Liberec, Czech Republic - Lindsey Van's name doesn't only almost sound the same as Lindsey Vonn, she now also shares bragging rights as a ski sport world champion with the fellow American.

Van, 24, made history as the first women's ski-jump champion on Friday, two weeks after Vonn won downhill and super-g gold at the alpine worlds in Val d'Isere, France.

"We are good friends and it is great to share world championship status," said Van.

Vonn has not yet congratulated Van, but Van said in the past that the two are confused by people.

"I hear that it was I winning all those World Cups, or being in commercials. Right before (Vonn) got married, she came up to me at the training centre and said, 'I'm sorry, but our names are going to look pretty much the same, and I'm sure people are going to get us confused!' And they have," she recently told NBC.

But while Vonn has a long alpine history on her side, Van and the other jumpers are just at the start of their young sport and hoping to boost recognition with the first appearance at the worlds.

Ski-jumping was not officially recognized by the ruling body FIS until the late 1990s. Van started jumping at the age of 7 and took part three years in in a women's demonstration event at the 1995 worlds which she can't even remember but was a flop.

The women now compete on a Continental Cup level, but even Friday's competition, which Van won from German Ulrike Graessler and Norway's Anette Sagen, still showed huge gaps between the top jumpers and the others.

Van led the way with 97.5 metres as only nine jumps went beyond the 90m-mark in difficult snowy conditions, but the top three all agreed that it was an important milestone, amid hopes for an Olympic debut 2014 in Sochi.

"The sport is ready for the Olympics, it has to move forward," said Van.

Sagen, who boasts 37 competition wins and has lifted the Continental Cup trophy in all four seasons, said "we had a great competition in difficult conditions" and insisted that "we are not too few jumpers and too few nations."

Graessler added: "We waited for so long for the world championships ... It was an important step for us. We are ready for the Olympics and hope for better quality."

FIS officials had named a good competition important for the sport's future, and it helped the women's cause 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 result also meant that some kind of justice was done to the pioneers such as Van, Sagen and Graessler, who have been jumping for many years and may be not be competing anymore at Sochi 2014.

"I feel like a pioneer, I have been jumping for 18 years and been at the front of the sport for so many years," said Van, a staunch advocate of women's jumping for many years.

Graessler, 21, said "I am happy that the 'old ladies' are on the podium" and Van concluded that the competition will have changed the attitudes of people towards women throwing themselves off ski-jumping hills.

"I hope the people's minds will change," she said. (dpa)