Philipp Raimund of Germany wins gold in thrilling normal hill ski jump at Milan Cortina Olympics

PREDAZZO, Italy — Philipp Raimund stared down the icy hill Monday as the crowd roared below, took a deep breath and sped toward his destiny, knowing he needed not to explode off the jump if he was going to land the performance of his life.

''Usually the issue is that I have too much power in my legs and therefore the movement is a bit unstable,'' he said. ''So I knew just standing up and just let it fly.''

The German did just that and led two other Olympic rookies and a veteran of the Games who had never reached the podium past a field of former medalists and world champions to win gold in the men's normal hill ski jump at the Milan Cortina Winter Games.

With a best jump of 106.5 meters and 274.1 points, Raimund beat Kacper Tomasiak of Poland, who won silver, and Ren Nikaido of Japan who tied with Gregor Deschwanden of Switzerland for the bronze in a thrilling event that came down to the last jump.

Raimund was ranked sixth in the world coming into his first Olympics. His best result was a fourth place in the world championships in the team event and only one win in the World Cup circuit for the mixed team event.

He was first after the opening round, with Valentin Foubert of France in second and Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal of Norway in third.

But Nikaido then landed a whopping 106.5 meters in his final jump, pumping his fist, confident he was going to win a medal.

Foubert and Sundal could not beat those jumps, but the final result was going to depend on Raimund, who had flown 102 meters in his first jump.

Raimund made the most important jump of his life and earned high points for style that put him in first.

''I've never won a World Cup, so now I'm Olympic champion and I will be known probably for the rest of my life because I have a gold medal and that is un(expletive)believable,'' he said.

Deschwanden was the only veteran of the four, competing in his fourth Olympics. His best result was eighth in large hill team event in 2022 in Beijing and sixth in the same event at the 2023 world championships.

''I tried a lot of times to finally get a medal," he said. ''I have to say I didn't expect it today after such a season, but in the end you get in the flow, it's your day, and I had it today.''

They also beat Domen Prevc, from a powerhouse Slovenian family of decorated ski jumpers, who entered the event as defending world champion on the large hill and the top-ranked skier in the World Cup this season.

Prevc is trying to join his sister, Nika, in becoming the first brother-sister pair to medal in ski jumping at the same Olympics.

Nika Prevc, a defending world champion on both hills and World Cup leader this season, took the silver medal Saturday in the women's normal hill competition.

The normal hill is not Domen Prevc's strength, though he landed his best jump on his final attempt at 105 meters and ended up in sixth place. He is likely to join his sister in the mixed team event Tuesday.

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