Massive Snowfall in Predazzo Forces Early Finish to Olympic Super Team Ski Jumping, Fuels Controversy

Austria, Poland, and Norway won gold, silver, and bronze respectively in the men’s super team ski jumping after the final was cut short due to intense snowfall.

Massive Snowfall in Predazzo Forces Early Finish to Olympic Super Team Ski Jumping, Fuels Controversy

Philipp Raimund (Via X)

In Short
  • Massive snowfall in Predazzo led to the cancellation of the final round of the men's super team ski jumping event.
  • Athletes expressed frustration over the decision, believing the competition should have been delayed for better conditions.
  • Austria won the event, with Poland and Norway completing the podium, while Japan finished sixth after initially being in medal contention.

Aesthetically, the slopes of Predazzo and Livigno looked marvellous with powdery snow falling hard. For the organizers of the snow events, not so much. The women’s snowboarding big air finals were delayed by more than a few hours, while the final round of the inaugural men’s super team in the ski jumping event was canceled.

As conditions grew harsh and dangerous for the athletes, Sandro Pertile and the jury canceled the third and final round and awarded medals based on the second round. The final round was underway with one pair of jumpers from the eight qualified teams competing, and all but the three best-performing delegations after the results of the first set in the third round were left.

After an interruption between the competition, Domen Prevc, Kacper Tomasiak, and Philipp Raimund had jumped before snowfall made it dangerous to compete, and the round was completely called off. While Prevc and Tomasiak struggled, Raimund was brilliant in his last jump and gave Germany a chance to make the podium. Kristoffer Sundal, Ryoyu Kobayashi, and Stephan Embacher were the three left to jump after their partners put their delegations on top in the first set of the final round.

Nikaido Ren had a striking jump that put Japan in second position, up from sixth, a medal within their reach. However, as the results reversed in the second round, Japan finished sixth. Austria won the round while Poland and Norway completed the podium, depriving Germany and Japan a chance to bag another medal.

To make matters worse, the snowfall that was intense during the competition slowed down during the victory ceremony. The athletes, who put so much into the competition, were unsurprisingly frustrated by the decision.

The German and Japanese ski jumping team wanted the organizers to wait

The Germans, who landed a perfectly good jump through the normal hill gold medalist, Philipp Raimund, as well as the Japanese team, admitted that there should have been a wait instead of hastening to announce the podium standings.

Philpp Raimund and Andreas Wellinger of Germany react after the final round of men's super team event was canceled (Image via Reuters)
Philpp Raimund and Andreas Wellinger of Germany react after the final round of men’s super team event was canceled (Image via Reuters)

Raimund told Reuters that the organizers should have waited another fifteen minutes for the conditions to get better. He also pointed out that he did make a good jump during the adverse weather:

They should have continued the competition. These were the most exciting competitions of all time. I showed that from the ramp you can really land a jump. It’s awful. Many things went wrong. They should have waited another 15 minutes, but such was the jury’s decision.

Nikkaido Ren shared that the consensus among the jumpers was a delay in the competitions. He also told Reuters – “everyone is thinking the same thing. They should have waited longer.”

However, the Norwegian Johann Forfang had a differing opinion. He said that the decision was necessary in the end, as the dense and tight snow made it dangerous for the competition to continue. The final round was called off before Forfang’s teammate, Kristoffer Sundal, was planning to make the jump. Forfang also mentioned that completing the round would have been even more unfair if it was continued rather than canceling the second or third round.

In a significant snowfall like yesterday, a substantial amount of snow had accumulated on the starting lines. This accumulation creates excessive drag, preventing competitors from achieving the velocity required for the event. Concurrently, the area had experiencing volatile and unpredictable wind shifts, creating an unfavorable condition for the athletes to jump.

With the men’s super team, ski jumping at the Winter Olympics 2026 have come to a close. Across the six events, Norway and Slovenia won two gold each, while the remaining two were won by Austria and Germany. In addition to these four delegations, Poland, Japan, and Switzerland bagged medals.

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