PREDAZZO, Italy (AP) — Norway’s Anna Odine Stroem won her second ski jumping gold medal of the Milan Cortina Games in the inaugural Olympic women’s large hill event.
Norway took the top two spots, with Eirin Maria Kvandal winning silver. Slovenian favorite Nika Prevc settled for bronze.
Women’s ski jumping on the normal hill was first included in the 2014 Sochi Games but until this year, the contest on the large hill had been limited in the Olympics to men.
Stroem won with a jump of 132 meters (433 feet). Kvandal’s jump was 133.5 meters (438 feet), but Stroem made up for it in style points from the judges and compensation points for wind.
The three jumpers on the podium have amassed a lot of hardware at the Predazzo Ski Jumping Stadium.
Stroem won gold on the normal hill, edging out Prevc.
They reversed positions on the podium in the mixed team event with Prevc and her brother, Domen, winning gold with Anze Lanisek and Nika Vodan. Stroem and Kvandal shared silver in the mixed team event with Marius Lindvik and Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal.
Prevc is the defending world champion on both hills, the world record holder for the longest jump by a woman and the defending World Cup champion. She holds a significant lead in this season’s standings.
But she struggled to hit the big jumps she’s known for — a problem she also had on the normal hill.
After the first round on the large hill, Prevc was fifth behind four Norwegians.
Kvandal, a two-time world champion, led. Stroem was second and Silje Opseth was behind her.
Prevc was able to overcome the third- and fourth-place jumpers, but couldn’t make up for the point deficit after her first jump to climb above third.
As the Norwegians celebrated, a weeping Prevc got a bear hug from her father, a ski jumping referee.
The gold for Norway was its 26th medal of the games, four more than second-place Italy. Norway also leads in gold medals with 12 to Italy’s eight.
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