Hendrickson, Nita Englund and Nina Lussi — Visa Women’s Ski Jumping Team members — will represent the U.S. in Erzurum in the individual jumping competition on Thursday, Feb. 23.

Hendrickson, in her fifth Junior Worlds, will try to best her Bronze-medal performance from 2010. Englund and Lussi both aim to gain more experience and improve on past results.

“We’re really excited to compete on the hill. We’ve heard it is awesome,” Hendrickson said. “It’s a little bigger hill – K95 — which fits my style better. I just need to stay focused and concentrate on my technique and push away the pressure that will certainly be there.” 

Hendrickson has won six of nine International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup events this season and is 1st place in the overall standings with four World Cup events remaining. She finished in 2nd-place overall in the lower-level Continental Cup circuit, which concluded Sunday in Liberec, Czech Republic.

With the debut of the women's World Cup tour, in 2011-12, the Continental Cup now serves as a development circuit. This is a significant step for women's ski jumping because the two levels of circuits provide more opportunities for elite-level athletes to compete, and it allows development athletes to gain valuable experience in FIS-sanctioned events.

“Our team for Junior Worlds is very, very strong,” said Visa Team International Coach Paolo Bernardi. “For Sarah the goal is the Gold medal. The challengers will be Japan’s Sara Takanashi and Slovenian Katja Pozun, but neither of them has beaten Sarah during this season.”

Englund, 19, who grew up ski jumping in Iron Mountain, MI, is competing in her third Junior Worlds and is looking to relax, have fun and not think too much about the competition. “I’m not going to get nervous about it,” she said. “I’m just going to go for it.” 

Lussi, 17, from Lake Placid, N.Y., attends school at Skigymnasium Stams, in Stams, Tirol, Austria — which focuses on balancing skiing and academics. Lussi is feeling confident because she knows what to expect heading into her fourth Junior Worlds

“I’m looking forward to testing out this new hill, “ Lussi said. “We have a strong team here and we’re going to show the world what we’ve got.”

Tid-bits:

• On Saturday, Hendrickson won a Continental Cup (COC) event in Liberec, Czech Republic. Englund was 23rd and Lussi was 26th. Sunday’s competition in Liberec was canceled because of heavy snow. The COC circuit concluded Sunday and Hendrickson was 2nd overall behind Austria’s Daniela Iraschko — whom she’s ahead of in 1st place in the overall World Cup standings.

• 2012 is the second year that a women’s team event is on the program at the Junior World Ski Jumping Championships. In 2011, the event was canceled because of weather. The U.S. will not compete in the team event because only three jumpers will be competing in Erzurum and the team event requires four.

• The World Cup women’s tour continues March 3-4 in Zao, Japan, where there will be three comps (one comp was added to make up for an earlier cancellation in Poland). The World Cup final is set for March 9 in Oslo, Norway.

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