Englund Strong in Olympic Test Event
ALPENSIA, South Korea (Feb. 16, 2017) - Nita Englund put down her two best competitions of the season with a pair of top 10 finishes in the Olympic test event World Cup on the HS109m hill at Alpensia in PyeongChang. Englund soared to seventh and eighth in the two test events. Sara Takahashi and Yuki Ito split the wins for Japan.
In Wednesday’s opener, Englund flew 92.0 and 91.5 meters to finish seventh behind Ito. Thursday, she overcame a short opening round jump of 83.0 meters to fly 91.0 on the second round to finish eighth with Takahashi taking the win.
“It was a really interesting bunch of competitions,” said Englund, who traveled more than 30 hours to PyeongChang with just one rest day before the competition. “It was great to get a feeling for the hill - it is unique and quite nice for flying. I'm satisfied with the test event and it was nice to see the facilities for next year.”
It was the first trip for the women to PyeongChang, one year out before the start of the Olympic Winter Games.
“I thought the area was very beautiful,” she added. “I wish we also had time to do some alpine skiing as it looked quite nice! The jumping competition this week makes me excited to next year.”
Englund, along with teammate Sarah Hendrickson (Park City, UT), will now head to Lahti, Finland for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships that open Wednesday. Hendrickson sat out the last two World Cups to rest prior to World Championships.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Nita Englund (Florence, WI) had her best performances of the year finishing seventh and eighth in the Olympic test event World Cup on the HS109m hill at Alpensia in PyeongChang.
- Abby Ringquist (Park City, UT) had one of her best career performances finishing 12th in the first competition.
- World Championships open Wednesday in Lahti, Finland.
RESULTS
Women’s HS109m - Feb. 16, 2017
Women’s HS109m - Feb. 15, 2017