Olympic Ski Jumping

Andreas Wellinger of Germany won gold in the men's ski jumping normal hill competition Saturday at Alpensia Ski Jumping Stadium in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Norway's Johann Andre Forfang (silver) and Robert Johansson (bronze) also achieved podium finishes on the first day of medal events in the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Here's a look at the Games' updated medal table:

Wind caused multiple delays during both the qualifying and final rounds, but Wellinger handled the conditions best with an outstanding second jump to capture gold.

The top finishers in the men's normal hill were:

1. Andreas Wellinger (Germany) — 259.3 total points

2. Johann Andre Forfang (Norway) — 250.9

3. Robert Johansson (Norway) — 249.7

4. Kamil Stoch (Poland) — 249.3

5. Stefan Hula (Poland) — 248.8

Stoch missed the podium by four-tenths of a point after winning gold in both the normal hill and large hill events at the 2014 Sochi Games.

It's the first individual normal hill victory on one of the sport's biggest stages for Wellinger. The 22-year-old German rising star won a gold medal as part of the Olympic team event four years ago and also earned gold in the mixed team competition at last year's World Championships.

His other solo wins came in World Cup large hill jumps.

Gracenote Olympic noted his victory also allowed Germany to make ski jumping history:

.@andy_wellinger wins the Normal Hill event to make Germany the first NOC to win Olympic titles in all four ski jumping events held at the Olympic Winter Games. #PyeongChang2018 #TeamD #GER

— Gracenote Olympic (@GracenoteGold) February 10, 2018

Other than Wellinger, the biggest star on the hill Saturday night may have been Johansson's mustache, which would have allowed him to fit right in at the first Winter Olympics in 1924.

Fernando Palomo of ESPN provided a look at the buzzworthy 'stache:

Robert Johansson 🇳🇴 el mostacho! Clásico. #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/zthW7UPcRp

— Fernando Palomo ESPN®️ (@fernandopalomo) February 10, 2018

Looking ahead, ski jumping will return to the Pyeongchang spotlight Monday with the women's individual normal hill medal event.

Andreas Wellinger headed the standings in Thursday's men's ski jump normal hill qualifying round at the 2018 Winter Olympics, which whittled down the original group of 57 competitors to 50 for the finals.

The German logged a score of 133.5 after his jump of 103 metres, while defending champion Kamil Toch of Poland placed second with a score of 131.7.

Toch's compatriot, Dawid Kubacki, finished third as he scored 129.6, while 129.1 was enough to see Germany's Richard Freitag place fourth in Pyeongchang.

The Four Hills Tournament relayed the top 10:

Andreas #Wellinger gewinnt die Qualifikation für den ersten Wettkampf in #PyeongChang 🇩🇪 Auf der Normalschanze siegt er vor den beiden Polen Kamil #Stoch und Dawid #Kubacki 🇵🇱🦅 #4hills #skijumping pic.twitter.com/ptYEWSep6e

— Vierschanzentournee (@vier_schanzen) February 8, 2018

For the full results, visit Pyeongchang2018.com, the Games' official website.

Other notable qualifiers included Swiss legend Simon Ammann, a four-time gold medallist at the Winter Olympics, and the host nation's Seou Choi.

The South Korean placed 39th after an 89-metre jump and a score of 94.7.

Meanwhile, Japan's Noriaki Kasai, 45, made history as he competed in his eighth Winter Games, per Gracenote Olympic:

Noriaki Kasai participates in his 8th Olympic Winter Games, setting an outright record for most by any athlete #PyeongChang2018 #winterolympics #JPN

— Gracenote Olympic (@GracenoteGold) February 8, 2018

The veteran earned a score of 117.7 to rank 20th and ease through qualifying. 

Among the athletes who failed to qualify were South Korea's Hyun-ki Kim and Czech Republic duo Vojtech Stursa and Cestmir Kozisek.

Also missing out and bringing up the rear in 57th place was Turkey's first-ever Winter Olympian, Fatih Arda Ipcioglu.

The ski jumping events have officially come to a close for the 2014 Winter Olympics, but there are plenty of skiers that emerged as stars in Sochi.

