Lindsey Van

Few athletes have transformed their sport more than Lindsey Van. An unrivaled inspiration and pioneer in her sport, she was the ultimate game-changer in women’s ski jumping. 

Born in 1984, Van’s passion for ski jumping began at the Utah Olympic Park, where she watched the jumps get constructed in preparation for the Olympics. Here she trained and flourished as an athlete, ultimately winning the first-ever women’s ski jumping World Championship gold medal at Liberec, Czech Republic in 2009 and securing 60 FIS podiums and 16 national titles by the end of her career. Notably, she set the U.S. Women’s distance record in 2004 at 171 M in Vikersund, Norway.     

Some of her biggest accomplishments came not on the hill, but through her dogged determination as an advocate of her sport. Lindsey brought gender equality to women’s ski jumping through a 15-year lobbying quest. Van was instrumental in the women’s discipline becoming an Olympic event for the first time at the 2014 Games where she competed, becoming forever an Olympian. Retiring from competitive jumping in 2015, the Park City resident has served as a ski jump official, aFIS technical delegate, and a highly respected advocate for gender equality in ski jumping.