LINDSEY VAN INJURES KNEE TRAINING IN ROMANIA

Olympian and 2009 World Champion Lindsey Van suffered an injury to her left knee during an official training jump Friday in preparation for this weekend’s World Cup ski jumping event in Rasnov, Romania.

Van received medical attention at a local hospital in Rasnov and she will not compete in this weekend’s World Cup event, said Alan Alborn Women’s Ski Jumping USA head coach. Arrangements are being made to fly Van back to the U.S. to undergo further medical evaluation in Utah

Van and teammate Jessica Jerome had just returned to Europe to complete the four remaining World Cup events of the season after making their historic Olympic debut at the 2014 Sochi Games. Coach Erik Renmaelmo is traveling with Van and Jerome to round out the season.

Photo: Sarah Brunson / Lindsey in the women’s ski jumping qualifications at Latemar Ski Jumping Stadium. 

see more:http://www.theskichannel.com/news/20140303/lindsey-van-injures-knee-training-in-romania/

SOCHI OLYMPICS SKI JUMPER LINDSEY VAN: 5 AWESOME FACTS ABOUT THE SUPERSTAR

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Chris McGrath/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images

Lindsey Van is just an all-round badass. The ski-jumper has been working for more than a decade to compete in the Olympics, and in just a few days’ time she’ll finally get her chance. The Detroit-born, Park City, Utah-raised athlete hasn’t had her dreams thwarted by injuries or missed opportunities. What’s been holding her back is the Olympic rule-book. Before Sochi, women were not allowed to compete in ski jumping. And it’s thanks to Lindsey Van’s courageous and sustained effort that the sport is where it is today.

Here’s what you should know about what makes the 29-year-old athlete so darn great.

SHE WAS THE FIRST EVER FEMALE SKI JUMPING WORLD CHAMPION

Van took part in and won the ski jumping competition at the 2009 World Championships, which was the first World Championships to welcome women as competitors in ski jumping. To date she has also won 16 national championships.

SHE’S THE REASON WOMEN CAN SKI JUMP AT SOCHI

Not surprisingly, Van was pretty bummed when she couldn’t compete in the Winter Olympics in her home state of Utah in 2002. By the 2010 Vancouver games, she’d really had enough. She led the charge in a gender discrimination lawsuit against the organizers of the 2010 games to allow women to compete. Unfortunately, that time around she was unsuccessful, but the International Olympic Committee did agree to include women’s ski jumping in the 2014 Sochi Olympics, as long as women demonstrated Olympic-caliber ski jumping at the 2011 World Championships. She helped make sure that happened.

SHE’S A TWIN

Van has a twin brother named Brandon. When they were kids they used to ski together, and when Van was seven, she discovered her love of jumping. Van and her twin brother even have complementary tattoos. She has one on her right foot that says “STARBOARD” and Brandon has one on his left foot that says “PORT.”

SHE ALMOST GAVE IT ALL UP TO SAVE A LIFE

Van’s former roommate and Olympic hopeful Seun Adebiyi was diagnosed with leukemia and lymphoma and needed a bone marrow transplant to survive. Van wasn’t a match for Adebiyi, but he inspired her to join a bone marrow registry. Just before the 2011 season, when she was due to prove the validity of her sport to the Olympic committee, she found out she was a match for a man in San Francisco. She decided to go ahead with the donation, even though it might have caused her to miss a competition. Fortunately for Van — and the entire women’s ski jumping world — she managed to fit the donations around her competitions. The man she helped is now in remission.

SHE HAS TWO ADORABLE KITTIES

OK, so I’m just assuming they’re hers by the amount of times she’s Instagrammed them, but they’re adorable either way. They’re called Newman and Kitty. So. Cute.

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Image: lindseyvan12/Instagram

 http://www.bustle.com/articles/14740-sochi-olympics-ski-jumper-lindsey-van-5-awesome-facts-about-the-superstar

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Women’s Ski Jumping USA 2013-14 Team

This season marks the first time women will be competing in ski jumping in the Olympic Winter Games and the third year for a women’s ski jumping World Cup circuit, but what will dominate headlines this season is the upcoming Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games where women’s ski jumping will debut after a long push to be included.

Mount Washington starts work on summertime ski jumps

The jumps are expected to be ready to be used by next summer.

 

Eau Claire, Wis. Mount Washington ski hill in Eau Claire is going through a little renovation Thursday.

Volunteers are adding concrete to what will soon be a ski jumper’s summertime getaway.

Three of the four ski jumps at Mount Washington are getting a makeover to be able to accommodate jumping in the summertime, or when there isn’t any snow.

Dan Matoon, of the Eau Claire ski club says it has been a goal for the last 10 years now, and it is finally happening.

Van, Alexander wins US Ski Jumping Championships

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — World champion Lindsey Van and Nick Alexander won the US Ski Jumping Championships on Sunday on the K90 Olympic hill.

Van, from Park City, Utah, scored 250 points with jumps of 92 and 96.5 meters for her 16th U.S. title.

“I started jumping well a couple of weeks ago,” Van said. “It’s nice as I was struggling a couple of years. It was nice to feel the rhythm of ski jumping again. I had fun today and jumping is about fun. I try not to get too serious about it and really try to enjoy it.”

Alexander, from Lebanon, N.H., had 263.5 points on two 99-meter jumps for his second national title.