Whether it was Kamil Stoch dominating both of the men's individual events or Carina Vogt winning the first ever women's ski jumping competition, both skiers look like early favorites to repeat in the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Then there was the final team event in which Germany pulled out a gold medal thanks to several great jumps. But with no true stars on their men's team outside of Severin Freund, who failed to medal prior to the team portion, the individual success simply isn't there for the Germans.

With the Olympic ski jumping competitions over until the 2018 Games, here is a look at a few of the top contenders moving forward.

Kamil Stoch, Polland

At 26 years old, Stoch is a young buck in the sport of ski jumping. In fact, the man that he beat out for gold in the large hill portion, Noriaki Kasai of Japan, is 41 years old.

All Stoch did was become the third Olympian ever to collect gold medals in both the normal hill and large hill events. Despite the historic victory in Sochi, Stoch said he wasn't thinking about the mark, according to the Associated Press:

I have weird thoughts at this moment. I'm thinking, 'Is it happening for real or is it a dream?' [...] I'm not thinking about the fact that I'm third in history. It's a shock for me that I made it because of the jumps I did today. The second jump was tragic.

If Stoch doesn't believe he showed his best and still won two gold medals for Polland, just imagine what lies ahead for him with several years still remaining for his career

Stoch will be just 30 years old in 2018 and looks primed to continue his reign over the sport. But with young talent still emerging he will need to battle to remain the top ski jumper in the sport.

Carina Vogt, Germany

In the first ever women's ski jumping event, Vogt smashed the other competition in the event.

And at just 22 years old, Vogt should be expected to continue her success in the years following the Sochi Games. Vogt spoke about the win, per Paul Myerberg of USA Today:

"I was just thinking about the jump," Vogt said. "Until now, I am a little bit surprised that I could manage with that amount of pressure that I had. This is a fantastic thing for me."

The historic win for Vogt may have came as a surprise for her, but the German skier who finished with a bronze in the 2013 World Championships is now at the top of the sport.

Outside of just being a huge win for the German herself, Simon Hart of The Telegraph points out that Vogt's win is just another sign as the unpredictable nature of the Olympics:

As a young athlete and one that didn't crumble under the pressure of the Olympics, expect to see Vogt carry this success into next season and even into the 2018 Olympics.

Peter Prevc, Slovenia

Though he wasn't able to overshadow the immense success of Stoch, Peter Prevc was still a star in Sochi who won two medals of his own.

The 21-year-old pulled out a silver medal in the normal hill and a bronze in the large hill in his first Olympics ever. With that type of success already, Prevc has a bright future moving forward.

The Slovenian spoke about his first Olympics experience, per Dennis Passa of the Associated Press:

"I'm still collecting the best memories of my life," Prevc said. "My performance today was one of the best. I was struggling during training."

After watching 41-year-old Kasai compete and finish on the podium with him, Prevc knows that he has plenty of time to continue improving in the sport. He spoke about that following his experience, according to Martyn Herman of Reuters:

I have huge respect for Noriaki Kasai. I wasn't even born when he was jumping in the World Cup and when he was battling me I said I still had 20 years to improve myself. He's an inspiration for my future jumping.

If he can continue his success for as long as Kasai, Prevc's career might not only be impressive but a historic one as well. As he continues to elevate in the sport, Prevc could be one to watch as he tries to catch Stoch and move up the podium at the next Winter Olympics.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the 2014 Winter Olympics is watching athletes tackle unknown terrains in crazy ways. That description is a perfect fit for the ski jumping event, where competitors hurtle down a slope, fly off a ramp and launch themselves into the air—soaring like some kind of futuristic pterodactyl.

Day 10 of Sochi 2014 is going to capture some of the most exciting moments of the event with the first and final rounds of the men’s team ski jumping competition on the schedule:

Time (local)	Time (EST)	Event
9:15 p.m.	12:15 p.m.	Men's Team First Round
10:22 p.m.	1:22 p.m.	Men's Team Final Round

For your viewing pleasure, here is the basic information on where you can watch the event.

When: Monday Feb. 17

TV Coverage: NBC Sports (US)

Live Stream: NBC Live Extra

How the Competition Works

There are 12 different countries participating in the event, with each team consisting of four skiers. In individual ski jumping, there are two different hills: normal and large. For the team jumping event, only the large hill is used.

