Norway's Lindvik wins Olympic men's large hill ski jumping gold, Canadians miss final
Canada's Boyd-Clowes, Soukup don't make it to 30-men medal run
Marius Lindvik of Norway won Olympic gold in ski jumping on the large hill Saturday, holding off Ryoyu Kobayashi of Japan.
"Kobayashi is really strong when he's in the first position after the first round, so I just had to go for it," Lindvik said.
Lindvik did just that, jumping 140 meters (459 feet) on his final jump and earning 296.1 points overall to become the first Norwegian to win the event since Toralf Engan in 1964.
Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes of Calgary was the top Canadian in the competition but he failed to qualify for the final. Boyd-Clowes finished 32nd in the qualifier after jumping 128.5 metres and earning 119.2 points. Only the top 30 advanced to the final.
Teammate Matthew Soukup, also of Calgary, was 49th in the 50-qualifier after jumping 115 metres and collecting 90.8 points.
WATCH l Ski Jumping - Men's Individual LH Final:
Kobayashi, who won gold on the normal hill on Sunday, earned silver after coming up short on the final jump.
"I was tense," Kobayashi said through an interpreter.
He wasn't the only one.
"It was a nervous moment when I had to watch Kobayaski," Lindvik said.
Kobayashi went into the final round with the lead after jumping 142 meters (466 feet) and earning 147 points. Lindvik trailed by only 2.2 points, then flew past him with nearly flawless style.
Earlier in the games, Boyd-Clowes, 30, and Soukup, 24, teamed with Abigail Strate, 20, and Alexandria Loutitt, 18, to capture the bronze medal in the first-ever mixed team ski jumping competition at an Olympic Games.
WATCH l Canada wins historic bronze in mixed team ski jumping:
Two-time defending champion Kamil Stoch of Poland was fourth, coming up short on his shot to become the first to win three straight Olympic titles on the large hill. The disappointment left him in tears.
"I'm really sad," Stoch said. "This is not exactly disappointment because I did everything I could. I had a feeling that I did really good, but obviously it was not enough."
Stoch was one of four previous medallists in the competition, along with 40-year-old Simon Ammann of Switzerland, Peter Prevc of Slovenia and Robert Johansson of Norway.
Prevc finished 10th and Ammann was 25th. Johansson, who won bronze on the normal and large hill at the 2018 Olympics, failed to advance to the 30-jumper final round and finished 32nd.
Like a lot sports at the Beijing Games, some of the best are unable to participate.
2-time gold medallist out with COVID
Two-time gold medallist Andreas Wellinger isn't competing in China because he tested positive for COVID-19.
Men have been ski jumping at the Winter Olympics since the first edition in 1924 while women did not have access to the sport at the Olympics until 2014.
WATCH l To fly high in ski jump, it all comes down to the take off:
The men will be back on the large hill on Monday for a team competition. Norway, Germany and Austria have won the last three Olympic team events. The trio of traditional powers will likely contend for medals again, trying to hold off Slovenia and Japan.
Slovenia won gold on Monday in the first Olympic ski jumping mixed team competition, an event marred by five women being disqualified for having jumpsuits that were too large.
WATCH | Meryeta O'Dine flies below the radar to a bronze medal:
