Slovenia’s Domen Prevc lived up to his billing as favorite to claim gold in the men’s large hill ski jumping event at the Milano Cortina Olympics on Saturday, with Japan’s Ren Nikaido taking silver for his third medal of the Games and Poland’s Kacper Tomasiak securing bronze.
Favourite Prevc was second after the first round, behind Nikaido, but turned the contest on its head in the final, soaring 141.5 metres to finish 6.8 points ahead of the Japanese jumper, drawing wild cheers from the large Slovenian contingent in the Predazzo Stadium in Val di Fiemme.
In wet conditions, ski jumpers were wary of their suits becoming waterlogged, prompting a series of countermeasures as a mix of rain and snow fell at the top of the hill.
Ryoyu Kobayashi, who won silver in the event four years ago, had a poor result in the first round but had the second-best final jump to finish sixth overall.
Germany’s Philipp Raimund, who won gold in the men’s normal hill individual competition, finished ninth. Daniel Tschofenig of Austria got only one round of the competition as he was disqualified because his boots were four millimetres too long, with an FIS official saying it had been an oversight.
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