11.02 First Women's Olympic Ski Jump Gold Goes to Germany's Vogt

ESTO-SADOK, Russia, February 11 (R-Sport) – Germany’s Carina Vogt flew into the record books Tuesday by becoming the first-ever Olympic women’s ski jump gold medalist.

Ninety years after the men’s ski jump debuted at the Olympics, Vogt shed her outsider status to win with a score of 274.4 points.

The silver medal went to Austria’s Daniela Iraschko-Stolz on 246.2, with bronze for 18-year-old French jumper Coline Mattel on 245.2.

Japanese 17-year-old Sara Takanashi had come to Sochi as the hot favorite for gold after dominating the World Cup season, but had to settle for fourth.

Female ski jumpers had been campaigning for a women’s event at the Olympics ever since 1998, even launching an unsuccessful lawsuit to be included on the Vancouver 2010 program, but the International Olympic Committee previously said there were not enough high-quality athletes to ensure a competitive contest.

Even at Sochi, there remains one women’s event compared with three for the men.

On Sunday, Poland’s Kamil Stoch won men’s normal hill gold. The men’s large hill event is Saturday, before the men’s team event February 18.