Slovenia won the Olympic debut in mixed team ski jumping
On Monday, Slovenia won its first Olympic gold medal in mixed ski jumping, taking advantage of violations in the overalls of Germany’s Katharina Althaus and Japan’s Sara Takanashi.
“Second jump, I’m a little nervous about all these disqualifications,” said Nika Križnar.
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The team of Križnar, Urša Bogataj, Peter Prevc and Timi Zajc finished with 1,000.5 points and dominated the competition by more than 100 points.
“Even if you count all the distances in today’s competition and judge the points from the unfortunates, you should still be first, so it’s still great,” Prevc said.
Prevc jumped last and climbed 101.5 meters (333 feet) and collected 126.3 points for first place on the winning podium of four Slovenians.
The Russians won silver and Canada bronze, both were stunning.
“This is a huge, huge achievement for the entire federation,” said Evgeny Klimov, who worked with Irina Avvakumova, Irma Makhinia and Danilo Sadreyev.
Canadian team Alex Loutitt, Abigail Strate, Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes and Matthew Soukup left Calgary, Alberta, to train in Europe because the hills used for the 1988 Calgary Olympics were closed.
“It gives us a chance to save our sport,” 18-year-old Loutitt said. “We are four of the six representatives, and at the club level we have less than 30 children.
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“It gives us a chance to encourage people to try and fall in love with the sport.”
Soukup admitted he was surprised by the result.
“We’ve always had the idea that if we all make really good jumps, something can happen,” he said. “But it’s the best of the best dreams.”
Germany, one of the favorites to win, was disqualified after the first round for a breach in the Althaus coveralls that won silver in the women’s competition on Saturday.
Japan finished fourth in the 10-nation category with Olympic champion Ryoyu Kobayashi and Takanashi after Takanashi was also disqualified in the jump. Kobayashi won on Ordinary Hill on Sunday, becoming the first Japanese jumper to finish in first place after Yuki Kasaya in 1972.
Before entering the last round before Norway, the Slovenians led by 49 points and swam to the wrong victory.
Slovenians, including Bogataj and Prevec, came together last month to win the mixed team World Cup and showed that this is no coincidence. The rich man won Olympic gold in women’s ski jumping on Saturday night, four years after having the fewest points in the same competition at the Pyeongchang Games.
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“All the medals are really good for the development of the sport,” Prevc said. “Currently, many children in Slovenia are jumping.”
Men have been skiing at the Winter Olympics since the early 1924s. Women at the Olympics did not have access to the sport until 2014.
The International Ski Federation hosted its first mixed team competition in 2012, when it was part of the winning Takanashi team, and has been to the World Cup four times in the last decade.
While the women ended up jumping in China, the men have two more chances in the big mountain race on Saturday and the team competition next Monday.