Norway, the host country for this year’s FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Oslo, jumped back into the medals lead after the Norwegian men’s ski jumping team won silver on the 100-meter Midtstuen Hill Sunday afternoon. Austria, once again, was best.
Conditions were much better on Sunday than they’d been on Friday and Saturday, when thick fog all but obliterated the action. Some sunshine in the morning gave way to cloudy skies in the afternoon, but visibility improved and fans could watch top jumpers like Thomas Morgenstern of Austria and Tom Hilde of Norway soar through the air at the newly rebuilt Midtstuen.
The duel was really between those two, but performance was based on the four-man teams. Norway’s consisted of Hilde, Anders Bardal, Anders Jacobsen and Bjørn Einar Romøren, with the latter jumping 101.5 meters. Hilde landed at 102.5 while Bardal was best of the Norwegians with a jump of 105.5 meters on the first try and 101 meters on the second.
Morgenstern of Austria, though, flew farther to land at 108 meters and thus grabbed Austria’s second gold medal in jumping events along with his other three team members. Morgenstern had won the individual competition on Saturday.
Germany’s team came in third to win the bronze, beating tough competition from Poland, which is also known as a major ski-jumping nation. Germany also had won gold in the Combined ski jumping and skiing event on Saturday.
“We became number two, but we’re a lot closer to Austria than we were before,” Hilde crowed when results were clear. Bardal agreed: “This means a lot for the whole team.”
The silver medal in ski jumping boosted Norway’s total to six since the World Championships began on Thursday. Norway now is tied with Austria for three gold medals, but it also has two silvers and one bronze.
Austria is next with five medals (three gold, one silver and one bronze), followed by Germany with three medals, one of each.
Views and News from Norway/Nina Berglund
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