Mar. 13, 2005 COMPETITION #3 RESULTS OSLO, NOR

It was a very, very, very long day. After canceling everyone's training yesterday due to the wind, the ladies were scheduled to jump at 8:30 this morning. Amazingly enough, the fog did not roll in to the Holmenkollen but the wind picked up the slack. So, everything was delayed throughout the day. The NC boys eventually had their event, then at 4pm the ladies took 2 training jumps, which went pretty well, and then the men's training and qualification. The ladies competition started at 7pm, no trial round, just competition jumps.

The wind was still a bit of a problem, it was pretty strong at times. The wind screen never moved an inch because it took a constant pounding and just stayed filled to capacity at all times. The range that the jury usually uses to determine the best and worst possible wind conditions to send a jumper in, deeming the comp fair, seemed a bit larger than usual. But in the end the most experienced jumpers, and the ones that were the least "scared" came out on top. Anette Sagen had good jumps but was also aided with 6 meters per second headwind on her first jump to set a ladies hill record of 128 meters on the K-115. Lindsey had two really good jumps but got rocked by some crosswind and was tossed around a lot on one jump, but still managed the best style points both rounds. Jess had two solid jumps and a really funny slide back down the counter-slope after missing the exit where she needed to take off her skis. (Eurosport got this on TV just for fun.) Alissa had one good jump and one average jump in some tricky wind but was really competitive. Click here for the Oslo results.

Today we all said good-bye to a true pioneering lady in the sport of ski jumping. Eva Ganster took her final competitive jumps today with her father watching as the Assistant TD of the event. She is known around the world as the first woman to ever go ski-flying and a great ambassador for ski jumping as a whole, not just the Ladies Ski Jumping movement. There will be very few women like Eva in this sport ever again and all of the ladies of the world owe her a debt of gratitude for all of her years and amazing work putting women on the minds of people whenever they think of ski jumping.

Here is your unofficial overall '04-'05 COC Ladies Results. (I know the first are official because FIS gave out the awards for the top three this evening.

1 Sagen, Annette NOR 1020
2 Van, Lindsey USA 740
3 Iraschko, Daniela AUT 620
4 Jahr, Line NOR 567
5 Jerome, Jessica USA 525
6 Graessler, Ulrike GER 519
7 Pogladic, Monika SLO 478
8 Vtic, Maja SLO 372
9 Johnson, Alissa USA 304
10 Seyfahrth, Juliane GER 292

I hope your season was as good to you as it was to our US Women on the COC tour.

Casey