Austria wins gold in 1st Olympic men’s super team ski jump as event is shortened due to weather
Olympic Medals | MGN
PREDAZZO, Italy (AP) — Austria won the Olympic debut of the men’s super team ski jump on Monday, capturing its first medal in the sport in the Milan Cortina Games as heavy snow and wind canceled the final round of the event.
Poland took silver and Norway got bronze.
The new format replaced the former four-man team contest on the large hill with teams of two. Seventeen nations jumped in the first round and the top 12 made the second round. The best eight moved on to the final.
But as a snow squall held up competition with only a few skiers left to make their final jump, the round was canceled and the second round standings determined the winners.
The result was redemption for the Austrian team that had won the men’s team event in Beijing in 2022, but had not reached the podium in this Olympics.
Jan Hoerl, who was part of the 2022 winning team, was paired with Stephan Embacher, who was in his first Olympics, for the victory.
Austria led Slovenia, Poland, Germany and Japan after the first round.
Poland moved into second and Norway moved into third in the second round as Slovenia slid into fifth place.
Poland’s Kacper Tomasiak, a rookie in his first year on the World Cup circuit, has been the surprise of Olympic ski jumping, winning a silver on the normal hill and a bronze on the large hill. He was paired with Pawel Wasek, whose best Olympic finish was sixth in a team event in 2022.
The Norwegian team was made up of Johann André Forfang, who had won gold on the large hill and silver on the normal hill in Pyeongchang in 2018 but had not had a good Olympics before Monday, and Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal, who won silver in the mixed team event in these games.
Forfang was suspended last yea r in a jumpsuit-tampering scandal that brought shame to the country that invented the sport.
Forfang and teammate Marius Lindvik were suspended for three months last year after their coaches and a staff member were caught on camera tampering with their suits.
Stitching was added to the suits to stiffen the crotch area, allowing the athletes to fly farther.
Neither Lindvik nor Forfang was charged with knowing about the manipulation, but the international ski federation, FIS, the governing body for ski jumping, said the jumpers “should have checked and asked questions about the nighttime adjustments.”
The team leaders involved were recently banned from the sport for 18 months.
The U.S. team of Kevin Bickner and Tate Frantz made it to the final round but ended up in eighth place.
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