<
>

Austria wins Olympic gold in ski jumping team event; Slovenia takes silver, Germany bronze

ZHANGJIAKOU, China -- Austria won Olympic gold in the ski jumping team event on Monday at the Beijing Games.

Manuel Fettner jumped 128 meters (420 feet) on his final jump to seal the first-place finish.

The team of Fettner, Stefan Kraft, Daniel Huber and Jan Hoerl combined to score 942.7 points, beating Slovenia by 8.3 points with a combination of jaw-dropping distances and style that impressed the judges.

The Slovenians earned silver and Germany won bronze.

Slovenia went into the final round with a nine-point lead over Austria. Norway, Germany, Japan and Poland followed after the first round in the last ski jumping event of the 2022 Olympics, but they couldn't keep up with the top two nations.

The Austrians led Slovenia by 5.3 points when each country was down to its fourth and final jumper as Norway and Germany fell back in the eight-nation field, and Fettner's final jump gave them the gold.

Germany's result was particularly impressive because the team didn't have two-time gold medalist Andreas Wellinger in its lineup because he tested positive for COVID-19.

The Norwegians finished fourth in the team event, followed by Japan and Poland.

Norway, Germany and Austria each won gold at the previous three Olympics in the team event. The traditional powers have finished first since Japan earned the top spot on the podium on its home hill at the 1998 Nagano Games in the first team event.

Marius Lindvik of Norway won on the large hill Saturday, holding off Ryoyu Kobayashi of Japan, who finished first on the normal hill at the Beijing Games.

Men have been ski jumping at the Winter Olympics since the first edition in 1924 and have had an opportunity to compete as teams since 1988.

Women, who did not have access to the sport at the Olympics until 2014, competed in their only individual event more than a week ago. Ursa Bogataj of Slovenia won gold.

The Slovenians also won gold in the first Olympic ski jumping mixed team competition, taking advantage of five women being disqualified for having jumpsuits that were too large and created an aerodynamic advantage.