Hinterzarten, Germany – Park City, Utah’s Lindsey Van took second in her first World Cup women’s ski jumping competition on Saturday after returning from an ankle injury.

Van, the 2009 World Champion, placed only one point behind winner Sabrina Windmüller of Switzerland. Her 94.0 meter jump was only the third longest but she moved up with the strongest style points of the day to finish second.

“My leg feels just fine, no problems,” said Van. “I’m definitely happy with results today. My jumps were pretty good, not great, but I’m looking forward to jumping farther tomorrow and hoping to do well again.

Windy conditions led to a second round cancellation making the first jump their final result of the competition rescheduled from Friday in Schonach, Germany, which itself was canceled due to warm weather and lack of snow.

“The weather was definitely gnarly today and really unpredictable conditions,” acknowledged Van.

Young gun Sarah Hendrickson, also of Park City, was ninth but still maintained her World Cup point lead over Coline Mattel of France going into Sunday’s competition after winning in Lillehammer in the inaugural FIS World Cup ski jumping competition for women a month ago, which Van missed due to her ankle injury. Mattel finished in seventh place on Saturday.
 
“The big issue was the weather as the wind was not friendly to us today,” added Paolo Bernardi, Visa Women’s Ski Jumping Team International Coach. “But Lindsey was on the podium on her first World Cup this season. Sarah was still able to jump really good in the worst conditions of wind and still maintain her top overall World Cup ranking. So overall, it is really good for us.”

FIS World Cup
Hinterzarten, Germany
Jan. 7, 2012
Women’s Normal Hill
(with wind system calculation)

Comeptition concluded after first jump only due to poor weather conditions.

1. Sabrina Windmuller, SUI, (100) 114.7
2. Lindsey Van, USA, (94) 113.9
3. Lisa Demetz, ITA, (97.5) 110.7