Austria didn’t need its final jumps on Monday night to claim a gold medal in Predazzo, Italy.
The Austrians claimed the men’s super team large hill ski jump on Monday after the event was canceled early due to a large snowstorm that worked its way into the area. Conditions on the course got very bad out of nowhere during the third round of the competition, and officials ended up wiping the round altogether — as several teams had yet to make their third and final jumps.
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So, since Austria was in the lead after the second round, they took the gold medal. It marked the country’s second straight win in the event, following their gold-medal finish at the Beijing Olympics four years ago.
The Austrian duo of Jan Hörl and Stephan Embacher finished with 558.7 points to win, just more than 20 points ahead of Poland. Norway finished in third, less than a half-point ahead of Germany. The American pair of Kevin Bickner and Tate Frantz ended up in eighth with a score of 520.2.
Japan was widely considered the favorite to win, though it finished sixth after rough first jumps from Ren Nikaido and Ryoyu Kobayashi. Nikaido has already won three medals so far in Italy, and Kobayashi won gold on the normal hill in 2022. He won six World Cup events in the past year. While it would have taken a big third jump from each to move up in the standings and reach the podium, they didn’t end up getting the chance.
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While that’s undoubtedly frustrating for them, it’s hard to blame the officials considering the weather that dominated the region on Monday. It was not the only event impacted, either. The start of the women’s big air final was delayed by more than an hour on Monday due to snow and wind.
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