Parkite ski jumper Paige Jones broke her ankle when trying to qualify for the 2022 Beijing Olympics, which would have been her first. Jones acknowledged a history with injuries due to competition, that ankle injury and others, contributing to anxiety now on the jumping ramps.
However Jones isn’t letting the injuries get the best of her. The resilient 23 year old credits much of that hardy mindset to work she’s put in over the past six years with a sports psychologist. Jones is on-pace, if an early one, for her best season as a professional. She’s got making her first Games roster on her mind, amongst other goals.
Jones is the top-ranked American ski jumper through the first two World Cups of the season. She and the rest of the world’s best are in Wisla, Poland, this week for the third World Cup, where she posted her career-best large hill World Cup result of 19th on Thursday in the event. Jones and the women were back jumping on the Wisla large hill on Friday.
The ski jumping World Cup circuit will head to Klingenthal, Germany, next week, after the Lake Placid World Cup was cancelled due to the facilities failing inspections. Including Klingenthal, there will be 10 more World Cups before the Milan Games, offering Jones and others critical qualifying opportunities. Team USA has three spots locked in for the Olympics and is chasing a fourth spot.
“I did crash pretty majorly right before our first World Cup, so didn’t quite have the strong season opener that I wanted,” Jones said. “But, I think I’ve kind of pulled it together with a good result in Falun and then tying my career best today on the large hill, which was pretty great.”
Jones feels her strong summer of jumping in the FIS Grand Prix series led into this winter. She posted a top-20 finish in her last Grand Prix event of the “offseason” in Val Di Fiemme, the host for ski jumping in the Milan Games.
“It’s definitely good to go into an Olympic season having some good feelings and results on the Olympic hills,” she added.
In addition to qualifying for her first Olympics, Jones said she wants to finish the World Cup season ranked top 30 in the world. She’s currently ranked 28th as of Thursday, and she finished last season ranked 33rd, her career-best. A top-30 ranking would also see her qualify for ski flying events, which feature more speed and landing distance. Women are still slowly being worked into ski flying competitions.
“As long as I’m consistent, I don’t think that will be much of a problem,” Jones said about qualifying for Milan. “I think the season’s really long, so I always have to make a point of making a goal to have fun. It’s easy to get stuck in the weeds when you’re traveling all the time and competing every weekend.”
With the cancellation of the Lake Placid World Cup, Jones said she won’t set foot in the U.S. until March. She said not traveling too much during the offseason helps her deal with the grind of the season. This year, there will be 18 World Cups, in addition to the Games. Jones also said the U.S. women’s team is extremely close, which helps everyone cope with the schedule as well.
Jones said this season, as each has before it, feels like the biggest of her career. She hopes plenty of Parkites tune into the World Cups and Olympics, as everyone can spot the Olympic Park jumps from various spots near Kimball Junction. Plus, the town has a rich history, including multiple former ski jumpers making the push for women’s ski jumping to first be included in an Olympic program in 2014.
“I would encourage anybody who lives in Park City to tune in and see me and my teammates compete,” she 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.”
Jones results Friday in Wisla and beyond this season can be found on her FIS page. The event can be live-streamed on Ski and Snowboard Live.
“I’m excited to jump again tomorrow,” Jones said. “The jumps that I had on competition day weren’t my best jumps, they were around my average, which is what we’re always shooting for in competition. But, I have a chance to try again tomorrow and improve on that.”