Anna Odine Stroem of Norway hoped for silver and ended up with gold in Olympic ski jumping

PREDAZZO, Italy (AP) — Anna Odine Stroem entered the women's normal ski jumping competition Saturday thinking the best she could do was finish second.

With a consistent and smooth performance under pressure, the Norwegian did much better, seizing the gold medal most assumed would be won by Slovenian favorite Nika Prevc, who has dominated the sport this season.

“I didn’t jump (in practice) yesterday and I saw Nika was in a league of her own — as she usually is,” Stroem said. “So I thought we were all competing for silver here.”

Prevc was tearful taking silver and Nozomi Maruyama of Japan was jubilant in winning bronze.

Stroem has come back from a serious knee injury in 2023 to reach fourth place in the World Cup standings this season. Prevc sits at the top by a large margin over Maruyama. Based on those standings, they started the first round in reverse of their ranking, with Prevc going last.

Going into the final jump, Prevc trailed Stroem by a single point and Maruyama was in third, two-tenths of a point behind Prevc.

Because Stroem was in first place after one round, she was the final skier to jump — right after Prevc.

The crowd was silent as she sat on the bar atop the steep in-run.

“I thought this is going to be hard,” Stroem said at a news conference after being awarded her medal.

She said she went through a mental checklist to focus and then looked down the hill, where a green light showed the longest distance anyone had landed.

“I saw that green was very far down so I just thought I’ve got to get over that,” she said.

The crowd roared as she appeared to clear the mark but she couldn’t hear the noise because she was going so fast, she said.

“I’m going to be honest, I didn’t quite believe it until my teammates hugged me,” she said.

Her final jump was 101 meters (331 feet) for a total score of 267.3 points, edging Prevc by 1.1 points.

“Luckily, I managed to do my things well and I suspect Nika didn’t do hers quite as well as she wished, as she's done earlier,” Stroem said. "But I reckon she's going to be hard to beat in the big hill.”

Prevc, last year's world champ and record holder for the longest women's jump, said too much pressure had been put on her before the event. Coach Jurij Tepes said she made two technical mistakes that cost her.

Prevc said she’s happy her first Olympic competition is behind her and she can focus on two events ahead: the mixed team event Tuesday and the women’s large hill jump Feb. 15.

“I’m very happy with my first Olympic medal,” she said. “My childhood dreams are coming true. Now I will continue and go on.”

There was a consolation prize of sorts for Prevc by becoming the first sister to join a brother — two in her case — to have also won Olympic medals in the sport.

Prevc follows in the footsteps of her brothers, Peter, a four-time Olympic medalist who won gold in the mixed team jump four years ago in Beijing, and Cene, who shared a team silver with his brother in Beijing in the team event.

The famous Prevc ski jumping family could make more Olympic history Monday when brother Domen, who has also been dominant this year, competes in the men’s normal hill event. If he wins a medal, it would mark the first time brother and sister ski jumpers have medaled at the same Olympics.

Depending on the outcome of that event, the two could also team up Tuesday.

The gold medal was only the second for women ski jumpers from Norway — the country that invented the sport and has long dominated competition — since women began ski jumping in the Olympics in 2014. Maren Lundby won gold in the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

It also marks a bright spot for Norway, which was tainted by scandal at last year’s World Championships, when coaches on the men’s team were caught tampering with ski suits to give its two top men an advantage.

Head coach Magnus Brevik, assistant coach Thomas Lobben and staff member Adrian Livelten were recently banned from the sport for 18 months for tampering with the suits before the men’s large hill event.

Norwegian ski jumpers Marius Lindvik and Johann André Forfang accepted three-month suspensions that allowed them to compete in this season’s events.

Asked about the scandal, Stroem made it clear that the women weren’t implicated.

“We have put that behind us now and tried to stick together and just work hard,” she said. “I hope that my performance here today can inspire the boys to do well.”

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Nozomi Maruyama, of Japan, lands her final round jump of the ski jumping women's normal hill individual, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Predazzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Nika Prevc, of Slovenia, reacts after her final round jump of the ski jumping women's normal hill individual, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Predazzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Gold medalist Anna Odine Stroem, of Norway, poses for a selfie flanked by silver medalist Nika Prevc, of Slovenia, left, and bronze medalist Nozomi Maruyama, of Japan, on the podium of the ski jumping women's normal hill individual, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Predazzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Anna Odine Stroem, of Norway, celebrates after winning the gold medal in the ski jumping women's normal hill individual, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Predazzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Gold medalist Anna Odine Stroem, of Norway, celebrates flanked by silver medalist Nika Prevc, of Slovenia, left, and bronze medalist Nozomi Maruyama, of Japan, on the podium of the ski jumping women's normal hill individual, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Predazzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

MILAN (AP) — The 2026 Winter Games are off to a promising start for host nation Italy with gold, silver and bronze on the first day of medal events.

