The US men have not really been a factor in the ski jumping competitions in the Olympics in a long time (just once since 1992 has the US had a top 25 finisher in an event). So with the debut of women’s ski jumping this year it was a chance to see the potential for that new event, and for the US that might be where the success comes from in the future. Two US competitors were in the top 15 and the one who didn’t, Sarah Hendrickson, was the World Champion last year at 18 but suffered a knee injury that hurt her Olympic chances.
Men’s Normal Hill
The US did advance three of their four jumpers to the first round on the normal hill but none were able to place higher than 34th there, missing out on the top 30 who advance to the final round. Nick Alexander was the best for the US in the event with a first round score of 116.0. Alexander’s 34th place finish was an improvement on his result from 2010 and the best for the US since 2002.
Men’s Large Hill
Three of the four Americans advanced to the first round in the large hill but this time it was Nick Fairall, who failed to advance in the normal hill, that led the way with a 108.3 in the first round. That placed him 35th overall but again just missing out on a spot in the final round. Fairall’s 35th place finish wasn’t an improvement from the 32nd place finish in 2010 of Peter Frenette and was the fourth straight Olympics without a top 30 finish.
Men’s Large Hill Team
The US didn’t advance to the final round in the men’s large hill team competition, but they did perform much better than they did in the individual competition with three of the four scoring over 100 points. Nick Alexander led the way with a 114.4 and the tenth place finish for the US was tied for their best ever with the 1988 Olympics.
Women’s Normal Hill
The new event went well for the US with Jessica Jerome becoming the first US ski jumper to place in the top ten at the Olympics in 30 years. It would have been very interesting to see how a healthy Sarah Hendrickson would have done in Sochi.
