PREDAZZO, Italy, Feb 7 : Anna Odine Stroem of Norway claimed Olympic gold in the women’s normal hill ski jumping event at the Milano Cortina Olympics on Saturday, edging Slovenia’s Nika Prevc by just 1.1 points in a thriller that had spectators holding their breath until the final scores were announced in the cold night of Predazzo.
While favourite Prevc showed dominance in the trial round, jumping 103 metres, it was the Norwegian 27-year-old Stroem who was willing to play the game and managed to end the first round on top, jumping 100 metres and getting a single point advantage over Prevc going into the final round.
Despite the pressure, Stroem managed to increase the jump in the final round, ending at 101 metres and 267.3 points in total, and could celebrate her gold, giving Norway their first gold medal of the Olympics, with Japan’s Nozomi Maruyama grabbing the bronze 5.5 points behind Stroem.
