Park City's Hendrickson Captures Bronze at Junior World Championships :: Utah Ski & Snowboard

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Park City's Hendrickson Captures Bronze at Junior World Championships
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Published on Monday, February 01, 2010 - 01:14 AM

Hinterzarten, Germany - Sarah Hendrickson of the Visa U.S. Women's Ski Jumping Team captured the bronze medal Saturday at the FIS Nordic Junior World Championships in Hinterzarten.

The 15-year-old Hendrickson, who attends junior high in Park City, Utah, is the first American jumper to ever earn a medal at the Nordic Junior Worlds.

“I don’t think it’s really settled in yet. I’m really happy. I had two really good jumps,” Hendrickson said.

Italy’s Elena Runggaldier took the world championships gold medal with jumps of 106.5 and 102 meters and an overall score of 267.5 with style points included. France’s Coline Mattel earned silver (103.5, 102, 258.0). Germany placed four jumpers in the top 11 to lead the way, but the top seven finishers were all from different nations, reinforcing the continued universality of women’s ski jumping.

“I didn’t realize how big of an event this was. It’s huge,” said Hendrickson, who competed in the first FIS World Championships for women’s jumping last February, where her teammate Lindsey Van captured the title. “It reminded me of World Championships, but without the older girls. It was exactly the same.”

Snow and high winds had postponed the event from its original Friday start time, and the women still were forced to contend with inconsistent wind and intermittent snow showers Saturday. But Hendrickson, currently the top American in the Continental Cup standings in sixth place, persevered through a number of course holds with jumps of 102.5 meters and 97.5 meters on the K-95 hill. With style points added in, Hendrickson finished with a score of 249.5.

Visa U.S. Women’s Ski Jumping Team members Nina Lussi and Nita Englund also jumped Saturday. Lussi finished in 27th place with jumps of 84.5 meters and 85.5 meters and a score of 173.0, while Englund finished outside the top 30, posting a jump of 80 meters to just miss qualifying for a second jump.