Ljubno, Slovenia – Park City, Utah’s Sarah Hendrickson went head-to-head with Japan’s Sara Takanashi in the final jump in Ljubno to come away with her fifth World Cup win of the season on Saturday despite a hill record set by third place finisher Daniela Iraschko of Austria.

Hendrickson led after her 85.5-meter first jump and stayed calm after a 90.0-meter second jump challenge by Iraschko and consistent jumping from Takanashi, the Youth Olympic Games champion, to extend her World Cup lead to 156 points over Iraschko with five events remaining on the calendar.  Officials dropped the start bar by one spot for Takanashi and Hendrickson, the last two jumpers. Takanashi outjumped Hendrickson on the second ride, but dropped on wind calculation while Hendrickson gained.

“I had two good jumps and I’m happy with the outcome,” said Hendrickson. “The fight between (Sara) Takanashi and me and (Daniela) Iraschko, with her outstanding second jump, was close. The overall World Cup is becoming more and more reality but there is still a long way to go.”

“Sarah had tough wind today and jumped better than everyone. She deserved this victory. All the coaches were amazed when you have this kind of wind and Sarah still had a great jump,” added Paolo Bernardi, Women’s Ski Jumping USA Head Coach. “It was a good decision for the jury to move the bar down for the final two jumpers. The jury knew that both Sarah (Hendrickson) and Sara (Takanashi) were both jumping very well and that they were going to battle for first and second.”

Three Women’s Ski Jumping USA athletes cracked the top 10 with Jessica Jerome  and Lindsey Van, both also of Park City, finishing fifth and eighth, respectively.

“Overall I’m really happy with everyone today,” said a satisfied Bernardi. “The team did a great job. Today we won the Nations Cup points and still lead the season standings.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Ski Jumping World Cup
Ljubno, Slovenia – Feb. 11, 2012
Women’s HS95