Lindsey Van (USA) become the first women's ski jumping world champion on Friday in Liberec (Czech Republic). Van, who was fourth after her first round jump of 89m, soared into the lead with her second of 97.5m, by far the longest jump of the competition. Ulrike Graessler (Germany) led the first round led after jumping 93.5m and managed 93m in the second to finish second. Anette Sagen (Norway) was third with jumps of 93.5m and 94m.
Women's ski jumping is debuting at this year's Nordic skiing world championships, and the sport hopes to be part of the 2014 Sochi Olympics. It failed to win approval for next year's Vancouver Games despite lobbying from Van and other jumpers....There had been concerns earlier in the week that the debut may have come to soon, when 14-year-old Czech jumper Lucie Mikova crashed in training and was taken to hospital with minor injuries. However, there were no crashes Friday, with six of the 31 starters managing at least one jump over 90m. Nine of the competitors were 15 years or younger and there are still large gaps in ability, with several jumps of less than 60m, but the medalists said they showed they deserve to be at Sochi.
Source:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/02/20/sports/SKI-Nordic-Worlds-Womens-Jump.php