BEAR HOLLOW — The first step in drawing women into Olympic ski jumping started with a couple of flights Friday in what is being called the first women's Continental Cup event.
Winning the women's event was Daniella Irashko of Austria, with a two-jump score of 244.5, followed by Annette Sagen of Norway, with 229.5, and Monika Pogladic of Slovenia, with 227.
A men's jumping event was held in conjunction with the women's cup.
In the men's event, U.S. Ski Team jumpers Clint Jones, Todd Lodwick and Johnny Spillane went 1-2-3. Jones' score was 249.5, Lodwick's 246 and Spillane's 232.5.
There were 28 women from six nations competing in this event.
Both the men and women jumped off the 90-meter jump.
Two of the top competitors were Lindsey Van, ranked No. 2 in the world, and Jessica Jerome, ranked No. 4, both of Park City. Van finished sixth.
Jerome started jumping when she was 10 along with her two brothers — Andrew and Michael.
Van, a former ski racer, started her jumping career when she was 7. Her first jumps were made when the Utah Olympic Park first opened in 1993, and she "loved it."
The International Ski Federation approved the women's jumping event last month. Luke Bodensteiner, U.S. Nordic chief, said this event was a real "marker" in women's jumping.
"It helps legitimize a very legitimate event. Women's ski jumping is on its way," he said.
In order to make it an Olympic event, it will need to establish itself in the jumping community by holding more events.
Ski jumping is the only winter sport in the Olympics that does not include a women's division.
Officials in Women's Ski Jumping USA hope to bring women jumpers into the 2010 Games in Vancouver.
Peter Jerome, president of Women's Ski Jumping USA, said he was optimistic at the women's chances in 2010, especially following a meeting he attended in Norway last winter in which nations showed the progress their programs were making "not just in quantity but quality of women's ski jumping," he said.
Norway, for instance, said it had more than 600 women in its various club jumping programs; support from Norway is a cornerstone for international progress "and they're committed to women's jumping," Jerome said.
Today, jumping will start at 5 p.m. with trials rounds, followed by a men's event at 6 p.m. and the women's event at 7:30 p.m.
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