Schedules, results,
ranking lists
We Thank Our
Supporters
window-cling.com
Click logos to visit websites; more info on our Contact & Site Info page (link above).
Winter Park Needs Your Support NOW!
Requests YOUR RESPONSE by March 30 in effort to keep their jumps more
Lodwick & Van Dominate US Nationals
Todd Lodwick takes three titles, Lindsey Van collects two at Steamboat
Johnny Spillane dominates SuperTour finals at Park City more
Ahonen Wins World Cup Season Title
Ljoekelsoey wins, Ammann 2nd, Romoeren 3rd at Holmenkollen more
Women Write Ski Flying History!
Lindsey Van impressive in skiflying debut after Norway defies FIS ban more
Urgent Request From Winter Park ^ top
Ski area plans to remove jumps; PLEASE RESPOND by March 30!
To our visitors: we are posting this notice on behalf of WP Kids, as provided by John Reed. Please take a few moments to read this, click to their site, respond ... and let others know!
The 65-year-old Nordic Ski Jumping Program at Winter Park (WP), CO is in immediate danger and needs your help. Every Olympics since our program began has included at least one Olympian who started his jumping career at WP. A group recently formed, the Winter Park Youth Programs Association (WPYPA), to make a last ditch effort to save our jumping program. On March 3rd, Intrawest, the new manager/developer of the resort, unilaterally announced that our 60m and 40m jumps are slated for bulldozing this coming summer with no plans for replacement nor an opportunity to for us offer a compromise to preserve the program.
We are now looking for broad based support, for skiers and jumpers from across the country to visit our website, www.wpkids.org and electronically sign our “Community Letter of Support”. The letter will be to be used to counter Intrawest’s apparent disregard for the past, present, and future of our sport, our club, and our jumps.
We hope to gather at least 5,000 signatures by March 30th when we’ll meet with the Winter Park Town Council to request a public meeting to discuss the future of our program and facilities.
Intrawest’s contract with the city of Denver includes a preservation clause requiring continuation of the youth programs at WP to the same extent as in the 2001-2002 season. We believe this clause requires keeping our jumping program and warrants public discussion before the bulldozers roll. If you love this sport as much as we do, please visit the website to register your support!
Lodwick, Van Finish With A Flash! ^ top
Outstanding performances at Steamboat Springs cap good seasons for both
Todd Lodwick and Lindsey Van won two national jumping titles each at the U.S. National Championships at Steamboat Springs on March 20/21, winning on the K88 hill Saturday and Howelsen Hill's 114 meter jump on Sunday. In addition, Lodwick won the Nordic Combined championship on Saturday following the K88 competition. Congratulations to our two new US National Champions! Read US Ski Team articles & results summaries:
Saturday K88 & NC Sunday K114
Johnny Spillane, Nordic Combined World Champion, wins TWO at Park City!
The NSF/Park City website has writeups on Johnny Spillane's double win in the final two SuperTour events of the 2003-2004 season. There are links to complete results. The premier North American tour wrapped up its first full year on March 13 & 14 in Park City. There are permanent links to results from these two meets on our Schedule & Results page. SuperTour standings are posted on the USSA site, link at upper left.
Ahonen Takes World Cup Title ^ top
Three tournaments in five days concluded 2004 "major league" circuit
Results: Kuopio Lillehammer Holmenkollen
The World Cup 2004 ski jumping season ended with three tournaments in five days.
The first was held in
Kuopio,
Finland on Wednesday, March 10 (results link above). Norway's Bjoern Einar Romoeren
and Roar Ljokelsoey took the top two places, as they had last weekend in Kuopio.
On Friday in Lillehammer, Ljoekelsoey turned the tables and took the win, with Romoeren in a second place tie with Switzerland's Simon Ammann. Two weeks ago at Park City, Ammann had placed second, his best World Cup finish of the season.
On Sunday, Norway's famed Holmenkollen was the final event of the World Cup 2004 season. Weather apparently cancelled the second round. Norway's power pair of Roar Ljoekelsoey and Bjorn Einar Romoeren took first and third, with Switzerland's Simon Ammann squeaking into second place. Finland's Janne Ahonen finished first in the season standings.