The contestants receive scores based on distance and technique during takeoff, flight and landing. In the team competition, all four members’ scores are added up in the first round and the top eight teams advance to the final round.

Bib Number	Country
1	Korea Republic
2	USA
3	Canada
4	Russia
5	Finland
6	Czech Republic
7	Norway
8	Japan
9	Poland
10	Slovenia
11	Germany
12	Austria

Even though there is a “final round,” the gold medal is going to go to the team that demonstrated excellence on a consistent basis.

The format for the final round is the same as Round 1, but the final results are determined by the total score of both rounds of the event.

Breaking Down the Favorites

Based on track record, the favorites to finish atop the podium in 2014 have to be the Austrians. Loaded with some of the sport’s biggest stars like Thomas Morgenstern, Gregor Schlierenzauer and Thomas Diethart, Austria has dominated the team event in recent years.

Team Austria has won gold at the last two Olympics and has taken first place in every world championship since 2005. Austria is the cream of the crop, but its latest form has left the door open for another nation to fly in under the radar and dethrone the kings of the ski jump.

Austria finished fifth in the World Cup in Klingenthal earlier in 2013 and only managed to improve that to third in Poland last month. Similarly, three-time Olympic champion Morgenstern and his teammate Diethart failed to qualify for the final round of the individual event in Sochi.

On the contrary, the Slovenians have won the last three World Cups and are led by Peter Prevc, who has already won two medals in the individual format: silver in the normal hill and bronze in the large hill.

Likewise, Poland is sure to have a say in the result as its star, Kamil Stoch is gunning for his third gold medal of this year’s Olympics. While the Polish jumper is in brilliant form, he is fully aware of the tough competition he faces, as he told the Agence France-Press after claiming his second medal of 2014:

I really would like to have a third gold medal but it will be hard to win any medal It will be difficult, really difficult because the level is really high right now. A lot of teams are jumping really well. We are going to do our best and see what happens.

Additionally, both Germany and Japan boast deep teams with multiple athletes who fared well in the individual competition:

Rank	Athlete	Country
2 (Silver medal)	Noriaki Kasai	Japan
4	Severin Freund	Germany
6	Marinus Kraus	Germany
9	Daiki Ito	Japan
10	Reruhi Shimizu	Japan

With Austria's form so up in the air and so many other top-notch contenders, this event is wide open. In one of the most exhilarating sports of the Sochi Olympics, there will be a hard-fought competition for a spot on the podium—and you don’t want to miss it.

Day 10 of the 2014 Winter Olympics brings the conclusion of the ski jumping competition with the men's team event. With the medal race tightening up as the Sochi Olympics concludes, it's the last chance for a few countries to earn separation in an event they have succeeded in.

For fans who want to catch the sport's final event, check out the full TV info below:

Date	Event	Time (ET)	Channel
Feb. 17	Men's Team Large Hill- First Round	12:15	N/A
Feb. 17	Men's Team Large Hill- Final Round	1:15	NBCSN

So, what should we expect to see from the lone ski jumping team competition at Sochi? Here are a few countries to watch, as well as predictions for the podium finish.

Preview

Austria is the defending gold medalist in this event and one of the sport's strongest traditional powers. However, it is worth noting that only the large hill is used in team competitions, as opposed to the normal hill, which is an individual event.

The Austrians fared poorly in this year's large hill event, with Gregor Schlierenzauer finishing seventh and Michael Hayboeck eighth. Indeed, even the Austrians are admitting their team is in less-than-stellar shape headed into the event, per Yahoo! Sports' David Ljunggren:

Austria, traditionally a strong jumping nation, won the team title in both 2006 and 2010 but have underperformed at Sochi and are in danger of missing out on a medal for the first time since 2002.

"We are not in the best shape, but we are all sportsmen who have won a lot so don't forget us. We are not the big favourites," world number four Gregor Schlierenzauer told reporters after a foggy training session.

Thus, the favorites may actually be Poland, who did not medal in the 2010 team event. Polish ski jumper Kamil Stoch won both the large and normal hill events and stands as the event's hottest competitor at the moment. 

However, because there are four jumpers per team, depth is nearly as crucial as star power. In that sense, Japan stands out as another medal favorite, as all four of its members placed in the top 13 at the downhill. 

