Ski jumping at the 2010 Winter Olympics – Normal hill individual

The men's normal hill individual ski jumping competition for the 2010 Winter Olympics was held on 12 and 13 February 2010 at Whistler Olympic Park in Whistler, British Columbia.[1] It was the first medal event of the 2010 Games.[2]

The ski jumps at Whistler Olympic Park in warmer weather

A normal hill in ski jumping is defined as a jump in which the width of the hill ranges from 85 meters (279 ft) to 109 meters (358 ft). Skiers ski down a sloped ramp, which then turns flat into a takeoff jump, and complete their jump on a landing slope. The rules of international ski jumping competitions, set by the governing body for ski jumping, the Fédération Internationale de Ski, award points based on two factors: distance and judge's score. Distance is measured from the edge of the takeoff ramp to the point where the jumper first touches the landing slope. The three judges are able to award up to 20 points each, for a total of 60 points. The judge's scores are based on a variety of factors including the timing of the takeoff, the skier's ability to carry out the movements involved in the jump, and their stability in the air.[3]

Allocation of slots in the Olympic ski jumping competition was based upon the World Ranking List (WRL) consisting of Ski Jumping World Cup and Grand Prix points, followed by Continental Cup Standings from the 2008-09 and 2009-10 Ski Jumping World Cup, with no nation being allowed more than five skiers.[4]

Norway's Lars Bystøl was the defending Olympic champion on the normal hill, but he retired after the 2007-08 season and therefore did not participate in the 2010 Games.[5] However, The 2006 large hill gold medalist, Austrian Thomas Morgenstern was present. Morgenstern had won the last scheduled normal hill event of the World Cup (on 14 December 2007 in Villach, Austria), and was expected to be among the strongest competitors in the event.[6][7] The last World Cup event in this discipline took place on 8 March 2009 at Lahti, Finland (though it was originally scheduled to be a large hill event) and was won by Gregor Schlierenzauer of Austria.[8] Although a relative newcomer to the sport, having only started competing in 2005-06, Schlierenzauer entered the competition with thirty-five World Cup victories under his belt.

Other competitors expected to finish strongly included Poland's Adam Małysz and Finland's Janne Ahonen, the latter of whom had come out of retirement in hopes of winning an Olympic medal. Simon Ammann, who had won gold medals in both normal and large hill competitions at the 2002 Winter Olympics but failed to medal in 2006, was expected to be a strong competitor as well.[7] Wolfgang Loitzl of Austria was the defending world champion.[9]

The qualifying round for the men's normal hill individual event took place on 12 February with a trial qualification at 09:00 PST and a qualification round at 10:00 PST the same day.[1] Sixty-one athletes participated in the qualification round, with ten pre-qualified, including all four athletes from Austria.[10] The forty athletes with the highest scores advanced to the medal round on 13 February, joining the ten pre-qualified jumpers.[11]

Roberto Dellasega of Italy was disqualified, and therefore excluded from any opportunity to advance. Norway's Anders Jacobsen did not show, but because he was pre-qualified he advanced to the competition round anyway. The top finisher in the qualifying round was Michael Uhrmann of Germany. His countryman Michael Neumayer had the second-longest jump but placed third to Czech jumper Jakub Janda because of Janda's higher judge's score. All four jumpers from the host country of Canada failed to qualify.[11]

The final competition, consisting of two jumps, took place on 13 February. The top thirty jumpers after the first jump qualified for the second jump. The combined total points over the two jumps was used to determine the final ranking. A practice round took place at 08:30 PST, with the first and second rounds of the event taking place at 09:45 PST and 10:45 PST respectively.[1]

Simon Ammann of Switzerland landed the longest distance in the first jump, 105 meters.[2][10] Following the first jump, Michael Uhrmann of Germany was the second-placed jumper, followed by Adam Małysz of Poland.[2] Austrian jumper Thomas Morgenstern was just outside of the medal positions in fourth place, whereas his countryman Gregor Schlierenzauer, was 7.5 points behind and in seventh place.[12] Harri Olli of Finland had a 97.5 meters jump with 116.0 points, and would have been eligible to jump in the final round, but was disqualified.[10]

In the second jump, Ammann again landed the longest jump, reaching a distance of 108 meters. After Ammann landed the jump, he immediately began pumping his arms in the air, confident that he had secured the gold medal.[2] Uhrmann, second after the first round, was one of the few competitors who had a shorter jump in the final round, placing tenth in the final round and fifth overall.[10] Among the jumpers who surpassed him was Adam Małysz, who again took third place in the final round and finished in second overall, winning the silver medal.[2] The bronze was won by Gregor Schlierenzauer, whose significantly better performance in the final round netted him second place for the round and third overall. Schlierenzauer's second jump was a full five meters longer than his first, the single largest improvement between the two rounds by any competitor.[10] Uhrmann's fifth-place finish was the top result by an athlete not pre-qualified for the competition round.[10]

• Results