The Holmenkollen stadium (pictured), near Oslo, is the most popular tourist attraction in Norway, year round. A 115 meter jump, it's not the biggest, but no place holds more history. The Holmenkollen is to ski jumping what Churchill Downs is to horse racing, Yankee Stadium is to baseball, and Lambeau Field is to football. Click photo for LARGER IMAGE ... photo from www.skiforeningen.no
Women Write History in Vikersund! ^ top
Anette Sagen, Lindsey Van, Helena Olsson, Line Jahr break ban, thrill fans
On March 5, 2004 at Vikersund, all the maneuverings of the FIS to keep women from participating
in a ski flying event came to a sudden end as Norway's Anette Sagen, ranked #1 in the world,
flew 171 meters. This came after Lindsey Van of the US (ranked #2), hit 166 meters. Sweden's
Helena Olsson added a 161, and Norway's Line Jahr landed at 133. The excitement over the four
women participating on this historic day overshadowed the performance of another Norwegian,
Olav Magne Doennem, who sailed 214 meters, breaking the old hill record of 207. Photos of
Anette (L) and Lindsey (R) are from VG.
On Saturday, March 6, the women participated as forejumpers. It was the role for which the Norwegian Ski Association had initially invited six of the top women in the world. Sagen increased her personal best to 174.5, and Van flew 171.
Sunday's action saw Helena Olsson of Sweden fly 174.5 to match Sagen's longest, and Norway's Line Jahr finished up the weekend with a nice flight of 155 meters. Neither Sagen nor Van improved on their distances of Saturday. They were not in the competition, but were among the group of required forejumpers; this is what they'd been invited to do.
Had they been competing in Saturday's field of 50 men, Anette would have tied for 26th in the first round, and would have jumped in the second round of 30; Lindsey would have just missed the cut. Put another way, they would have beaten about of the 50 men in the field, having only two previous jumps as their total experience on a hill this size. Remember, unlike the men, they had no opportunity to practice prior to Friday! On Sunday, both Sagen and Olsson would have made the cut. Van and Jahr wouldn't have made the cut, but both would have been in the top 40.
The other highlight of the weekend came Saturday when Austria's Roland Mueller pushed past Doennem's hill record of 214, and sailed to 219. The shortest jump by a male competitor in Saturday's first round was 128 meters, and Sunday's was 135.5. Any question remaining about whether the best women are qualified to compete on the big hills? Follow US women's jumping at www.womensskijumpingusa.com.
Sons of Norway - New Sponsor ^ top
First cultural sponsor represents birthplace of ski jumping!
We welcome and thank the Sons of Norway for being our first cultural sponsor. Their mission is "to promote, preserve, and cherish a lasting appreciation of the heritage and culture of Norway and other Nordic countries while growing soundly as a fraternal benefit society and offering maximum benefits to its membership."
Please watch for the Sons of Norway logo to appear soon in several locations on
our website; click this link to visit their website,
www.sofn.com.
Perhaps it is fitting that we received this grant on the day that the Norwegian Ski Federation made the decision to include women in the 2004 competition on their magnificent ski flying hill at Vikersund. This country, which gave birth to this sport more than 130 years ago, now boasts not only a strong men's ski jumping team, but the world's top ranked female ski jumper in Anette Sagen. Sagen, along with the second ranked female, Lindsey Van of the US, will participate in this historic event along with several other top ranked women. These superb athletes all competed at Norway's historic Holmenkollen last week.
We recognize and applaud Norway for giving us this wonderful sport in the 19th century, and for being at the forefront of another important development at the dawn of the 21st century; the recognition women at the top levels of ability in this great sport. Thank you, Norway!
Lahti WC, Vikersund COC March 6/7 ^ top
Lahti - Norway takes team honors, Romoeren wins individual title
--- Saturday results Sunday results
Norway captured the team event in Lahti on Saturday March 6, with Finland second. Saturday's longest flight was recorded by Norway's Bjorn Einar Romoeren at 128 meters. He then won Sunday's individual competition with flights of 125.5 and 126 meters. Roar Ljokelsoey was second, Finland's Janne Ahonen third, and Norway's Tommy Ingebrigtsen fourth. US jumper Clint Jones finished 39th out of 50.