Japan is led by Noriaki Kasai, who finished second to Stoch in the large hill. At 41 years old, Kasai's success is nothing short of remarkable, and he made history simply by medaling:

Keep an eye on Germany as a dark horse to win the event. No one medaled in the individual large hill, but Severin Freund and Marinus Kraus finished fourth and sixth, respectively. The Germans won silver in Vancouver and figure to be strong challengers once again.

Medal Prediction

Stoch may be the sport's biggest star at the moment, but Japan simply has too much depth to overcome. Look for Germany to also squeak out the bronze medal over Slovenia, who are led by third-place large hill finisher Peter Prevc.

Gold: Japan

Silver: Poland

Bronze: Germany

With the normal hill competition already in the books, the top ski jumpers in the world will test their luck on the large hill on Day 8 of the Sochi Olympics.

Kamil Stoch was able to earn the first ski jumping gold with his performance in the normal hill. Considering the 2010 Olympics featured the same gold, silver and bronze medalists for both individual jumps, the Polish athlete remains a favorite to win another title.

Of course, reigning Olympic champion Simon Ammann of Switzerland will look to defend his gold medal. Additionally, normal hill medalists Peter Prevc and Anders Bardal will challenge for the top spot along with defending large hill bronze medalist Gregor Schlierenzauer.

These competitors have all prequalified for the finals thanks to their top-10 standing during the World Cup season. Those top seeds will be joined by the 40 qualifiers from Friday's opening round to create a competitive final.

Here is a look at what to expect for the final on Saturday.

When: Saturday, Feb. 15

Where: RusSki Gorki Jumping Center

Time (local): Round 1 at 9:30 p.m.; final at 10:35 p.m.

Time (U.S.): Round 1 at 12:30 p.m. ET; final at 1:35 p.m. ET

TV: NBC (Replay only at 8 p.m. ET)

Live Stream: NBC Olympics Live Extra

Medal Predictions

Bronze: Simon Ammann, Austria

While the 32-year-old has slowed down in recent years, there is no substitute for experience. Ammann has won four gold medals in his career, including two on the large hill, and he will use this skill to remain competitive this time around.

He did admit that getting a fifth gold medal would be difficult to achieve. According to Alexandre Fedorets of AFP News (via Yahoo!), Amman explained, "Maybe I will find a miracle solution on the large hill but I need to have a break."

Still, he had one good recent performance at Oberstdorf, Germany, where he won the World Cup event. If he can channel some of that skill, he has what it takes to at least medal in this competition.

Anders Bardal, Gregor Schlierenzauer, Noriaki Kasai and others will also challenge for a medal, but Ammann should be able to sneak away with a bronze with two good jumps.

Silver: Kamil Stoch, Poland

Few people were more excited about winning a gold medal than Kamil Stoch. After he realized he won the gold, he was carried off by his opponents:

Here is a look at him a little later on the podium:

The win was well-deserved after a fantastic showing on both of his jumps. He started things off with a 105.5-meter jump that was far and away the longest of the competition before following that up with a jump of 103.5 meters that was longer than anyone else's in the round.

Obviously the judges were huge fans of his performance as well, as he took high marks in each round.

There is little doubt that he has the skill to provide a few more impressive jumps to get onto the podium. However, someone else has the ability to edge him out for the gold medal.

Gold: Peter Prevc, Slovenia

While Stoch was better in the normal hill, few people have been as consistent as Peter Prevc over the past year.

The Slovenian star earned a medal in both the normal hill and large hill at the 2013 world championships, plus he has totaled seven podiums since the start of 2014 in the World Cup season.

Prevc most recently earned silver in the normal hill after a disappointing second jump. Still, he explained that he was satisfied afterward when he told the media,"I'm still collecting the best memories of my life. My performance today was one of the best. I was struggling during training," via the Associated Press (h/t ESPN).

This time around, his training is actually going well, according to FIS Ski Jumping:

The 21-year-old athlete is still learning and will continue to improve, but fans should expect the best performance of his life after he came in second the last time out.

He finished second to Stoch in this event at the world championships and will now get his redemption.

Follow Rob Goldberg on Twitter for the latest breaking news and analysis.

It's probably better that the United States don't count on men's team ski jumping at the 2014 Winter Olympics to pad the medal count.

