LIBEREC, Czech Republic (AP) – Todd Lodwick called it a fairy tale. Ski jumper Lindsey Van felt like a pioneer.

Both won gold medals Friday in an uncommonly successful day for the United States at the Nordic skiing world championships.

Lodwick, a veteran of six previous worlds and four Olympics, won the opening Nordic combined event. He defended his slim lead from Thursday’s cross-country by producing the best ski jump result.

Hours earlier on the same hill, Van became the first women’s ski jumping champion. She nailed a perfect second jump, completing an improbable comeback after a career-threatening knee injury almost exactly a year ago.

Before Van’s victory, the United States had not won a gold at a Nordic skiing worlds since 2003, when Johnny Spillane took a Nordic combined sprint. After two days of these worlds, the Americans are the big surprise, the only country with multiple wins after four events.

In Friday’s other event, Andrus Veerpalu of Estonia won the men’s 15-kilometer classical cross-country race ahead of Lukas Bauer, spoiling the Czech’s quest for a first world title before a frenzied home crowd.

Lodwick made his debut at the worlds in 1995 and the Olympics in ’94 but had never won a medal. He retired in 2006 but returned at the urging of his wife last year.

“I felt throughout that my career was very successful, but it was missing a world championship medal, and an Olympic medal,” Lodwick said. “I never stopped believing that someday I would be at the podium at world championships. So today is my dream come true. It’s a fairy tale, it really is.”

Van had to wait years just for a chance to compete for a gold medal.

She started jumping when she was 7 after a hill was built near her home in Park City, Utah, but this is the first time women have been allowed to compete at the worlds. The sport hopes that an impressive display will help it earn a spot at the 2014 Sochi Oympics. It failed to gain approval for next year’s Vancouver Games.

“I feel like I’m a pioneer in the sport now,” Van said. “I feel like I’ve been at the front of the sport for so many years. So at this point it feels like I’ve kind of helped push the sport along.”

Van was fourth after the first round but soared 97.5 meters through heavy snow in the second – by far the longest of the competition – to finish with 243 points and edge first-round leader Ulrike Graessler of Germany. Anette Sagen of Norway won the bronze.

Van could not contain herself as she waited for her last rivals to come down the hill, jumping up and down and sticking her tongue out for the cameras.

“There was a really crazy point when my head was going everywhere,” Van said. “I was just watching them jump, and I was pretty sure they were going to both go farther than me. So when I saw the leaderboard with my name still at the top I was obviously really surprised and just really happy.”

A year ago, she blew out her knee when landing a jump.

“I just landed and my bones hit together, and the cartilage exploded,” she said.

She had surgery in March, then spent every day in the gym for the next five months. She returned to jumping in October, only to reinjure her knee and end up on crutches again.

“I still don’t feel 100 per cent, she said. “I’m just getting close. … It’s starting to feel like a real leg again.”

Lodwick kept control in the final jump in the heavy snowfall, beating Tino Edelmann of Germany and Jason Lamy Chappuis of France. Aino Kaisa Saarinen of Finland won the women’s 10K on Thursday.

Lodwick held a 1.3-point lead over Edelmann after the first jump and needed to clear 96 meters in the second to secure the win. He knew as soon as he landed he did it, raising both arms and pointing his index fingers.

“To tell you the truth, I was pretty damn nervous at the top of the jump,” he said. “Today kind of trumps everything. Today I can say I’m world champion, and not many people get to say that.”