Vikersund - Mueller flies 219 meters, surpasses Doennem's 214
--- Saturday results Sunday results
In the first of two days of Continental Cup action on the huge 185 meter ski flying hill in Vikersund, Norway, Austria's Roland Mueller stretched his second ride five meters beyond Olav Magne Doennem's record of 214 set yesterday. That was 7 meters past the old record of 207.
Masters World Championships ^ top
Event in Reit im Winkl, Germany March 10-13 featured older jumpers
Tim Denisson, Stig Hallingbye, Darcy Oligney, Tom Ricchio, and Don West represented the US in this event which features ski jumpers ranging in age from 30 upward. We don't have the age of the oldest jumper, but it's certainly above 80. Masters 1 begins at age 30, Masters 2 at age 40, etc. We'll bring you news as we receive it; please click the following link to Masters' -- Reit im Winkl, which will provide links to the participant list and photos.
Central Season Ends In Minocqua ^ top
Classes J1 and J3 put on show of distance jumping; new hill record!
It was a very exciting weekend in Minocqua. With 10'' of snow on Friday, we still got the hills ready for a great group of young athletes to train all day Saturday. Another 8" of snow Saturday evening really tested our patience but the hills were ready and jumping very well for our competition on Sunday. We really appreciate the assistance from those who showed up early to lend a hand.
The J-3 boys class put on quite a show. With the judges' decision to send them from the top bar, we were very entertained with some excellent jumps. Nick Schott of Blackhawk set a new hill record of 31.5 on his 1st jump. Jerry Jonas (J-1, from a lower bar) tied that record on his 1st attempt. Nick Schott wasted no time and bettered that by leaping 32 on his next jump. Not to be outdone, Elliot Maraccini of Kiwanis was the hero of the day by setting our new hill record at 32.5 on his 2nd leap. Another standout was Karin Friberg of St. Paul jumping 27.5 and 27 in the J-2 Girls class. Congratulations to all participants and thanks for a great weekend of jumping! Writeup by Jeff Jonas ... THANKS!
Junior Olympics Results Posted ^ top
Best US juniors competed in Anchorage, Alaska complete results
The annual Junior Olympics competition for jumping and Nordic combined was held in Anchorage, Alaska March 2 - 7. Click link above for results. There's also a permanent link on our Schedule & Results page.
Representing the Central Division were the following skiers; you'll find pictures and bio information on many of these skiers via links on our Thrill of Victory page.
- Mike Glasder, Fox River Grove
- Evan Schauer, Fox River Grove
- Daniel Englund, Iron Mt*
- Karl Denney, Coleraine
- Mike Furey, Fox River Grove
- Jason Jonas, Minocqua *
- Will Schott, Madison
- Doug Debold, Minneapolis*
- Johnny Lyons, St Paul
- Elisabeth Anderson, Eau Claire * / Female Class
Anchorage is the home town of Alan Alborn,
1998 US Olympian, who had multiple top-20 finishes in World Cup jumping until his
retirement at the end of the 2003 season. He holds the all-time distance record
for an American skier with a flight of 221.5 meters at Planica, Slovenia in 2002.
Sagen & Iraschko Tie, Van 3rd in Oslo
Lindsey 3rd, Jessica 10th, Brenna 18th at famed Holmenkollen
^ top
Norway's Anette Sagen flew 125 meters in the second round to tie Austria's
Daniela Iraschko at 230.8 points in a women's event at Oslo's famed Holmenkollen
115 meter ski jump. US jumper Lindsey Van, finished a close 3rd, four points back.
Jessica Jerome was 10th, and Brenna Ellis 18th.
complete results
Heading into the Holmenkollen competition, world rankings looked like this:
|
Rank, Name, Country, Points 1) Anette Sagen (NOR) = 509 points 2) Lindsey Van (USA) = 484 points 3) Daniela Iraschko (AUT) = 436 points 4) Jessica Jerome (USA) = 342 points 5) Eva Ganster (AUT) = 205 points |
Qualifying competitions Jan 1, 2004 Seefeld AUT Jan 3/4, 2004 Planica, SLO Feb 11, 2004 Saafelden, AUT Feb 14, 2004 Rastbuechl, GER Feb 18, 2004 Baiersbronn, GER Feb 21, 2004 Schoenwald, GER |
Juniors Fly on "Leap Day" at Iron Mt ^ top
Young jumpers competed on 5, 10, 25, & 40 meter jumps at Pine Mountain
The next-to-last Central Division tournament for junior competitors (under age 18) was held Sunday, Feb 29, at the club's junior jumping complex, between the Pine Mountain 120 meter jump and the recreational ski area next door. Click here for results.
