To put it mildly, I have bad memories of the previous Winter Olympics in Italy 20 years ago. I will never get over the fact that Saku Koivu's stick broke in the final and that decided the Olympic gold medal.
The fact that there is no team competition of four (male) jumpers at the Olympics this time is sacrilege. "They are butchering the classics", as Homer Simpson would say.
In the week before the Olympics, shocking information was delivered to my consciousness: Domen Prevc has never been at the Olympics before! Ten years in these circles, and before that he had not made it to the Slovenian Olympic team.
As the Olympics approached, it was sad to look at the results lists of the ski jumping competitions, when so many of the top jumpers had not received an Olympic spot. Was it worth changing the system? No.
The bad weather birds knew how to tell before the Olympics that the profiles of the Predazzo hills are not suitable for Domen. That they are similar to those in Zakopane and Innsbruck.
I had to think about it, but then the news came that Domen and Nika would carry the Slovenian flag at the opening ceremony!
So this is a live coverage post of the ski jumping at the Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina.
Thursday, normal hill training
Slovenia wasn't interested in coming until Friday. Vilho Palosaari did well in training. Who will take the gold/medal from Domen? Someone nobody? Reminds me of traumas from Amman.
Friday, opening ceremony
Domen as the Slovenian flag bearer. It was a "blink and you miss it" moment.
Sunday, normal hill practice
Domen fourth in the first practice round, they couldn't show second place in the live standings but it was miserable (10th), 21st in third. The worst Slovenian, so it's possible that he won't make it to the mixed team.
Monday, normal hill
I expect a really even and exciting race. I have all my hopes for Domen on the large hill. Somewhere it was claimed that Domen was aiming for a top 10 finish. Domen was 13th in the only normal hill race of the season. What excites me most is whether Domen will make it to the Slovenian team in the mixed team race.
Domen 11th in the trial round, Andreas Wellinger 12th.
Dome 8th in the first round, five points off the top and 2.3 points off the bronze. It's a shame that Areena's broadcast is not a ski jumping feed but a TV2 broadcast. With this tactic, I won't see the award ceremony, big BOO. So I resorted to (my mother's) HBO Max.
A victory for the German mafia in the form of Raimund, Kasper second, Gregor shared bronze with Ren after a miserable season. Domen sixth, Wellinger 17th.
A surprisingly good placement for Domen, actually. He seemed satisfied with his second jump and that's the most important thing. Hopefully there will be medals from these games.
"Why people are surprised that Domen is 8th XD he himself aims for top 10, because he's a flying ski jumping man and can't do normal ski jumping"
Domen said he was happy with his placement, but hoped he would succeed tomorrow because of Nika. That was already my thought a year ago in the mixed team competition at the World Championships...
Tuesday, mixed team
I can't decide whether to believe in the chance of a medal. Somehow it feels like fourth place is the most likely. Based on the individual competitions, Slovenia would have been a close third.
As expected, Wellinger is not on the German team. Anze was selected for the Slovenian team even though she finished worse than Timi on the normal hill. So two Nikas, Anze and Domen.
After the trial round started, I had a eureka moment when I noticed that HBO Max was showing it live. What fun things have I already missed? And when I finally managed to connect the broadcast to the TV...
Dome ran 98 meters in the trial round. But then, based on the results of the trial rounds, Slovenia would be in second place.
Slovenia in the lead after the first round. I can't stand this, it's scary. I never thought Slovenia could win. With these results in the individual competition, Anze would have been second and Domen third...
Olympic victory for Slovenia by over 30 points. I was afraid that Domen would fall or something.
Luckily I saw the victory ceremony, thanks to my mom's HBO Max.
If this had been an individual competition, Anze would have won and Domen would have been second. Anze's overnight improvement (from 26th to 1st) is what made this gold possible.
Thursday, first practice on the large hill
Domen in tailwind practice 4th, 10th and an overwhelming first. I had already given up hope... In the last practice round Raimund 2nd, the world's best third and my hated Sundal 4th. I'm afraid that if Domen doesn't win, someone I don't like will.
Friday, second practice on the large hill
When I noticed that the practice is also shown on HBO...!! Domen won the first practice round by 0.6 points before Hörl. I immediately wondered after that if Domen should continue practicing. Both Domen and Hörl skipped the second practice round.
Saturday, Valentine's Day, large hill
A day I've been waiting for with fear for a long time.
"The most important competition of his career." Why do I even care? I guess it's some kind of madness. Bread and circus fun. Ten years of fandom culminates in this race. Will Domen become Matti Nykänen or not? According to odds, Domen is quite the number one favorite.
Rain, it was revealed at the start of the trial round. What does this mean? Domen is number one in the trail round with a 0.6 point difference to Ren, who has announced that he wants more than bronze from these olympics.
Domen has won the last 3 rounds, he should still win two more, or even one...
After the first round, Domen is second, 7 points behind Ren and 2 points ahead of Sundal. I prefer Ren to Sundal... The difference is so big that I no longer believe in the chance of gold, because Domen should do really well and Ren should fail. I'm more afraid that someone/someone will still pass Domen. The most annoying thing is if Sundal passes. Poles on Twitter really hope that Sundal will "pee and shit".
Domen wins the Olympic Games by 6.8 points ahead of Ren, Kasper third and Sundal fourth.
"Did you spend Valentine's day with your boyfriend? You don't know life"
I didn't cry until I saw Ren crying from disappointment, apparently together with his father. :(
This season some jumpers have tried to psych Domen out with their bullshit, and each of them has failed. Hörl during the 4 hills tournament. Raimund after the mixed team, he thinks individual gold is more important and that's why he can go relaxed on the large hill. Ren before the large hill, he actually said he wanted more than bronze and that he knew from experience that Domen can be won.
I hope Japan wins the super team so that Ren can get the gold. I believe more in Finland's medal chances than Slovenia's in the super team. Anze should do Anze again.
Monday, superteam
Wellinger is on the German team so I have to hope for a medal for Germany because his season has been so terrible.
Today I hope to see Ren's tears again, tears of happiness this time. It felt bad when Domen celebrated on the podium, and Ren, red-eyed, swallowed tears next to him.
After the first round, Austria is leading, Slovenia second, Poland third, Germany fourth and Japan fifth. Domen faltered on the way down.
After the second round, Austria is leading, Poland second, Norway third, Germany fourth and Slovenia fifth. A tight fight for bronze, Slovenia less than 2 points away from it.
In the last round, just before Domen's jump, the weather changed, it started to snow heavily and there was a break... and TV2 started showing something else! Luckily they didn't do that in previous competitions.With Germany leading and Kasper failing, the last round was cancelled. Thus, Germany lost a possible medal, and Poland was saved, and Japan?? The results of the second round were final. The jury had only bad options, but still, it's a shame for Wellinger, Germany missed the medal by 0.3 points. The headless man who lost his father got a medal. Austria finally got a medal in the ski jumping, in the last race. A lot of things to be said, but here we go.
Domen thought that if he hadn't faltered on the landing of the first jump, they would have won a medal (1.9 points from bronze). Is that why he looked so depressed during the competition? And why he tried too much on the second jump? Anze's first word to Domen: "Sorry." Hopefully these two Olympic champions don't beat themselves up too much, the games as a whole exceeded expectations.
So within a year Domen Prevc has speedrun ski jumping, and he's about to become a legend alongside the one and only Matti Nykänen.
