Liberec, Czech Republic - Ski-jumper Lindsey Van and Nordic combined skier Todd Lodwick of the United States beat German rivals for two historic world championship titles on Friday. Van, 24, won the inaugural ski-jumping competition for women when she beat Ulrike Graessler and Norwegian Anette Sagen.
Lodwick, 32, came out of retirement to win the only Nordic combined mass start event to be contested at the worlds, with Tino Edelmann second and Frenchman Jason Lamy-Chappuis third.
Estonian Andrus Veerpalu also entered the record books when he became the oldest world champion at age 38, winning the 15-kilometres classic style cross-country race from local hope Lukas Bauer and Matti Heikkinen of Finland.
Placed fourth after the first round with 89 metres, Van added the day's longest jump of 97m to win the inaugural women's ski-jump with 243.0 points. The first-round leader Graessler had 239.0 points from 93.5m and 94m, whil Sagen jumped 93.5m and 94m for 238.5 points.
"I couldn't be happier, it is the best time in my career," said Van, who could hardly contain her joy.
The 36 starters faced heavy snowfall in their big-event debut. Women's ski-jumping was not recognized by the ruling body FIS until the late 1990s and there were huge differences between the jumpers with only nine jumps beyond 90m on the Liberec normal hill.
FIS officials had named a good competition important for the sport's future, and it helped that there were no crashes like in training involving 12-year-old Czech Natalie Dejmkova and 14-year-old compatriot Lucie Mikova who didn't compete Friday.
"The sport is ready for the Olympics, it has to move forward," said Van, looking at a possible Olympic debut 2014 in Sochi.
Graessler named the event "an important step for us. We are ready for the Olympics."
Lodwick capped his return to action this season, after originally retiring in 2006, by winning the 10km mass start cross-country portion on Thursday and the jumping portion as well for a winning total of 276.0 points.
Edelmann had 273.7 points and Lamy-Chappuis clinched third place from 20th after the ski portion with 265.2 points, leaving only fourth place for World Cup leader and pre-event favourite Anssi Koivuranta of Finland.
"I definitely was the fastest runner yesterday. Today someone up there wanted me to win," admitted the surprised Lodwick.
Lodwick won six World Cup events but had never made a podium at the worlds or Olympics before his retirement three years ago. He returned this season to compete at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
Veerpalu defied driving snowfall as he won the cross-country race in 38 minutes 54.4 seconds with a strong finish.
The reigning World Cup champion Bauer trailed by 6.3 seconds after leading for most of the race, while Heikkinen was 16.4 seconds off the pace as all podium finishers chose wax-free skis.
Veerpalu also beat Bauer for 15km Olympic gold in 2006. The Estonian won the event as well at the 2002 Olympics and has a 30km world title from 2001. His last World Cup win dates back to March 2005 as he focusses only on big events these days.
"I started slowly and pushed hard on the final climb ... I feel a little sorry that Lukas is second again," said Veerpalu.
Bauer said that the 14,500 fans on hand pushed him hard but said that "Andrus was stronger ... I had big problems on the last climb."
The worlds continue on Saturday with women's double pursuit cross-country skiing and men's normal hill ski-jumping.