Just a note about the caliber of people involved in junior jumping. Today's #1 judge was Gary Sparpana, who had just returned from judging at the World Ski Flying Championships in Planica, Slovenia. He was also the Chief of Competition at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. It's an amazingly tight-knit and supportive group that makes up the ski jumping community. Got kids? Have 'em try it! No kids? You can enjoy junior jumping anyway!
About a dozen clubs in the midwest have junior programs, and there's a full schedule of tournaments throughout the year, from mid-December until early March. A new leaderboard tracks the progress of skiers all season (classes J1 through J3); standings are available via links from our "Thrill of Victory" page, along with bio info and photos of jumpers who have won individual meets and/or been atop the leaderboard during the season.
We encourage you to familiarize yourself with names and faces of these outstanding young ski jumpers, male and female, and to attend an event in your area. Sure, the winter's almost over, but one more tournament remains after Iron Mountain ... in Minocqua WI on Sunday, March 7.
REMEMBER ... there are FOUR clubs which have plastic surfaces on their jumps, which allows for year-round jumping. They are in St Paul and Coleraine MN, Madison WI, and Fox River Grove IL (NW of Chicago). Make a point of seeing ski jumping "up close and personal" ... and get to know some of the athletes and families. IT ALL BEGINS WITH KIDS!
Gerber, Van Win Minneapolis Shootout! ^ top
Distance-only event a hit with skiers & spectators more info & results
On Jan 31, the Minneapolis Ski Club hosted the first major U.S. competition ever held in which the jumpers competed for distance only, cutting the field by half after each round, until the last two skiers took one final jump to determine the winner in each division.
Logan Gerber (Steamboat Springs) took the top spot in a field that included Johnny Spillane (First US gold medalist in World Championships, 2003). Lindsey Van (Park City, ranked 5th in the world among women) walked away with a win in a field that featured four of the five members of the US team that won last year's Ladies' Grand Prix in Europe.
Borton Volvo was the major sponsor of this special event.
Click here for more info & results on this spectacular tournament!
Norge's New K70 ... WOW! ^ top
First meet produces long flights, thrills large crowd K70 results
Fox River Grove's Norge Ski Club held its 99th Annual Ski Jumping Tournament Jan 17 & 18.
A large and enthusiastic crowd watched on a sunny Sunday afternoon as there were
many flights beyond the 70 meter "K" point in the first tournament on the new hill.
The new hill record of 83 meters is shared by Davey Edlund (pictured) of the St Paul Ski Club, and Kyle Kessler of the Norge Ski Club, who set the all-time hill record of 69 meters on the old jump in its final tournament last year.
Click image to enlarge (Bob Keck photo).
Maybe some day this kid will be in the Olympics, or World Cup competition, and here's
where it starts. Visit a jump in your area. It's nice to see the experts fly long
distances, but you won't see bigger smiles you'll find on the face of a kid with a sense
of accomplishment. As with most sports, learning is best accomplished by starting young,
building skills in a gradual progression, beginning with small challenges, guided
by qualified coaches.
"But isn't it dangerous? What about the guy on Wide World of Sports?"
Visitor Traffic to SkiJumpingCentral
^ top
Our typical visitor stays close to 6 minutes. We know that a lot of visitors
find us by word of mouth, and many find us via search engines. Always at the top
of Google rankings, this is the busiest English language website devoted to the
sport of ski jumping. Please tell people about this site!
People Always Ask Ski Jumpers ...
^ top
"How did you get up the guts to try it the first time?"
Those unfamiliar with the sport invariably ask about "guts." Ski jumpers didn't get up
one morning and decide to fly off a hill. Similar to athletes in many sports, jumpers
start young, with small challenges, on jumps "no bigger than a breadbox." With lots of
coaching and practice, they gradually learn the necessary skills and technique, and
progress to larger jumps when ready. There are many small and intermediate hills to be
mastered before tackling the bigger ones.
