Sarah Catherine Hendrickson (born August 1, 1994) is an American retired

ski jumper Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fin ...

. She won the inaugural women's

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

season in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, finished runner-up in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

, and won an individual gold medal at the 2013 World Championships.

Career

Hendrickson was born in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

. She attended

Park City High School Park City High School is a public high school located at 1750 Kearns Boulevard in Park City, Utah, United States. It is one of eight public schools in the Park City School District and serves tenth, eleventh, and twelfth graders. The district's ...

until 2011, when she began competing in the

Ski Jumping World Cup The FIS Ski Jumping World Cup is the world's highest level of ski jumping and the FIS Ski Flying World Cup as the subdivisional part of the competition. It was founded by Torbjørn Yggeseth for the 1979/80 season and organized by the Internatio ...

. During this she moved to The Winter Sports School in Park City, where she graduated in November 2012. In the first ever women's World Cup season in 2011/12, Hendrickson dominated by winning nine competitions; her first being on December 3, 2011 in Lillehammer. The 2012/13 season saw her win four World Cup competitions while finishing runner-up to nearest rival Sara Takanashi. Hendrickson was also able to win the women's event at the 2013 Ski Jumping World Championships in Val di Fiemme. On August 21, 2013 in

Oberstdorf Oberstdorf (Low Alemannic: ''Oberschdorf'') is a municipality and skiing and hiking town in Germany, located in the Allgäu region of the Bavarian Alps. It is the southernmost settlement in Germany and one of its highest towns. At the&nb ...

, Hendrickson suffered a serious knee injury which required reconstructive surgery for a damaged ligament. She was one of five top female jumpers who, within a few months, had a bad fall and was forced to take a long recovery period. Hendrickson's injury would drain the chances of the United States women's team for a good result at the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games (russian: XXII Олимпийские зимние игры, XXII Olimpiyskiye zimniye igry) and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (russian: Сочи 2014), was an international ...

in Sochi, but it was announced on January 22, 2014 that Hendrickson would still be able to make the team in time for the Games. She was granted the historic honor of being the first female to ever jump in a ski jumping event at the Olympics, with women having been allowed to participate in Olympic ski jumping for the first time in history. Hendrickson re-injured her surgically repaired knee during off-season training in June 2015, ruling her out of the 2015/16 season. In 2017, in an event sponsored by

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwide, inc ...

, Hendrickson jumped off the historic Nansen Ski Jump in Berlin, New Hampshire. This event marked the first time the jump had been used in 32 years. In December 2017, Hendrickson won the women's ski jumping competition at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Nordic Combined & Ski Jumping, securing her place on the U.S. Olympic team for

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of S ...

World Cup

Standings

Wins

References

External links

*
Sarah Hendrickson profile
at

Women's Ski Jumping USA Women's Ski Jumping USA is a non-profit organization responsible for the operational funding and support of the U.S. Women's ski jumping team. The organization administers funding for coaching, travel, training, equipment and development programs. ...

Sarah Hendrickson profile
at USSA {{DEFAULTSORT:Hendrickson, Sarah 1994 births American female ski jumpers Living people Olympic ski jumpers of the United States Ski jumpers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Ski jumpers at the 2018 Winter Olympics Skiers from Salt Lake City 21st-century American women