Krasnaya Polyana, Russia (SportsNetwork.com) - Germany's Carina Vogt held the lead after the first round in the first-ever women's normal hill competition at the Sochi Olympics.
While women have been participating in the sport for more than a century, the International Olympic Committee argued that there weren't enough women or countries participating at a high enough level to justify its inclusion.
One official actually said that jumping thousands of times was "not appropriate for ladies from a medical point of view."
However, on April 6, 2011, the IOC finally announced that a women's ski jumping event was being added for Sochi.
Vogt hit a jump of 103 meters for a total score of 126.8, 1.1 points ahead of France's Coline Mattel, who was a World Cup winner in this event in Sochi in 2012.
Current World Champion and the runaway World Cup leader, 17-year-old Sara Takanashi of Japan was in third place and was one of 30 jumpers to move onto the final round.
American Sarah Hendrickson, who suffered torn knee ligaments in August, wore bib number one and became the first woman to ever make a jump in an Olympic event. The 2013 world champion checked in at 19th after her first jump with a jump of 94 meters and a score of 112.4.
She will be joined in the final round by fellow Americans Lindsay Van and Jessica Jerome, who ended the first round in 11th and 12th place, respectively.