Despite the dramatic "Agony of Defeat" footage on Wide World of Sports for so many years,
it's a relatively safe sport.
If spectacular crashes were commonplace in ski jumping, ABC wouldn't have kept showing
that tired old video clip for more than 30 years. That skier who fell at the
takeoff (Vinko Bogataj of Slovenia) walked away with only minor injuries, a bit of fame,
and no fortune. He returned to jumping, and eventually became a coach. The famous fall
happened on March 21, 1970; read about it on
ABC Sports Highlights.
THANK YOU for your interest in our site, and in the sport of ski jumping!
We are averaging 512 visitors per day (as of Mar 8, 2004). During the peak
of the 2003 season we averaged about about 350 per day, up from about 300 in 2002.
Our 2003 summer and fall traffic doubled compared to the same periods last year,
and is usually about half of the number that visit us each day during the winter
competition season.
SJC welcomes the
SJC Flight Gear Available Now
US Womens Ski Jumping Website
Season Standings
Ski Jumping Trivia
231 Meters . . .
Learner's Video
Fling the Cow!
Norge K70 Jump
Equipment Board
Artist's Impression
Picture Puzzle
Ski Jumping Cow
Our first cultural sponsor, the Sons of Norway, has a strong
program dedicated to the preservation of Nordic culture. They
have generously contributed to our effort to provide greater
visibility of this Nordic sport in North America.
Click here to read more about this
outstanding organization.
SkiJumpingCentral "Flight Gear" is now available online via "SJC Merchandise"
link at left. Wide variety of shirts, caps, mugs, stickers, coasters, etc.; more will
be added. These items ARE available for overseas shipment!
An exciting new website is now online, featuring our outstanding US female athletes.
Click here!
& Leaderboard
Follow weekly winners and overall leaders in Central Division competition
via our THRILL of VICTORY page ... link at left. Follow USSA and FIS links
for national and international standings. Get to know about our athletes!
Did you know that an NFL Hall of Fame kicker first came to the U.S. on
a ski jumping scholarship, and that a well known major league pitcher
and future Hall of Famer jumped as a kid? Also an NFL head coach?
Do you know which senior U.S. senator once jumped in the midwest?
Which former U.S. senator and presidential candidate was a member
of the Tenth Mountain Division during WWII, was seriously wounded,
and was a friend of a ski jumping superstar who died in battle?
Did you know that temporary ski jumps were constructed
in football stadiums in two of our biggest cities?
Click here to learn more!
World Record!
Click
for video of Matti Hautamaeki's 231 meter flight on the 185 meter jump at Planica.
Slovenia. It's first shown in real time (about 8 sec in air), and you can see him
hovering above his own shadow in the later stages of flight. It's then shown several
times in slow motion. This is a VERY LARGE video, and will take some time
to download, even with a cable modem; may not run with dialup modem. REQUIRES RealPlayer.
Click here
to watch video of a beginning jumper on a 15 meter hill with
a plastic inrun and landing surface. Good sound - turn up the volume!
(AVI format)
Ever wonder what Norwegians do during the off season? They fling cows!
Click here.
Aerial Photograph
click image to enlarge
The Norge Ski Club website has a beautiful aerial photo of their new jump on
the morning of Jan 18, 2004, the date of their first tournament on this hill.
It was taken by Lee Hogan. Click image to see larger view on Norge site,
www.norgeskiclub.com
Denny Matson of the Iola Winter Sports Club, maintains an exchange forum for
used equipment.
There's a permanent link on our Related Links page.
Cara Perlman, an artist from New York City, was introduced to the sport
of ski jumping this summer as an observer in Lake Placid and Park City.
Click here to read her impressions.
Click here to try our picture puzzle.
Current image shows Russian jumper Roman Kirov flying above the treetops
in September 2002 at the Norge Ski Club in Fox River Grove, Illinois,
just northwest of Chicago.
Click image to see cool VIDEO of Lovely, the mascot of the Federation of Swiss
Milk Producers, making a graceful flight! (large video download; may be
problematic with dialup connection)
© 1999 - 2004, SkiJumpingCentral.com
^ Top