Women’s Ski Jumping
Far West Ski Foundation, in collaboration with its sister organization, the Far West Ski Association, has supported WSJUSA since 2009 with special campaigns within organized skiing. Because of the support of organized snowsport and recognition of the tenacious dedication of the late Deedee Corradini, the Foundation has taken up the challenges from Women’s Ski Jumping USA and made annual grants, with the Foundation and the Association providing matching contributions to its programs. The Foundation has made grants to the Fly Girls program in honor of Deedee Corradini.
Deedee Corradini, 2009 Far West Ski Association Snowsports Builder and incredible lady, died March 1, 2015 at her home in Park City, Utah. She was 70. She was on the WSJUSA board, and served as president for three years. Corradini was the outspoken and unyielding leader in the global fight to allow women to participate in ski jumping at the Olympic level. That dream was realized in the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games.
Corradini was the past president of the distinguished International Women’s Forum. She was fluent in French and Arabic, having spent part of her youth in the Middle East. She was a Senior Distinguished Fellow in Urban Studies at The Richard W. Riley Institute of Government, Politics and Public Leadership at Furman University, and Senior Vice President of Prudential Utah Real Estate.
Corradini was the first female mayor of Salt Lake City, serving from 1992-2000, and was the former president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
A jumping suit signed by the first national women’s ski jumping team was presented to FWSA/FWSF for their effort in 2013 and 2014 was donated in November 2014 to the Ski Library in Norco, California on the Library’s tenth anniversary. Shown here are Jane Wyckoff, Ingrid Wicken, Curator, and John Watson. Jane Wyckoff and John Watson are both Past Presidents of the Far West Ski Association and current members of the Far West Ski Foundation Board of Directors.
FWSF had a part to play in the eventual participation of the American jumpers in the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014. In the March 2015 final World Cup meet in Oslo, Sarah Hendrickson placed second with her rehabilitated knee, Jessica Jerome 11th, Nita Englund 23rd and Tara Geraghty-Moats 28th.
This is a signal achievement for WSJUSA. In addition, WSJUSA sent two athletes to the World Junior Championships – one of whom is a direct result of the Fly Girls program started in summer 2014. Fly Girls is analogous to the FWSA Athletic Scholarship Program for young athletes.
The International Olympic Committee has announced that Women’s Nordic combined will not be featured in the program of the 2026 Milan and Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy because it lacks universality. The decision means Nordic combined, where athletes compete in cross-country skiing and ski jumping, remains the only Winter Olympic discipline where women are not allowed to compete, despite them now having a world championships and World Cup circuit. There is still more work yet to be done.
