The American teen beat Sara Takanashi at the Nordic world championships last week, finishing 2.7 points ahead of her Japanese rival despite only recently returning from a knee injury.
Women's ski jumping will make its debut at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. And Hendrickson, a world champion only one month after finishing sixth at the junior worlds, is one of the favorites for gold.
Female ski jumpers have been petitioning to join the Olympics since the 1998 Nagano Games. Before the 2010 Vancouver Games, 15 female ski jumpers — including world champion Lindsey Van — sued the Vancouver Organizing Committee. The case went to the British Columbia Supreme Court, but women's ski jumping failed to make the Olympic program.
