Hendrickson rules day in women’s World Cup ski jump
American teenager Sarah Hendrickson yesterday won the first women’s World Cup ski jump on the same Lillehammer hill used by the men in the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway.
Hendrickson, 17, jumped 95 1/2 meters, pushing French opponent Coline Mattel to second place. Hendrickson, of Park City, Utah, finished with 277 points. Mattel had 247.7 and Melanie Faisst of Germany was third in a field of nearly 50 women from 15 countries.
The competition was delayed by more than an hour because of the snowy and windy conditions, but Hendrickson said she wasn’t affected by the wait.
“You just have to jump like you do always,’’ she said. “You can’t change anything - stay strong and keep relaxed and hopefully it will come together.’’
World champion Daniela Iraschko of Austria was fourth.
In the men’s event, Austria’s Andreas Kofler won after setting a hill record with a leap of 105 meters in the first round. Germany’s Richard Freitag was second and Poland’s Kamil Stoch third.
Super-G - Sandro Viletta of Switzerland got his first World Cup win in Beaver Creek, Colo.
Viletta finished in a time of 1 minute, 18.71 seconds to overtake Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway by 0.20 seconds. Beat Feuz of Switzerland took third.
American Bode Miller needed an acrobatic recovery just to stay on course and finished 21st.
Downhill - Lindsey Vonn won for the second day in a row at Lake Louise, Alberta. The American star, who also won Friday’s downhill, finished in 1:51.35 to beat Marie Marchand-Arvier of France and Austria’s Elisabeth Goergl.
Speedskating - Jorrit Bergsma led the host Netherlands sweep in the men’s 10,000 meters at the World Cup in Heerenveen, edging national champion Bob de Jong in 12:50.33. Bob de Vries, another Dutchman, was third.
In the women’s 1,500, Canada’s Christine Nesbitt finished first. Ireen Wust, backed by the home crowd, was second, Russia’s Yekaterina Shikhova third.
Bobsled - Former overall World Cup champion Beat Hefti and pusher Thomas Lamparter won the opening two-man race of the season in Igls, Austria.
Thomas Florschuetz and Kevin Kuske of Germany were second, followed by Steven Holcomb and Justin Olsen of the United States.
Cross-country - Kikkan Randall of the United States and Ola Vigen Hattestad of Norway won World Cup sprint races in Duesseldorf, Germany.
Randall claimed the women’s event, with Russia’s Natalia Matveeva second and Switzerland’s Laurien Van Der Graaf third. Hattestad won the men’s event ahead of Russia’s Alexey Petukhov and Norway’s Paal Golberg.
Biathlon - Double Olympic gold medalist Magdalena Neuner won the 7.5-kilometer sprint at a World Cup meet after defeating Norway’s Tora Berger in Ostersund, Sweden.![]()

