Jerome, Johnson, Magnussen, Hendrickson /fot. Stefan Diaz/

A large number of athletes from America will attend the competitions in Scandinavia. Sigurd Pettersen is the team's new assistant coach.

The U.S. team will attend the first Continental Cups of this winter with a fairly large number of competitors. As many as nine jumpers will go on the trip to Scandinavia: Lindsey Van, Jessica Jerome, Alissa Johnson, Abby Hughes, Sarah Hendrickson, Avery Ardovino, Karin Friberg, Nita Englund and Nina Lussi. They all will attend the competitions in Rovaniemi, Lillehammer and Notodden, and return then to America for Christmas.

This remarkabely large number of competitors is caused by the fact, that there is no time to have a qualification in America for the World Championships and Junior World Championships. So all athletes get the chance to use the Continental Cup to qualify for these major events.

U.S. head coach Kjell Ivar Magnussen told Ladies-Skijumping.com that it is his aim for the season, to make the entire team as strong as possible. He defined a podium at the World Championships in Oslo as a goal for the team, as well as one podium in each of the two competitions at the Junior World Championships.

Sigurd Pettersen new assistant coach

In this winter, head coach Magnussen will be supported by Sigurd Pettersen as assistant coach. Pettersen won the Four Hills Tournament in 2004. In the same year he won also a gold medal in the team event of the Ski Flying World Championships in Planica. He has quit his active jumping career after the last season.