Large Hill, Individual, Men

Home favourite Espen Bredesen had every reason to be confident at the start of the 1994 Winter Olympics. Not only was Bredesen the world champion in this event but he had also won the pre-Olympic test event and entered the Olympics as Norwegian national champion. His main rivals included World Cup holder Andi Goldberger of Austria and a resurgent Jens Weißflog who had won an Olympic title a decade earlier in Sarajevo. Not present in Lillehammer were the two men who had shown dominance in Albertville. Martin Höllwarth and Toni Nieminen were still teenagers in 1994 but had already suffered a collapse in form which left them out of their respective national teams.

The large and vociferous crowd was thrilled by the leap of Espen Bredesen in the first round as he sailed into the distance before coming to earth at the 135.5 m mark. This gave him a healthy lead at the half way point but gathering behind were his two great rivals Goldberger and Weißflog. The second set of jumps changed everything. It wasn’t that Bredesen performed badly, merely that Weißflog was magnificent as he produced a leap eleven metres ahead of his rival and became the first German to win this event since 1960. Jens Weißflog was the only winner from Sarajevo to repeat in Lillehammer and it came after his career stalled as he failed to adapt to the new demands of the V-technique and the post-unification German coaching system. He retired after the 1995-96 season.