Advertisement

Canada names first female Olympic ski jumping team

In Vancouver on Sunday, Atsuko Tanaka, Alexandra Pretorius and Taylor Henrich were named to take part in the first-ever Olympic ski jumping event for women.

VANCOUVER – Atsuko Tanaka, Alexandra Pretorius and Taylor Henrich were named to Canada’s Olympic women’s ski jumping team Sunday ahead of the sport’s Winter Games debut next month.

The three Calgary natives will compete after the sport was skipped by the Vancouver Games in 2010 but later included on the program for Sochi, Russia.

Breaking news from Canada and around the world sent to your email, as it happens.

The fight to include women’s ski jumping prior to Vancouver went to the courts only to have the Supreme Court of Canada rule against the athletes’ appeal in 2009.

“I have lost count of how many jumps I have done leading up to this point,” said Tanaka. “But every jump got me one step closer to my goal and that was to make the Sochi 2014 Canadian Olympic team and I couldn’t be more proud to represent my country in Russia.”

Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes, Dusty Korek, Trevor Morrice and Matthew Rowley will represent the men’s side for Canada.

Story continues below advertisement

The women’s ski jumping competition begins Feb. 11 at the RusSki Gorki Jumping Center. The men’s qualification round begins Feb. 8.

Sponsored content

AdChoices