Ski jumping at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games will be contested from Feb. 8-19, with medals awarded in four different events.
Sochi in review
Poland’s Kamil Stoch won his first and second Olympic gold medals in Sochi when he finished ahead of the field in both the normal and large hill competitions. It was the third time in Olympic history that one jumper claimed both prizes.
Ski jumping competitions are scored using a point total which take into account the distance jumped and the style displayed in the air and upon landing by the jumper. Stoch won gold convincingly on the normal hill, finishing 13 points ahead of silver medal finisher Peter Prevec of Slovenia. In the large hill contest, 41-year-old ski jumper Noriaki Kasai of Japan, who had won his first and only Olympic medal in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway, pressured Stoch for the top spot. Stoch’s final of two jumps was just enough to push him past Kasai to win his second individual gold by just a single point. Kasai would go on to win another Olympic medal in Sochi, a bronze in the men’s team event.
Sochi served as the inaugural Olympic event for women’s ski jumping. On paper, Japan’s Sara Takanashi seemed nearly unbeatable heading into Sochi. Takanashi had amassed 16 first place finishes in World Cup competition to begin the 2013/2014 season, but she was unable to extend her streak of wins, finishing just shy of the podium in 4th. It would be Germany’s Carina Vogt who would take home the first Olympic ski jumping gold for the women.
The U.S. entered Sochi with a promising trio of jumpers in Jessica Jerome, Lindsey Van and Sarah Hendrickson, but the three Americans were unable to put pressure on the leaders, with Jerome placing highest in the 10th spot. The reigning 2013 world champion, Hendrickson, had to bounce back from reconstructive knee surgery in under six months to compete in Sochi. She was able to jump, but struggled, finishing 21st in her first Olympic Games.
Competition format
Ski jumpers will compete across the following four events, with gold, silver and bronze medals awarded to the top three finishers, respectively, in each event:
- Men’s individual normal hill
- Men’s individual large hill
- Men’s team large hill
- Women’s individual normal hill
Venue
Ski jumping events will be held at the Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games located in the PyeongChang Mountain Cluster. The ski resort area of Alpensia will also feature the rest of the Nordic Olympic sports including biathlon, cross-country and Nordic combined. The sliding events of bobsled, luge and skeleton will also be found in Alpensia.
Athletes to watch
Men
Manuel Fettner, Austria
Severin Freund, Germany
Kamil Stoch, Poland
Domen Prevc, Slovenia Peter Prevc, Slovenia
Women Julia Huber, Austria
Lucile Morat, France Katharina Althaus, Germany
Sara Takanashi, Japan
Sarah Hendrickson, United States Nina Lussi, United States