 "Photo: AP Photo")
PARK CITY, Utah-It may be July. The nation may be gripped by a heat wave. But here, U.S. women's ski jumpers are bringing a little extra burst to their jumps, knowing they are practicing for something much bigger than any women had before in their sport.
The top women jumpers will be in Park City this weekend for the Women's Ski Jumping Festival, the first international competition since the International Ski Federation voted in May to add women's jumping to the 2009 World Championships.
"A lot more exciting _ definitely. You feel like your training and all your hard work is actually going toward something," U.S. jumper and U undeclared sophomore Alissa Johnson said. "It's a good feeling to have."
Temperatures in the 90s this week have hardly seemed appropriate for Nordic sports but, thanks to technology, jumpers can practice year-round. Summer jumping is on the plastic thatching that covers the jumps and landing hill at Utah Olympic Park. The green surface is sprayed down and is slick like snow, which won't be around for a while.
The only snow left over from winter is in scattered patches well above where Utah Olympic Park sits. And the only relief from the sun Tuesday was the pool where the freestyle jumpers splashed down while practicing.
The old-school Nordic jumpers had to tough out the heat in their skintight suits, soaring off the massive ramp and landing with a their wide skis slapping the plastic.
"It's very consistent to snow-unless you try to turn on this. It just doesn't happen; you just slide out and fall," said American Lindsey Van, who was No. 2 in the Continental Cup standings last season.
Five of the top-15 Continental Cup jumpers are Americans. And all train in Park City, one of just a few U.S. sites with all-season jumping. Utah Olympic Park will host the jumping competition Friday and Saturday nights.
Ski jumping has been part of the Olympics since the first winter games in 1924, but only for men. That bothered former Salt Lake City Mayor Deedee Corradini, who was on the bid committee that landed the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.
"I had no idea that women were not allowed to jump in the Olympics. When I found out, I was quite upset about it," said Corradini, president of the Women's Ski Jumping USA Foundation. "It's a chicken and egg problem. If they don't have a goal, who's going to spend the money to prepare the women?"
The International Olympic Committee is expected to decide in November whether women's jumping will be part of the 2010 games in Vancouver, British Columbia.
But before an event can be in the Olympics, it has to have a world championship, so the vote in May to add women's jumping to the 2009 World Championships was a huge step.
Johnson has been to the Olympics before, but only as a spectator. She watched her younger brother, Anders, compete in the Turin Olympics in February. Although Anders is younger by two years, 19-year-old Alissa didn't have a chance to join him on the U.S. team.
"It's too bad that Anders and I couldn't walk in both together for our first time," she said. "Just as long as we both get to go, it will be a fun experience for us."
AP WIRE
