Large Hill, Individual, Men

Kamil Stoch of Poland had an impressive pedigree coming into the large hill event at the 2022 Beijing Olympics; most notable were his victories in the event at the last two editions of the Games. The reigning World Champion was Austria’s Stefan Kraft, who had also won the event at the 2017 edition.

The winner of the qualifying round in Beijing was Marius Lindvik of Norway, the silver medalist in the normal hill at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics, where he had also taken silver with the cross-country skiing / ski jumping / Nordic combined team. His compatriot Halvor Egner Granerud was second, while Slovenia’s Peter Prevc, the 2014 Olympic bronze medalist, was third. Kraft came in fourth, while Stoch was down in eighth.

In the first round of the final, the best jumper was Ryoyu Kobayashi of Japan, who had won the normal hill event in Beijing a few days earlier. Lindvik had the second-best jump, with Slovenia’s Timi Zajc in third and Stoch in fourth. In the second part, however, Lindvik had by far the best jump of the event and was able to surpass Kobayashi who, despite another excellent jump, had to settle for silver. No other competitor had two great jumps in the final, so bronze went to Karl Geiger of Germany, who had been only sixth after the first round. Stoch came in eight in the second round, but this was sufficient to keep him in fourth place, while Zajc, Granerud, Prevc, and Kraft placed 6th, 8th, 10th, and 13th respectively.