But it was Switzerland’s Franjo Von Allmen who captured the first gold medal of the Milan Cortina Olympics on Saturday.

There were no Americans on the podium, though Lindsey Vonn impressed in her second training run ahead of the women’s downhill on Sunday.

Italian speedskater Francesca Lollobrigida celebrated her 35th birthday by winning the host nation's first gold medal of these Olympics — in the 3,000 meters. It's also Italy’s first gold in women’s speedskating at any Winter Games.

Competing in her fourth Olympics, Lollobrigida outskated Ragne Wiklund of Norway for her first Olympic gold after winning silver and bronze in Beijing four years ago.

Her great aunt was the late Gina Lollobrigida, a star actress of the 1950s and ’60s.

Italy had a strong day on the slopes, as well, with Alpine skiers Giovanni Franzoni and Dominik Paris taking silver and bronze, respectively, in the men’s downhill — the first medal event of the Games.

However, neither could beat Von Allmen’s time of 1 minute, 51.61 seconds in Bormio.

The 24-year-old Swiss skier was the leader after his downhill run, but the wait for his rivals to finish was nerve-racking.

“I tried to enjoy the moment, but I didn’t quite realize what was going on today,” von Allmen said after his first Olympic race.

Paris, 36, was delighted with his bronze after coming away empty-handed in his four previous Olympics.

“It’s my fifth Olympics, and getting the first medal in front of the home crowd, that’s really special,” Paris said.

In Cortina, Lindsey Vonn completed another downhill training run and was set for Sunday's medal race despite tearing her left ACL a little more than a week ago.

The 41-year-old American crossed the line in third position and told The Associated Press “all good.”

She has been wearing a large brace on her injured knee.

Yuma Kagiyama landed near-perfect quads and scored 108.67 points in his short program to help Japan put pressure on the defending champion U.S. in the figure skating team event.

Malinin, the two-time reigning world champion, was second with 98.00.

But a brilliant free skate by Madison Chock and Evan Bates pushed the U.S. score to 44 points — five more than Japan ahead of the men’s, women’s and pairs free skates to decide the medals Sunday.

Jessie Diggins, the most decorated American cross-country skier ever, finished eighth in the 20-kilometer women’s skiathlon in Tesero. She finished more than 2 minutes behind winner Frida Karlsson of Sweden.

“I had a crash on the first lap, where my tip just disappeared in the slush, and unfortunately it was a tough spot where you lose all your momentum," the 34-year-old Minnesota native said.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance sat with influencer and boxer Jake Paul as they watched the U.S. women’s hockey team beat Finland 5-0 on Saturday. Paul’s fiancee, Jutta Leerdam, is a speedskater for the Netherlands.

Finland played two days after the team’s game against Canada had to be postponed because of a stomach virus affecting players. Switzerland played Canada a day after announcing that one of its players tested positive for the norovirus. Canada won 4-0.

Norway — the nation with the most medals in Winter Olympics history — got its first gold of the Games in the women's ski jumping. It was unexpected.

Anna Odine Stroem of Norway won the normal hill competition ahead of Slovenian favorite Nika Prevc, who has dominated the sport this season. Nozomi Maruyama of Japan won bronze.

Kira Kimura won Japan's first gold medal at these Games — in men’s snowboarding big air in Livigno. His teammate, Ryoma Kimata, picked up the silver medal.

Defending champion Su Yiming of China took bronze, keeping 17-year-old American Oliver Martin off the podium.

Big air consists of one single jump off a huge ramp, where the rider varies spins, flips and holds of the board.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States compete during the figure skating ice dance team event at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Francesca Lollobrigida of Italy celebrates with her gold medal on the podium of the women's 3,000 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Jake Paul, left, and Vice President JD Vance attend a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey between the United States and Finland at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Jessie Diggins of the United States catches her breath after crossing the finish line in the cross country skiing women's 10km + 10km skiathlon at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

United States' Lindsey Vonn in action during alpine ski women's downhill training, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Switzerland's Franjo von Allmen celebrates at the finish area of an alpine ski men's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Gold medallist Francesca Lollobrigida of Italy celebrates with the Italian flag after the women's 3,000 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)