PREDAZZO, Italy (AP) — Trailing going into the final ski jump on the men’s large hill, Domen Prevc didn’t sweat the pressure as he tried to tap into his inner child that learned to love soaring through the air.
“I was just here to play and enjoy it, have fun,” he said. “I was like, ‘Do your thing, do your best, enjoy the jump and feel the air.’”
Japan’s Ren Nikaido won silver, his third medal of the games, and Kacper Tomasiak of Poland won bronze, his second medal on a rainy, cold night.
All three are first-time Olympians, but Prevc has a pedigree.
He became the fourth Prevc sibling to win an Olympic medal when he took gold in the mixed team event Tuesday with his sister, Nika. The two became the first brother and sister to win a ski jumping medal in the same Olympics.
His win Saturday, though, was the first individual Olympic gold for the family.
Prevc entered as the clear favorite. He is the defending world champion on the large hill, has dominated the event this season and holds the distance record.
But he was trailing Nikaido going into the final round. Norway’s Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal was in third.
Prevc needed a big jump to overcome a 7-point deficit and came through.
Nikaido, who won two bronzes — on the men’s normal hill and in mixed team — jumped last and came up 5 meters (about 16 1/2 feet) short of Prevc’s mark.
“I’m mad at myself and I’m very disappointed that I couldn’t win the gold medal,” Nikaido said.
Tomasiak, who is in his rookie year on the World Cup circuit and stunned with a silver on the normal hill, knocked Sundal off the podium with his second jump.
“I managed to jump good when it was most important,” Tomasiak said.
