The U.S. National Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame announced the Class of 2025 inductees Tuesday in Park City, and ski jumper Lindsey Van is among them. The 40-year-old Parkite is being recognized for more than her accomplishments on the hill, but for her tireless advocacy.
Van helped put women’s ski jumping on the map — and into the 2014 Olympics.
She started ski jumping at just seven years old. Originally starting in a ski-racing program in Park City, Van said she kept looking for jumps as she liked the adrenaline and flying in the air.
“Ski racing, it was about the speed, but I really liked catching air,” she said. “I just wanted to keep going farther and farther and bigger and bigger on the jumps.”
Around 1990, a ski jump was built at the Utah Olympic Park for Salt Lake City’s 1998 Olympic bid. So, Van started jumping.
At the time, there were no international women’s ski jumping competitions. She said she and other athletes had to fight to get their sport recognized and sanctioned by the International Ski Federation.
After many years, women’s ski jumping was finally sanctioned and in 2009, women competed in ski jumping in the World Championships for the first time. That’s where Van took home gold.
“It was a big breakthrough for the sport in general, because with World Championships you get more sponsors, more money, more countries are interested in it, more athletes are interested in it,” Van said.
But the fight continued. Women’s ski jumping was not included in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and Van and other athletes around the world sued the Vancouver Organizing Committee for a lack of equality.
While they didn’t win in court, Van said they won the court of public opinion. She said there was enough pressure that the International Olympic Committee had to add women’s ski jumping to the 2014 Games.
By then, Van had been ski jumping for 22 years and was 29 years old.
“I saw a bunch of other athletes that I grew up with, men, have that opportunity several times before I was able to have the same opportunity,” she said. “It was deserved for the sport, and I was just happy that I was still able to jump far enough to actually be able to compete.”
Van retired in 2015 but continues to be an advocate for women in ski jumping. She said she wants to see women have all the same opportunities and competitions as men — and there’s still work to do.
“When I started jumping, I was competing with the men, all the competitions were run by men, all the coaches were men, everything was men. And it's still a lot like that today,” Van said.
While women have the same number of events in ski jumping for the 2026 Games in Italy, there are still gaps.
For example, women are only allowed to jump in two of four World Cup events in the Four Hills Tournament in Germany and Austria. Women also don’t have the same opportunities in ski flying, where athletes can jump much farther than ski jumping.
There are also gaps on the coaching and official side. Van said only five women in the world, including her, are licensed to be an official responsible for enforcing rules and regulations at international competitions. There are also few women coaches in ski jumping.
She plans to keep pushing for more equality in the sport.
“When you don't know any different and you really feel passionate about equality, women's rights, it wasn't hard to push for those things,” Van said. “It definitely took a lot of energy and a lot of mental energy, but I'm glad I did it.”
Van is one of eight U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame Class of 2025 members. Two others also have Utah ties.
Chris Cushing, originally from New Hampshire, now lives in Salt Lake City. Like his father, he is known for mountain planning. Cushing has been involved in over 200 ski-area projects across five continents, including Deer Valley in Park City.
Raelene Davis from Salt Lake City was the marketing chief of Ski Utah for 40 years. She was one of winter sports’ most impactful marketers and is responsible for bringing countless skiers and riders into the sport.
The Class of 2025 will be inducted into the hall of fame at the annual Snowsports History Celebration at Snowbird on April 11th, 2026.
