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 the second Olympic title - and third medal - for Stroem at these Games following Normal Hill gold and Mixed Team silver. Her Norwegian teammate Eirin Maria Kvandal landed a Hill record 133.5m to claim the silver ahead of World Champion Nika Prevc (SLO).

Stroem becomes only the fourth athlete in history - and first woman - to win both individual events in a single Games.

“Incredible,” said Stroem when asked to describe her feelings.

“It’s unbelievable that I actually won the first gold and it’s now incredible to achieve what we have today. 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!

Kvandal had led the standings after the first round with a jump of 129m for 140.6pts. Despite the biggest jump of the day in the final round, she had to settle for silver after a difficult landing, finishing 2.1pts behind Stroem.

"It feels unbelievable and to be able to stand here as a woman, jump on this Large Hill for the first time, it’s history being written.

Prevc also leaves Milano Cortina as a triple medalist, adding bronze to her Mixed Team gold and Normal Hill silver. The reigning World Champion was lying fifth after the opening round, but scored 143.2pts for her second jump of 127.5m to set 271.5pts as the mark for the Norwegians to beat.

"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.”

The Slovenian admitted she was initially disappointed to miss out on an individual Olympic gold.

“That was my first thought, but now everything’s over I must say I’m very satisfied and proud.

Another standout performance of the day was Frida Westman (SWE) who secured fourth place with jumps of 129.5m and 127.5m. The Swede recovered from crashing in the Normal Hill competition to claim her best-ever Large Hill finish.

“This is a huge thing for me and I’m really happy about my jumps,” said Westman.

“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.

There was no fairytale ending for Katharina Schmid (GER) in her fourth and final Winter Olympics. The two-time Olympic silver medalist and seven-time World Champion missed out on the final of the Large Hill in her last Games event 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,” she admitted.

“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.”