2022 Winter Olympics: Slovenian Ursa Bogataj rises above the competition
Slovenian Ursa Bogataj won the Olympic gold in ski jumping on the night when Japanese star Sara Takanashi surprisingly finished among the medals.
The rich man hovered 100 meters (328,084 feet) through the air and scored 121 points in Saturday’s final jump. Germany’s Katharina Althaus won silver for her second consecutive Olympics. The bronze was won by Slovenian Nika Križnar.
Takanashi finished in fourth place and was in tears when she took off her skis after the last jump. She won a record 61 World Cup matches and came out on top as one of the favorites after winning bronze four years ago in South Korea and finishing fourth at the 2014 Olympics.
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Norwegian Maren Lundby, who won gold at the 2018 Olympics, has decided not to defend the title because she has decided to make her physical and mental health a priority.
Marita Kramer from Austria, the highest-ranked woman in the World Cup rankings, was not allowed to compete because she tested positive for COVID-19.
The absence of Lundby and Kramer paved the way for the area of women jumping on a cold night with a wind chill of minus -13 degrees Celsius (8.6 degrees Fahrenheit), while the gusts shook the flags of the participating countries.
Tickets for the Beijing Olympics are not on sale due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the event is expected to be attended by around 150,000 invited spectators. About 500 of these fans were in the stands at the National Ski Jumping Center, one of the jewels at the Beijing Games.
The spectacular facility was nicknamed Snow Ruyi after an ancient jade-shaped decoration in the shape of a ski slope, symbolizing happiness.
The women jumped to gold for the third time and each Olympics had a unique winner. Lundby, who was the dominant force in the sport, won four years ago, and German Carina Vogt was first in the inaugural Olympic ski jumping competition for women at the 2014 Sochi Games.
On Saturday night, the final lap was postponed by 15 minutes to allow the athletes to take a short break after the first lap took longer than expected.
Althaus jumped 105.5 meters (346 feet) and scored 121.1 points in the first lap. She was closely followed by three Slovenes. In the end, she ran out of gold.
Anna Hoffman, the only American to jump in China, finished in 37th place in her first Olympic appearance.