Fly to Air
“Ready to Fly” documents Lindsey Van and women ski
jumpers’ winding journey to Sochi By Eric Williams
It’s been a long road to the Olympic Winter Games for women ski
jumpers, a journey nobody knows better than American ski jumper
Lindsey Van. “Ready to Fly,” a recently released documentary film by
Bill Kerig, tells the story of Van and her Women’s Ski Jumping USA
teammates’ relentless fight to reach the 2014 Sochi Games.
“It’s a little bit strange, these are very intimate, emotional moments
and now it’s pretty much just an open book for everybody else to see,
which is kind of intense,” said Van.
In March 2010, Kerig, the film’s writer, producer and director
approached Van just after the women missed the latest Olympic
Games in Vancouver with his idea to document Van’s journey on
film.
The film begins with Van picking up the sport at 7 years old, competing
alongside boys from Day 1, and follows her as she becomes the first
women ski jumping world champion in 2009. “Fly” also captures the
raw emotion of Van and her fellow athletes as they exit a courtroom
in British Colombia after being told that their lawsuit against the
Vancouver Organizing Committee had failed.
After making its debut in Salt Lake on Feb. 10, “Ready to Fly” is now
being screened at several theaters around Utah before a summer and fall
national tour. DVDs are also available for purchase on the film’s website,
readytoflyfilm.com.
