The Sochi 2014 Olympic Games will host the very first female ski jump competition and two Canadian females are preparing to make history.
Male and female athletes both jumped off of the large and normal hill on Friday and Saturday (March 29 and 30) during the 2013 Aviva Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Nationals at Whistler Olympic Park, but it was a couple of women's standouts who appear to be leading the Canadian charge toward next year's Games.
It's amazing that we will be able to compete at the Olympics (next) year and show that we actually should be there and that we can jump just as well, said Calgary native Atsuko Tanaka.
Tanaka and Calgary teammate Alexandra Pretorius are looking ahead to the Games after leading the women's field last week. Tanaka, 21, finished with a best jump of 103.0 meters on the normal hill and 129.5 m on the large hill to win both events.
It's a great training facility, having this whole week here training and competing is a confidence boost for all the athletes here for the Sochi Olympics, Tanaka said.
The 17-year-old Pretorius's furthest jump was 104.5 m on the normal hill and 123.5 m on the large hill, placing her second in both events. Calgary's Taylor Henrich placed third both days.
I was kind of hoping to win, but second is just as well, Pretorius said. Atsuko was jumping really well and I had some really good jumps so I'm just happy with the way I was jumping yesterday.
Both females had exceeded many of the men's ski jumps on both the normal and large hills.
They fought hard to get this, Canadian Ski Jumping coach Gregor Linsig said. I think this year out of any they've proven that they belong.
They have the ability to jump and they have shown amazing jumps, the best in the world at times, so if they can do that more on a regular basis, that's the goal, Linsig said. They can win at any point, either one of those girls can be on the podium at any World Cup, any Olympics, any time.
The weekend concluded Tanaka and Pretorius's winter season, as they now move into their summer schedule while focusing on the Games.
I think in Canada, ski jump is not a major sport and not many people know about it, so I definitely want to get my results up so people actually notice our sports so we can get more funding, Tanaka said, as Canadian women have unofficially earned two spots for the Sochi Games and are hopeful for a third.
Linsig, who has been the Canadian coach since 2005, said he is proud to be a part of the burgeoning team and feels he has been here since the start of this journey.
It's a huge step forward and it is up to them to put on a good show, Linsig said. I'm pretty confident they're going to wow the crowd in Russia.
When they jump well it's beautiful, it's awesome. They can fly.
Pascal Kalin of Switzerland led the open men's competition on the large hill with a top jump of 134.5 m, as well as the normal hill with a 105.0 m jump. Eric Mitchell was the top Canadian in the large hill competition, finishing third overall, while Dusty Korek's third-place result was the best for the host nation on the normal hill.
American jumper Grant Andrews beat out Canada's Joshua Maurer for top spot on the normal hill in junior men's competition. Results from the Nordic Combined race held Friday were not available at press time.
The facility here is unbelievable. We need to have this going all the time for us, Linsig said. Just one week of jumping here was way more training than we got all year.
Tanaka and Pretorius are both grateful for the Whistler Olympic Park facility.
These Whistler hills feel a lot like the Sochi hills, Pretorius said. I hope we can jump these hills a lot more because they are amazing to train on.
