PREDAZZO, Italy ¨C Slovenia¡¯s Domen Prevc lived up to his billing as favorite to claim gold in the men¡¯s large hill ?ski jumping event at the Milano ?Cortina ?Olympics on Saturday, with Japan¡¯s ?Ren Nikaido taking silver for his third medal of the Games and Poland¡¯s Kacper Tomasiak securing bronze.
Favourite Prevc was ?second after the first round, behind Nikaido, but ?turned the contest on its head in the final, soaring ?141.5 metres to ?finish 6.8 points ahead of the Japanese jumper, drawing wild ?cheers from ?the large Slovenian contingent in ?the Predazzo Stadium in Val ?di ?Fiemme.
In wet conditions, ski jumpers were wary of their suits becoming waterlogged, prompting a series of countermeasures as ?a mix of rain and snow fell at the top of the hill.
Ryoyu Kobayashi, who won silver in the event four years ago, had a poor result in the first round but had the second-best final jump to finish sixth overall.
Germany¡¯s Philipp Raimund, who won gold in the ?men¡¯s ?normal hill individual competition, finished ?ninth. Daniel Tschofenig of Austria got ?only one round of the competition as he was disqualified because his boots were four millimetres too long, ?with an FIS official saying it had been an oversight.
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