At the Milan Olympics, several Parkites will more than likely compete in ski jumping on the women’s side.  The Games’ ski jumping competitions will take place at the Predazzo Ski Jumping Stadium, nearly four hours northeast of Milan. Predazzo is about a five-minute drive from Val di Fiemme, where the cross country and part of the Nordic combined competitions will be held.  Men’s ski jumping has been part of every Winter Olympics, with this being just the fourth Games that women’s ski jumping has been included. The sport typically sees spikes in popularity during each Games due to its high-flying nature.  Follow along for a preview of the Parkites who wilil be competing in Predazzo, along with others that will compete and have chances at Olympic medals.  Josie Johnson Parkite Josie Johnson is chasing her first Olympic bid in Predazzo.  The 17 year old is the highest-ranked U.S. women’s ski jumper this season, ranked 28th in the world.  Through the first seven World Cups of Johnson’s season, her best individual finish was 15th in the normal hill competition on Jan. 6 at the Villach, Austria, World Cup. Johnson finished 16th in Jan. 5’s normal hill competition in Villach and ninth in her season-opening mixed team large hill competition at the Lillehammer, Norway World Cup on Nov. 21.  While competing around the world, Johnson is going to school at the Winter Sports School in Park City. She gets her sporting fix in the summers through mountain biking and climbing.  Johnson won a silver medal at the 2024 Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, South Korea.  Paige Jones  Parkite Paige Jones is chasing her first Olympic bid in Predazzo.  The 23 year old is the second highest-ranked U.S. women’s ski jumper this season, ranked 31st in the world.  Through the first five World Cups of Jones’ season, her highest finish was a 17th place normal hill showing on Jan. 6 in Villach, Austria. She also has 19th and 21st place finishes on the large and normal hills, respectively.  Jones crashed hard before the first World Cup of the season but feels she’s recovered well physically and with her performances. She’s trying to remember to have fun out on the hills as the Olympic season will be long and feature lots of time away from home. With the Villach World Cup having concluded on Tuesday, Jones and the rest of the women’s field will have five more World Cups before the Games to try and secure their Olympic bids.  As of early December, the U.S. women had secured three of a possible four Olympic bids. The fourth highest-ranked U.S. women’s ski jumper in Sandra Spoch is ranked in a tie for 47th in the world.  “I would encourage anybody who lives in Park City to tune in and see me and my teammates compete,” Jones said. “I don’t think I would have been able to reach the level that I’m at without the community behind being an athlete like in Park City. Nowhere else in the world has that much access to Olympians or understanding as far as missing school to go to competitions and everything like that.” Additional hopefuls and contenders Jason Colby: Steamboat Spring’s Jason Colby is the top-ranked U.S. men’s ski jumper at 25 in the world. Colby, 19 years old, is looking to qualify for his first Olympic Games in Predazzo. The best result of Colby’s season so far is a seventh place finish in the Engelberg, Switzerland, World Cup large hill competition on Dec. 20. Colby also finished in ninth place at the Innsbruck, Austria, World Cup large hill competition on Jan. 4. Colby was at the 2024 Youth Olympic Games alongside Josie Johnson. Annika Belshaw: Steamboat Springs skier Annika Belshaw will likely take the U.S. women’s third Olympic ski jumping bid. Belshaw is ranked 33rd in the world and chasing her first Olympic bid in Predazzo. The 23 year old’s best result of this World Cup season was her ninth place finish in Nov. 21’s Lillehammer, Norway, World Cup mixed team normal hill competition alongside U.S. teammate Josie Johnson. Belshaw finished last season ranked 29th in the world. The post Women’s ski jumpers likely to represent Park City at Olympics appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less