TRONDHEIM, Norway : Slovenian Domen Prevc soared to win the men’s large hill event at the Nordic World Ski Championships on Saturday, his second gold in Trondheim after his sister Nika also won two gold medals, while Norway were denied a silver after being disqualified over their suits.
Prevc saved the best for last with a second-round jump of 140.5 metres and 155.4 points to take victory with a combined score of 301.8 points, overtaking Norway’s Marius Lindvik who had taken the lead just as Prevc prepared for his final jump.
“I was already so nervous at the top,” Prevc said.
“Before my jump my hand was shaking so hard. It was really, really tough, so I managed to keep my focus and push it even harder than in the first run.”
Lindvik, however, was denied the silver medal after an equipment inspection by officials following the race saw him disqualified, along with compatriot Johann Andre Forfang who had finished fourth.
This pushed Austria’s Jan Hoerl, who has a bronze medal from the normal hill event which Lindvik won, up to the silver medal position while Japan’s Ryoyu Kobayashi took bronze.
Disqualifications over suits are a regular occurrence in ski jumping but this one was rather more controversial as there had been accusations against the Norwegians even before the race.
“We received information before the competition about possible manipulation of the suit,” race director Sandro Pertile told NRK.
“We had a check before the competition, and nothing was visible. Then we received an official protest in the first round, from three nations.
“We checked all the Norwegian athletes and there and then there was nothing visible but after the competition we had another opportunity to check the suits, and then we discovered that there was a different material in the seams.”
Prevc had already won gold in the men’s team large hill, and a silver in the mixed team large hill, alongside his 19-year-old sister Nika, who claimed gold in both the women’s normal and large hill events, earning the siblings a six-medal haul.