“This validates all of the hard work that I’ve been putting in all this summer,” Alexander said. “So now I just have to appreciate today and work even harder heading into the wintertime.”

Jessica Jerome of Park City was second in the women’s competition, followed by Alissa Johnsonof Park City and Nina Lussi of Lake Placid. In the men’s event, Nick Fairall of Andover, N.H., was second, followed by Anders Johnson of Park City and Peter Frenette of Saranac Lake, N.Y.

See more:http://www.seattlepi.com/sports/article/Van-Alexander-wins-US-Ski-Jumping-Championships-4893204.php

After long battle for inclusion, women’s ski jumping ready for Olympic debut at Sochi Games

PARK CITY, Utah — They’d show up to international ski jumping events only to be dismissed like “unwanted little sisters.” No less than the president of the International Ski Federation tried to justify their exclusion from the sport by saying it could damage their reproductive organs. Lindsey Van actually had people ask if her uterus had fallen out.

Hardly a surprise, then, that ski jumping’s first female world champion doubted — feared, really — whether this day would ever come.

Top athletes compete in the U.S. championships at Utah Olympic Park

Ski jumping hill at utah olympic park, park city (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After missing last year’s U.S. Ski Jumping Championships to recover from knee surgery, Park City native and reigning world champion Sarah Hendrickson won the women’s title on her home hill at Utah Olympic Park. Top Canadian and American athletes took flight Sunday over a mountain landscape that looked like a museum’s 3-dimensional map, launching from the highest-altitude K120 jump in the world.

“It was a good, fair competition,” Hendrickson said. “It was a hard one because we have a strong team.”

Utah Women dominate at US Ski Champs

Reigning World Champion and Park City native Sarah Hendrickson won her second US Title at the US Ski Jumping Championships at Olympic Park in Park City, Utah.

“I’m very happy about today and glad we put on a show for the quite a few people who showed up. I love jumping here in Park City on my home turf—it’s always a great atmosphere,” said Hendrickson.

Hendrickson’s two jumps totaled 222.1 meters placing her just in front of last year’s champion, and Utah local, Jessica Jerome.

Another Utahan, Lindsey Van, took third.

 

A Look at Lindsey Van: Ski Jumper

Lindsey Van is one of the major catalysts behind the rise of women’s ski jumping, not only dominating podiums, but advocating for the sport and even starring in a ski jumping documentary titled “Ready to Fly”. (Sarah Brunson/U.S. Ski Team)

 

Lindsey Van has skied her whole life, but her real influence on women’s ski jumping has been her tireless advocacy. Because of her continued efforts and successful ski jumping, she has not only helped put women’s ski jumping on the map, but has also helped put it into the 2014 Olympics.

In 2013, Van finished 10 World Cup events in the top 10, with results as high as fourth place. This season’s results come on top of 44 podiums in the Continental Cup (eight of those were wins), 15 U.S. Championship titles and the first-ever World Ski Championships gold medal in women’s ski jumping.

She was also featured in the documentary, “Ready to Fly”, from acclaimed producer Bill Kerig, which followed the rise of women’s ski jumping and the hard work it took to push the sport to the Olympic level. More importantly, it highlighted Van’s commitment to women’s sports and equality, and cemented her as a legend in the jumping community.

As if her on-snow accomplishments weren’t enough, Van donated bone marrow to someone suffering from leukemia in San Francisco, something she still considers her greatest accomplishment. But in Van’s mind, nothing would make a closer second than an Olympic gold medal in 2014.

LINDSEY SAYS
Last season was hard, but I learned a lot. I had surgeries the past two summers, so I was not able to train like I wanted to before the season. My jumping was not at a high, consistent level all season. I am looking forward to a full year of training heading into the next season.

FIRST TRACKS
Growing up in the era of the 2002 Olympics, Van began ski jumping when she was seven. She started out in a ski-racing program, but was always looking for the jumps. So when someone told her jumps had just been built in Park City for the 1998 and 2002 Olympic bids, she went to watch with her mother and twin brother. The rest is history.

OFF THE SNOW
Van is an outdoor enthusiast who loves to play in the snow – telemark, backcountry, cross country, anything with skis. She also likes photography, cooking and just hanging out with friends. She is studying exercise sport science at the University of Utah and has worked as a physical therapist aide. Most of all, she enjoys being an inspiration to young girls. “I like to go and watch the little kids jumping and help out whenever I can to get more people active in the outdoors.”

Interesting Facts

Name: Lindsey Van
Sport: Ski Jumping
Height: 5’2”
Current Residence: Salt Lake City, Utah
College: University of Utah, Exercise Sport Science

Career Highlights:

• 21-time Continental Cup medalist (one gold, five silver, 15 bronze)
• Eight-time U.S. normal hill champion
• Five-time U.S. large hill champion
• 2012, World Cup at Hinterzarten, Germany bronze medalist
• 2009, World Championships normal hill champion

Fun Facts: Loves anything to do with skis … Enjoys photography, cooking and hanging out with friends … Has worked as a physical therapist aid

 

Women’s ski jump team prepping for Olympic onslaught

Like so many athletes, they answer the same questions over and over and over again. They pose in various photo shoots that run for hours on end. They must pretend to not notice the nosy video crews documenting their every move.

New York Times Magazine flew into Park City, Utah, a photographer whose popular work includes profile photos of P. Diddy, Katy Perry and Clint Eastwood.