Team USA doesn't have the best record when it comes to the event. Since the team competition was devised in 1988, the U.S. has never medaled. The same goes for normal hill individual. Since the large hill was created in 1924, only one American—Anders Haugen—has won a medal, and he was born in Norway, so that counts as, like, half.

Needless to say, the American skiers are in a battle against history when they take the jump on Monday.

The good news is that they don't have to do much in order to better their success at Vancouver in 2010. The United States failed to qualify for the final round, finishing 11th out of 12 teams in qualifying.

Nick Fairall, Peter Frenette, Anders Johnson and Nick Alexander make up the U.S. team.

During qualification for the individual large hill, the best finish from any American was 30th (Alexander). Fairall was 31st, Johnson came in 36th and Frenette rounded out the group at 43rd, which wasn't even good enough to advance to the first round.

It's one thing to need the perfect run in order to win. It's also another thing to need the perfect run and some help from the teams above you.

But the U.S. team is in a position where it needs to perform miles above what it has in the past, and then have five-plus teams above it falter and open the door.

Earning a medal in the team large hill isn't impossible for the United States, but it's highly improbable. Should it happen, it would be one of the biggest shocks in American Olympic history.

Of course, getting to Sochi, Russia, is reward enough for the four members. Johnson admitted as much following his failure to qualify for the final round of the men's individual normal hill event, per USASkiJumping.org:

My jumping is a little inconsistent right now, and I was just a little off on that jump. It definitely wasn’t the best jump I’ve had so far, but it’s alright. It’s still fun. Being in the final was what I was hoping for to start off the Games. I didn’t have a very good prep into the Games. I kind of was hurt a little bit the week leading in, so I was pretty happy just to be able to come and jump. Everything else was pretty much a bonus.

Alexander was also more than happy to have just accomplished his personal goals.

"I’ve been jumping for 95 meters the whole week and I finally pulled it off," he said. "That was a goal and I accomplished that so I’m pretty happy. The landing could have definitely been better, though."

At least the U.S. team strengthened diplomatic relations with Canada while in Sochi. Canadian Trevor Morrice and Frenette snapped photos of how the two teams quite literally broke down barriers between the two countries:

There's no doubt that Alexander, Frenette, Johnson and Fairall have made great memories taking part in the 2014 Olympics. They've met athletes from all over the globe and performed against the best ski jumpers in the world.

That's pretty much like winning a medal, right? It's more than most of us will ever do.

There was plenty of distance covered on Friday at RusSki Gorki Jumping Center in Sochi as the men took to the individual large hill looking to qualify for Saturday's final. 

Austria's Michael Hayboeck won the qualification round, and at the conclusion, the field of 61 jumpers was narrowed down to 50.

Japan's Reruhi Shimizu stole the show midway through the session, jumping 130.5 meters to excite the crowd and post the top score of the qualification round to that point, per NBC Olympics web producer Greg Ferraro:

But moments later, Hayboeck overtook Shimizu atop the standings with a brilliant jump that earned him a score of 124.8 and a berth in the next round.

Japan's Daiki Ito would secure the second-best score late in the round with a 130.5-meter jump that scored a qualifying-best 55.5 from the judges.

Place	Name	Total Score
1	Michael Hayboeck (AUT)	124.8
2	Daiki Ito (JPN)	122.0
3	Reruhi Shimizu (JPN)	120.4
4	Marinus Kraus (GER)	120.2
5	Anssi Koivuranta (FIN)	118.9
T6	Thomas Morgenstern (AUT)	116.0
T6	Taku Takeuchi (JPN)	116.0
8	Jernej Damjan (SLO)	115.9
9	Maciej Kot (POL)	115.4
10	Jakub Janda (CZE)	113.6

*Click here to view complete results via Sochi2014.com.

Ten competitors pre-qualified for the final, including 41-year-old Japanese veteran Noriaki Kasai, who is competing in his record-tying seventh Winter Games. However, Kasai doesn't project to contend for a medal this weekend. He earned silver in the team large hill at the 1994 Winter Games but has never finished better than fifth at the Olympics in the individual competition. He finished eighth in Vancouver.

Kasai didn't jump on Friday, wisely opting to save his body for Saturday's medal stage.

