Reigning world champion Domen Prevc brought home Olympic gold in the men's individual large hill contest for Slovenia after facing fierce competition. Prevc, who was surprisingly left off the podium in the normal hill contest on Feb. 9, soared an incredible 141.5 meters — the longest jump of the event — in the final round to assert his dominance on the large hill. He was the only jumper to surpass the 300-point mark, finishing with 301.8 points.
Japan's Ren Nikaido took silver with 295 points, a full 6.8 points behind Prevc.
"I am really in a bad mood because I could have done better. I lost the gold medal and that is the thing that stays with me," Nikaido said.
Polish Kacper Tomasiak stunned the crowd when he won Olympic silver in the normal hill contest. He extended his success into the large hill event by claiming bronze, pushing Norway's Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal off the podium.
"The jumps in training were much worse than on the normal hill, so I just had to find the same feeling, like in the normal hill," Tomasiak said. "It’s good that I found it, and it’s something I’m very proud of, this medal."
Nikaido led the field in the first round, with a staggering 7-point lead over Prevc, who was the 2nd-place qualifier. After Prevc's final round jump earned the highest score of the day, the Predazzo crowd was held in suspense while waiting for Nikaido's final jump. But Prevc's lead was too great.
"I was crazily happy when I landed the first jump. Growing up as a kid, it was always my goal to jump as far as possible and it so happens that when you jump far, you win a gold medal," Prevc said.
Germany's Philipp Raimund, who's flown consistently since his surprise win in the normal hill event, ended in 9th.
Defending Olympic champion Marius Lindvik of Norway and revered Austrian ski jumper Stefan Kraft both did not advance to the final round, a shocking result from such strong jumpers. Austrian Daniel Tschofenig, who was able to find his form on the large hill, originally ranked 8th in the first round before being disqualified. Although the Austrian men struggled on the normal hill in Predazzo, Jan Hoerl and Stephan Embacher were able to find their groove during the large hill competition and finished 5th and 7th.
Americans Tate Frantz, Kevin Bickner and Jason Colby placed 19th, 20th and 31st.
Men's Individual Large Hill Medalists
🥇 Domen Prevc (SLO)
🥈 Ren Nikaido (JPN)
🥉 Kacper Tomasiak (POL)