# @utah2034 on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/BfHqOtvDAd6
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/34664667-utah2034-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/3165fac684.jpg
- **Posted:** 2018-02-13T02:13:09.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Salt Lake City-Utah 2034 (@slcut2034) — https://gondola.cc/slcut2034

## Caption

🇺🇸Here’s our third story on Utah Olympic athletes about our favorite flyer @schendrickson ski jumper from Park City🎿

Earning a spot on her second Olympic team was the highlight of the 23-year-old’s season. It’s been a long, difficult road for Sarah, from that brilliant afternoon during the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games to the mountains of Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The 23-year-old's affection for ski jumping was born that afternoon with her father, but, as she aged, it became a much more complicated relationship, fraught with the kind of frustration and heartbreak that requires a level of grit and commitment so intense, it could only be from a deep, abiding love.
When she burst onto the scene as an adorable, dimpled, Park City High student, she seemed destined to be a force in the sport. Hendrickson was consistently among the world’s best. At 17, she won her first ever World Championship, although six months later she tore her ACL on a training jump a day after recording her personal best jump.
U.S. Ski and Snowboard officials named her to the U.S. team, despite her being unable to even compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials, held a month before the Sochi Winter Games in 2014.
Hendrickson was granted the honor of being the first woman to jump in the Olympic Games as women finally won that right in 2013. But she was not 100% and finished 21st.
In the years after 2014 Games, Hendrickson endured three more knee surgeries and repeated injuries that have meant daily knee pain and almost constant frustration. Her physical struggles have relegated her to the periphery of a sport that it once looked like she might dominate.

Sarah is just grateful for good days and great jumps, like the one that allowed her to compete in her second Olympics.
Her goals are still as lofty as when she was a child, moved by the beauty of a sport most Americans ignore. “I really just want to go and enjoy it and do the best I can,” she said. 
Hendrickson’s strategy is to focus on the joy of jumping. It’s the reason she started. 📸: @bepied .
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#WinterOlympics #WinterGames #SLC #SLC2026 #SLC2030 #wintersports #flybabyfly #nevergiveup #skijumping #saltlakecity #Olympics2018 #FlyToPyeongchang

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- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 158
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## Tags

olympics2018, skijumping, flytopyeongchang, nevergiveup, flybabyfly, winterolympics, slc2030, slc, wintergames, saltlakecity, wintersports, slc2026

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