Norway’s Strøm wins inaugural Olympic women’s large hill ski jump

Anna Odine Strøm Makes History in Women’s Large Hill Debut

Norway’s Anna Odine Strøm soared to gold in the inaugural Olympic women’s large hill ski jumping event on Sunday in Predazzo, Italy, becoming the first woman to claim two individual ski jumping gold medals at the same Winter Games. The victory adds to her normal hill triumph earlier in the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics, cementing her place as the most decorated female ski jumper in Olympic history.

Norway Dominates Historic Event

Strøm finished with 284.8 points after producing the best jump of the final round, a 132-meter flight that propelled her from second place to the top of the podium. Teammate Eirin Maria Kvandal took silver with 282.7 points despite recording the longest jump of the competition at 133.5 meters, while Slovenia’s Nika Prevc claimed bronze with 271.5 points.cnn

“This championship has been surreal for me. I can’t imagine anything surpassing this,” Strøm said after the event. “We’ve motivated each other throughout this journey, and now we’ve reached the pinnacle together.”espn

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre attended the competition and praised the moment. “These young women had to battle against the entrenched ski jumping system just to gain the opportunity to compete 10 or 15 years ago,” he said. “Now they’re performing at this level. It’s remarkable, and it’s the way it should be.”espn

A Milestone for Gender Equality

The women’s large hill event made its Olympic debut at these Games, marking a major advancement in the ongoing push for gender equality in winter sports. Women first competed in ski jumping at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, but only in the normal hill event. The inclusion of the large hill brings women’s ski jumping in line with the men’s competition, which has featured both events since the 1964 Innsbruck Games.abc

The International Olympic Committee has promoted the 2026 Games as “the most gender-balanced Olympic Winter Games in history,” with women comprising 47 percent of athletes. The women’s large hill is one of four new women’s events added to the program.nysportsjournalism

Prevc Family Makes History Despite Miss

Prevc, the reigning world champion on both hills and world record holder for the longest jump by a woman, entered as the favorite but struggled to match her typical performance. She sat in fifth place after the opening round and could not fully recover. A tearful Prevc received a supportive embrace from her father, a ski jumping referee, as the Norwegians celebrated.espn

The Slovenian nonetheless concluded her first Olympic appearance with a gold, silver, and bronze medal after helping her country win the mixed team event. With the gold medal, Norway extended its lead atop the medal standings with 26 total medals and 12 golds at these Games.espn