Legendary ski jumping siblings Domen and Nika Prevc led Slovenia in claiming back-to-back Olympic titles in the mixed team normal hill ski contest. Domen Prevc anchored the team in the final jump to earn 141.5 points, lifting the Slovenians into gold-medal position with a total of 1,069.2 points — a stagging 30.9-point lead ahead of Norwegian silver medalists Anna Odine Strom, Marius Lindvik, Eirin Maria Kvandal and Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal.
Japan narrowly beat out Germany by 1.2 points to win bronze.
Norway and Japan's silver and bronze medals mark each ski jumping powerhouse's first medals in the mixed team event after being left off the podium at the Beijing Games when multiple key athletes were disqualified due to suit violations.
"It is better if you win as a team than individually. You enjoy it more," Sara Takanashi of Japan said of winning a bronze medal alongside teammates Nozomi Maruyama, Ren Nikaido and Ryoyu Kobayashi.
"This medal is everything. To do it as a team is unbelievable," Kvandal said. "The team has been through so much over the last year, and I am so proud of what we have achieved now together."
Germany's Agnes Reisch, Felix Hoffmann, Selina Freitag and Philipp Raimund put up a great challenge against Japan throughout each round. Anchored by Raimund, who claimed Olympic gold in a shock win during the men's individual normal hill event at these Games, Germany came close to catching up to Japan, which had a 15.1-point lead over the Germans heading into the final round. Raimund's final jump, a monster leap of 102.5 meters, earned an incredible 140.9 points but it wasn't enough. Nikaido's 103-meter jump in the first round — the longest of the day — gave the Japanese too large of a lead.
Austrian heavy hitters Lisa Eder, Stephan Embacher, Jan Hoerl and Julia Muehlbacher found themselves off the podium in 5th place. The Austrian men struggled to adjust to the normal hill in the men's individual event on Feb. 9, finishing 7th at best.
Domen Prevc, a gold medal favorite in the men's individual events, specializes in large hill and is a master at extending his air time to fly farther than the rest of the field. With a shorter in-run length on the normal hill, he also struggled to adjust to the shorter air time and finished off the podium in the men's normal hill contest. He found his footing in time for the mixed team event, increasing Slovenia's lead an additional 7.6 points following his sister, Nika Prevc's, penultimate jump.
"It was big pressure. I am glad that I managed to turn this pressure and focus in the right direction and get the gold medal,” Domen Prevc said.
The Prevc family is the first to have four siblings each earn a Winter Olympics medal, after Domen and Nika Prevc's older brothers, Cene and Peter Prevc, earned medals at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Peter Prevc was on the Slovenian team that won the mixed team normal hill Olympic title in Beijing.
Americans Annika Belshaw, Jason Colby, Tate Frantz and Paige Jones advanced to the final round and placed 7th.
Mixed team normal hill medalists
🥇Nika Vodan, Anze Lanisek, Nika Prevc, Domen Prevc (SLO)
🥈Anna Odine Strom, Marius Lindvik, Eirin Maria Kvandal, Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal (NOR)
🥉Nozomi Maruyama, Ren Nikaido, Sara Takanashi, Ryoyu Kabayashi (JPN)