Stroem strikes gold again in historic Olympic Large Hill podium

History was made at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics as Anna Odine Stroem (NOR) won the first-ever Women’s Large Hill Individual gold. It’s Stroem’s second Olympic title and third medal at these Games, after earlier victories in the Normal Hill and a Mixed Team silver.

Stroem becomes only the fourth athlete overall — and the first woman — to win both individual ski jumping events at a single Games.

Norwegian teammate Eirin Maria Kvandal produced a hill record of 133.5 m to claim silver, while World Champion Nika Prevc (SLO) took bronze. Kvandal had led after the first round with a 129 m jump (140.6 points) but despite making the longest jump of the day in the final round, a difficult landing left her 2.1 points behind Stroem.

“It's unbelievable that I actually won the first gold and it’s now incredible to achieve what we have today,” Stroem said. “This was a better performance and better jump than the Normal Hill and it needed to be. It’s an amazing team performance — in the first round it was almost a Norwegian championship! We knew that Nika (Prevc) would do her thing in the second round, so I just had to concentrate on my own jump and I think it was the best competition jump here today.”

Prevc added a third Olympic medal to her tally in Milan‑Cortina — bronze to go with Mixed Team gold and Normal Hill silver. Lying fifth after the opening round, she produced a strong second jump (127.5 m, 143.2 pts) to finish on 271.5 points, the benchmark the Norwegians chased.

“I need to take pride in this medal, because my last jump shows that I am able to fight through all the stress and everything that’s happening to me,” Prevc reflected. “I showed to myself I’m capable of these good jumps and this is how I can end this Olympic Games.”

Sweden’s Frida Westman delivered one of the day’s standout performances with jumps of 129.5 m and 127.5 m to finish fourth — her best-ever Large Hill result after a crash in the Normal Hill event.

“This is a huge thing for me and I’m really happy about my jumps,” Westman said. “It was super close but it means everything for me. I had to have some days to feel disappointed but then I knew it was a new chance on the big hill so I just had to change my mindset and focus. I will remember it forever even though it’s fourth place — it feels like a medal.”

There was disappointment for Germany’s Katharina Schmid in her fourth and final Winter Olympics: the two-time Olympic silver medallist and seven-time World Champion failed to reach the Large Hill final in her last Games appearance before retirement.

“It is not the way I wanted the Olympic Games to end for me. It is part of the sport but I think it will hurt for a while,” Schmid said. “I am really proud of myself, growing with the sport. I never stopped believing. It was not always easy for me but I always came back stronger. It is really important and great to see how the sport grew.”

Final podium (Women’s Large Hill Individual, Milano‑Cortina 2026):

• Gold: Anna Odine Stroem (NOR)
• Silver: Eirin Maria Kvandal (NOR)
• Bronze: Nika Prevc (SLO)

Stroem leaves Milan‑Cortina as a double Olympic champion after an historic day on the Large Hill.

(Results and quotes from Milano Cortina 2026.)