Winter Olympics 2022 - Norway's Marius Lindvik stuns Ryoyu Kobayashi to win ski jumping gold in the large hill
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Updated 12/02/2022 at 16:09 GMT
Ryoyu Kobayashi had been one of the in-form athletes heading into the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics with seven World Cup wins leading up the Games. After triumphing in the normal hill last Sunday, the defending Four Hills champion was bidding to pick up his second Olympic gold medal at the Zhangjiakou National Ski Jumping Centre, but he was stunned by Norway's Marius Lindvik.
'Good enough' - Lindvik takes shock ski jumping gold ahead of Kobayashi
Norway's Marius Lindvik put down a massive second jump to win gold in the men's large hill, stunning the hot favourite Ryoyu Kobayashi.
Lindvik, who scored 144.8 with his first jump to rank second going into the final round, scored 151.3 for an Olympic gold-winning score of 296.1 to produce a surprise upset.
The 23-year-old is the first Norwegian to win Olympic large hill gold since Toralf Engan at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck.
Kobayashi, who was bidding for the double after he claimed Japan’s first Olympic ski jumping title in 24 years on the normal hill, had to settle for silver with 292.8.
The Japanese star jumped 1.5 metres longer than Lindvik in the first round, but his second jump of 138m was short of Lindvik's 140m. Both scored the same style points with the judges, ultimately handing the Norwegian top spot.
Thanks to an emphatic final round score of 144.6, World Cup leader Karl Geiger from Germany took bronze with 281.3.
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‘He made the impossible the possible’ – Schmitt explains how Lindvik beat Kobayashi
"It was probably two of my best jumps," Lindvik said afterwards. "It's pretty sick that I managed to perform two good jumps when it counts.
"After the normal hill, I just took a step back and reset. And after the first round tonight I just had to go for it - and I think I did.
"When I landed, it was a lot of adrenaline and a lot of joy. After that there was a nervous moment when I had to watch Kobayashi jump."
Three-time Olympic champion Kamil Stoch finished in fourth with the Pole scoring 277.2.
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'The gold is his' - Lindvik celebrates surprise ski jumping Olympic triumph
The 34-year-old was not best pleased with his result.
"It's sad that ski jumping is a kind of sport that requires two good jumps," he told Eurosport.
"But even so it probably won’t give me anything. Apparently, I didn’t deserve this medal. It’s basically isn’t my season, isn’t my time. It’s really hard to deal with it for me but I can say I did my best.
He added: "It’s really hard to deal with it. I know that fourth is a really good place, a lot of guys would take it anyway.
"But I really sacrificed a lot lately and I wanted so badly a better prize. But it has to be that way. I take it that way. I have to figure it out in a while, take a deep breath, have a rest and be ready in few days."
HOW THE FIRST ROUND UNFOLDED
Kobayashi surged into the lead with his jump. The Japanese skier who finished 10th in Pyeongchang four years ago jumped 142m to move into first place, scoring a total of 147 points.
Lindvik finished in second, jumping 140.5m for a total score of 144.8. Slovenia's Timi Zajc qualified in third with 140.7 overall.
Stoch came fourth with his total of 140.3. Geiger was pumped as he landed his 138m jump, but he was cut down on style marks to score 136.7 and finished in sixth.
Kobayashi's brother, Junshiro, was the last man to make the 30-man cut, qualifying with 120.4 which was 0.2 points ahead of Norwegian Daniel Andre Tande.
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