Victory in the Snowstorm — Hörl and Embacher Crowned Olympic Super‑Team Gold!

The Golden Super‑Team duo for Austria: Jan Hörl and Stephan Embacher

By krone Sport — 16 February 2026

Gold, gold, gold — at the very last moment the red‑white‑red “Eagles” managed to secure a medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics — and it was the golden one!

The pair that began as outsiders, Jan Hörl and Stephan Embacher, won the Super‑Team event on Monday ahead of Poland and Norway, salvaging the honour of the ÖSV, which had been unexpectedly without a medal until today’s jumping.

Hörl opened perfectly for Austria with a 137.5‑metre effort to put his team into the lead; Olympic debutant Embacher (132 m) defended that advantage after the first round. In difficult side‑wind conditions Hörl then produced a 128‑metre jump that proved important in the final calculation.

When Embacher then sailed to 139 metres — the longest jump of the day — Austria sat comfortably 21.4 points ahead of Poland and looked certain for gold. In the third round, with only eight teams left, worsening weather and an indecisive jury created more tension than necessary.

The result

After Hörl had once more jumped 137.5 metres and appeared to have secured the gold, heavy snowfall began six jumpers from the end. Following a long delay, the third round was stopped and the standings were taken after only four instead of the scheduled six jumps.

Hörl: “We said we would go for it today”

“I’m speechless! Today we really got up and had such a good feeling — we said: today we go for it. That it would work out like this is just brutal, awesome,” Hörl said in an ORF interview. The coaches had told the athletes they had nothing to lose: “Be relaxed, jump freely. We are on top, we were relaxed and the jumps worked.”

Embacher could only celebrate late with his teammate because he was not allowed to jump in the final round and had to come down the hill. At 132 metres in his first Olympic appearance he helped secure Austria’s lead and with the 139‑metre second jump he posted the day’s maximum distance. He is now the second‑youngest Austrian Olympic ski jumping champion after Thomas Morgenstern. During the intensifying snowfall he covered himself with a blanket at the top to keep warm. “Really, really great. Incredible day. As a child you dream of being an Olympic champion. That it happens today, in the Super‑Team with Jan, and that it’s such a cool event — that makes it even more beautiful,” Embacher told ORF.

Widhölzl: “I’m very relieved, hats off to the boys!”

ÖSV head coach Andreas Widhölzl was visibly relieved that the debacle without a medal had been avoided. “I’m very relieved, hats off to the boys — they delivered an extremely good performance today. The last one and a half weeks were not easy, so it’s great it turned out like this. We were able to repeat what we did in Peking,” said the Tyrolean. The team event had mobilised strength in his jumpers. “Today they were for the first time really relaxed. The Games were extremely difficult for us, so it’s all the nicer that we managed it at the end.”

The Super‑Team format at these Games replaced the traditional four‑athlete team competition. Austria had won the conventional team event at Peking four years ago, with Hörl among the winners. Hörl and Embacher had already won the only Super‑Team competition this World Cup season in Zakopane.

Like alpine skier Fabio Gstrein’s earlier silver in the men’s slalom, Hörl/Embacher rescued the ÖSV “Eagles” from embarrassment. Austria had last failed to medal in ski jumping in Pyeongchang 2018.

Final standings (top three):

1. Austria — Jan Hörl / Stephan Embacher (GOLD)
2. Poland (SILVER)
3. Norway (BRONZE)

— krone Sport