Nick Fairall was one of three Americans to qualify for Saturday's final. But as Ferraro points out, it didn't come easy: 

Fairall, who covered 120 meters, would receive just 47.5 points from the judges.

American Anders Johnson also qualified for the final. The 24-year-old struggled in the normal hill competition last weekend but has maintained high spirits, per Nordic.USSkiTeam.com:

My jumping is a little inconsistent right now, and I was just a little off on that jump. It definitely wasn’t the best jump I’ve had so far, but it’s alright. It’s still fun. Being in the final was what I was hoping for to start off the Games. I didn’t have a very good prep into the Games. I kind of was hurt a little bit the week leading in, so I was pretty happy just to be able to come and jump. Everything else was pretty much a bonus.

Nicholas Alexander is the third American who will be looking to crack the podium on Saturday. The 25-year-old scored the best jump of any Team USA member on Friday and will be aiming to improve on his performance in his second run on the large hill.

Peter Frenette was the lone American to be eliminated on Friday. Although he's only 21, the result is awfully disappointing considering he finished 32nd in the individual large hill as a teenager in Vancouver.

The men's large hill ski jumping competition will pick back up on Saturday at 9:30 p.m. local time (12:30 p.m. ET, with the final scheduled for 10:35 p.m. local time, 1:35 p.m. ET).

Follow Bleacher Report Featured Columnist Patrick Clarke on Twitter. 

The biggest news in the ski jumping world heading into the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi was the fact that there will be individual women’s events for the first time in the history of the Games.

However, the men are making plenty of headlines of their own with the large hill qualifying right around the corner and the normal hill results in the books.

Kamil Stoch of Poland took home the gold in the normal hill competition with an impressive 278 points. It was such a dominating performance that the 11th-place finisher was closer to the silver medalist than the silver medalist was to Stoch. 

That silver medalist was Peter Prevc of Slovenia, who is also on the short list of favorites in the large hill event. He finished with 265.3 points, just ahead of bronze medalist Norway’s Anders Bardal, who tallied 264.1 points.

Bardal is also one of the top competitors in the large hill competition.

Now the collective attention of men’s ski jumping fans shifts to the large hill, which is scheduled as follows:

Men’s Individual Large Hill Qualifying Round

Date: Feb. 14

Time: 12:30 p.m. ET, 9:30 p.m. Sochi time and 5:30 p.m. GMT

TV Broadcast: NBC Sports Network at 2:30 p.m. ET (rebroadcast) and BBC at 5:30 p.m. GMT

Men’s Individual Large Hill First Round

Date: Feb. 15

Time: 12:30 p.m. ET, 9:30 p.m. Sochi time and 5:30 p.m. GMT 

TV Broadcast: NBC at 8 p.m. ET (rebroadcast) and BBC at 5:30 p.m. GMT

Men’s Individual Large Hill Final Round

Date: Feb. 15

Time: 1:15 p.m. ET, 10:15 p.m. Sochi time and 6:15 p.m. GMT 

TV Broadcast: NBC at 8 p.m. ET (rebroadcast) and BBC at 6:15 p.m. GMT

So who will jump out to a lead in qualifying runs and ultimately take home the medals in the large hill event? Let’s dig into some predictions.

Qualifying Leads and Medal Predictions

Anders Bardal, Norway: first place and eventual gold medal

Thomas Diethart, Austria: second place and eventual silver medal 

Peter Prevc, Slovenia: third place and eventual bronze medal

Bardal has performed admirably lately, winning a gold medal in the normal hill event at the 2013 World Championships and finishing second overall in the 2013 World Cup standings.

He has established himself as one of the best ski jumpers in the world and helped Austria win a bronze medal in the team event in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He also counts a first-place finish in the 2012 overall World Cup standings and silver medals in the 2011, 2009 and 2007 World Championships to his resume.

Look for this veteran to add an Olympic gold to his illustrious list of accomplishments.

Diethart, who made his World Cup debut in 2011 and picked up his first victory earlier this year at the Four Hills Tournament, doesn’t have that type of resume yet. However, he is well on his way to an impressive career.

If he can keep the composure that he told reporters about, via Yahoo! Sports, after that victory, he will have a chance to land on the podium in Sochi:

This is awesome, I judged that jump to perfection. I really enjoyed it. The atmosphere out there was great. It was a mental battle. Of course I was thinking I could do it. But I knew that the more relaxed I would be, the better chances I would have.

The bronze medal will go to Prevc, who already made the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia proud in these Olympics:

The 21-year-old Prevc already won two medals at the 2013 World Championships and will continue building on his recent momentum.

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Bravo, female ski jumpers, bravo. Take a collective bow.

In a drama-filled, high-flying Olympic event that was long, long overdue, the first women's ski jump competition in the history of the Winter Games took place Tuesday in Sochi and did not disappoint.

It didn't go according to the script most had predicted, with Germany's Carina Vogt edging Daniela Iraschko-Stolz of Austria for the gold medal on the final jump of the competition. Iraschko-Stolz was left with the silver and Coline Mattel of France took the bronze, with heavy pre-race favorite Sara Takanashi, the World Cup leader in the sport, left in disappointing fourth.

For the United States, Jessica Jerome performed a bit better than expected and finished 10th, taking some of the edge of disappointment off the finishes of Lindsey Van (15th) and reigning world champion Sarah Hendrickson, who limped home in 21st on a bum knee that would have kept a lesser competitor sidelined completely.

It was the unpredictable nature of the affair that added to its deliciousness.

This was about more than medals or raw results. This was about history finally being made in such a way that it only underscored the injustice of the exclusion of women's ski jump in all previous Olympics.

The men's ski jump was added to the Winter Games menu in 1924. But through a maddening and, over time, absolutely incomprehensible series of sexist-based decisions by the International Olympic Committee, the women's ski jump was excluded time and time again until this year.

Van theorized in a pre-Olympics interview with the Boston Globe that it took so long in large part because of the small gap in distances being posted world-wide by men and women, making officials reluctant to add the women's portion of the event. Others, including Jerome, pointed out in the Globe article that the women start from a higher gate and actually gain more speed going down the in-run, plus their body mass usually is lighter, allowing them to fly higher and farther.

The counter-points made by the women competitors, more careful in thought, rendered all gender-event comparisons absolutely senseless.

Van told the Globe: "I think ski jumping was just traditional and male-dominated and they didn't want women coming to the party."

She called arguments made against it over the years "ridiculous" and "comical." During pre-event interviews to the Globe and others, she often made the point that she heard arguments suggesting a woman who competed would be at greater risk to injury and that, in fact, her uterus might even fall out during the heat of competition.

Alas, the RusSki Gorki Jumping Center venue at Sochi was not left scattered with any missing uteri following Tuesday's inaugural event.

There is more to be done, of course.

In this Olympics, the women could only compete in the normal hill event. Their male counterparts also get to compete in large hill and team normal hill events.

Some men simply are slower than others to come to their senses. Or to even possess a shred of common sense.

Russian men's ski jumping coach Alexander Arefyev would be one such man. He told the Russian newspaper Izvestia that he did not advocate women's ski jumping, adding in the interview translated and republished by nbcolympics.com: "It is quite a heavy and traumatic sport. If a man were seriously injured, it is not fatal, but for all women may end up far worse."

Then he said he would never permit his daughter to participate in such an activity. "Women have a different purpose -- to have children, do housework, to create a family home," Arefyev concluded.

What a guy. Welcome to the 21st century, Coach Arefyev, and praise the Lord you have no daughters.

To understand the full magnitude of what transpired Tuesday, take a closer look at Hendrickson's effort. The reigning world champion suffered a terrible knee injury at an event in August, tearing both her anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments. She had surgery eight days later.

Yet within five months, she was ready to try competing at Sochi. According to USA Today, the 19-year-old spent six to eight hours a day, six days a week in physical therapy at the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association's Center of Excellence in Park City, Utah, leading up to her return.

She knew when she arrived in Sochi that she wasn't close to being ready to compete at her best. But she wasn't going to miss out on the chance to be a part of history.

When Hendrickson learned that she would go first on the opening run of the competition, she was overjoyed. She explained on Twitter the significance of her journey to Sochi and the satisfaction it would give her no matter where she placed in the competition.

That alone was an honor, one that no one can ever take away from Hendrickson. Under the unique circumstances of the day, it might even be worth more than a medal.

Follow Joe Menzer on Twitter @OneMenz