Anna Odine Stroem wins her 2nd gold at Milan Cortina in Olympic debut of women's large hill ski jump

PREDAZZO, Italy (AP) — Anna Odine Stroem made the Olympic debut of women's large hill ski jumping a night to remember for Norway.

Stroem sailed to her second gold medal of the Milan Cortina Games as Norway took the top two spots, with Eirin Maria Kvandal winning silver. Slovenian favorite Nika Prevc settled for bronze.

Stroem said she hadn’t dared to believe she would leave the Olympics with two gold medals and a silver as she praised her team and Kvandal.

“It’s been an unbelievable championship for me. I don’t think much can top this,” Stroem said. “We’ve pushed each other all the way, and now we’ve pushed each other to the top of the podium.”

Women’s ski jumping on the normal hill was first included in the 2014 Sochi Games but until this year, the contest on the large hill had been limited in the Olympics to men.

“These girls — 10 or 15 years ago — had to fight against resistance in the ski jumping system just to be allowed to compete,” said Norway's Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, who watched the event. “And now they’re jumping like this. It’s impressive, and it’s exactly how it should be.”

Stroem won with a final jump of 132 meters (433 feet). Kvandal's jump was 133.5 meters (438 feet), but Stroem made up for it in style points from the judges and compensation points for wind.

The three jumpers on the podium have amassed a lot of hardware at the Predazzo Ski Jumping Stadium.

Stroem won gold on the normal hill, edging out Prevc, who comes from a famous ski jumping family.

They reversed positions on the podium in the mixed team event with Prevc and her brother, Domen, winning gold with Anze Lanisek and Nika Vodan. Stroem and Kvandal shared silver in the mixed team event with Marius Lindvik and Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal.

Prevc is the defending world champion on both hills, the world record holder for the longest jump by a woman and the defending World Cup champion. She holds a significant lead in this season's standings.

But she struggled to hit the big jumps she’s known for — a problem she also had on the normal hill.

After the first round on the large hill, Prevc was fifth behind four Norwegians.

Kvandal, a two-time world champion, led. Stroem was second and Silje Opseth was behind her.

Prevc was able to overcome the third- and fourth-place jumpers, but couldn't make up for the point deficit after her first jump to climb above third.

The two medals gave Norway 26 in these Games, four more than second-place Italy. Norway also leads in gold medals with 12 to Italy’s eight.

It was the first ski jumping competition in this Olympics without a Japanese athlete on the podium. Nozomi Maruyama, who won bronze in the normal hill and in mixed team, finished eighth.

As the Norwegians celebrated, a weeping Prevc got a bear hug from her father, a ski jumping referee.

Prevc will leave this Olympics with a gold, silver and bronze. She became the first sister to join a brother — two in her case — to have won Olympic medals in the sport.

She followed 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 that Olympics.

She and Domen then became the first brother and sister to win a ski jumping medal at the same Olympics when they won the mixed team event.

Domen won the men's large hill on Saturday and will jump in the debut of the men's super team event Monday.

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

Anna Odine Stroem, of Norway, soars through the air during her first round jump of the ski jumping women's large hill individual at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Predazzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Silver medalist Eirin Maria Kvandal, of Norway, right, hugs gold medalist Anna Odine Stroem, also of Norway, after the ski jumping women's large hill individual at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Predazzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Nika Prevc, of Slovenia, soars through the air during her first round jump of the ski jumping women's large hill individual at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Predazzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Gold medalist Anna Odine Stroem, of Norway, applauds as silver medalist Eirin Maria Kvandal, also of Norway, celebrates and bronze medalist Nika Prevc, of Slovenia, right, applauds after the ski jumping women's large hill individual at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Predazzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Anna Odine Stroem, of Norway, reacts after winning the gold medal in the ski jumping women's large hill individual at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Predazzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

MILAN (AP) — Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid and Canada are rolling into the knockout round at the Olympics as the best team in the tournament.

They may have put the top seed out of the Americans' reach.

Crosby and McDavid each had a goal and two assists in a clinical, businesslike 10-2 dismantling of France on Sunday. Canada finished round robin play unbeaten, outscoring opponents by 17 goals over three games.

“We did what we came to do," said McDavid, who leads all scorers in Milan. "We came to win a hockey game and continue to get better.”

The blowout also included Tom Wilson fighting the player who delivered a forearm to Nathan MacKinnon's face a couple of minutes earlier. MacKinnon returned and Wilson was ejected, since fighting is a game misconduct under international rules, but the already popular teammate earned even more respect inside Canada's locker room.

“He’s going to stick up for his guys,” forward Sam Bennett said. “He’s a leader on this team and he’s a guy that’s going to protect our guys and do whatever it takes for our team.”

The U.S. would need to beat Germany by 10 or more goals on Sunday night to overtake Canada for the No. 1 seed. A win of any kind short of that would put the U.S. second and on a crash course to face seventh-seeded Sweden in the quarterfinals, and an unexpected regulation loss would shake up the already surprising standings.

Sweden is quite the formidable opponent, though Canada showed in the preliminary round that it has the skill, size and finishing ability to skate any other team in Milan out of the building. McDavid has nine points in his first nine periods to lead all scorers at his first Olympics, and Crosby has been great at 38 in his third looking to go 3 for 3 in gold medals.

“Sid’s playing great,” McDavid said. “Everybody’s playing really, really well. The team’s playing well. We’re in a good place right now.”

Macklin Celebrini, Canada's youngest player at 19, scored on a penalty shot and on the power play against France to give him four goals in three games. Wilson, picked by coach Jon Cooper to ride shotgun on the top line on McDavid's right wing, also had a goal, an assist and some big hits.

Mark Stone scored short-handed with 3.4 seconds left in the first period and had two assists. Brandon Hagel had Canada's ninth goal in the third before Celebrini scored the 10th.

Canada outshot France 46-13, making life as easy as possible on goaltender Jordan Binnington, who might want the second goal back but should still be in net Wednesday in the quarterfinals against the winner of the 8/9 game between Czechia and Denmark.

Longtime NHL goaltender Frederik Andersen made 33 saves on 35 shots to give Denmark its first victory in Milan, 4-2 over Latvia.

Winning by two on an empty-netter also put Denmark ahead in the seeding, leaving Latvia to be 10th and face No. 7 Sweden in the qualification round Tuesday.

Rallying around the absence of injured winger Kevin Fiala, Switzerland beat Czechia 4-3 in overtime to give itself an easy path to the quarterfinals.

Winning the preliminary round finale means captain Roman Josi's team next faces winless host Italy in the qualification playoffs Tuesday.

“We knew it was a big game,” said Josi, the Nashville Predators defenseman who scored Switzerland's first goal by banking the puck off Radko Gudas' left skate and in. "Obviously a lot of up and downs in that third period but found a way. It was a huge win against a really good team.”

Former Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Dean Kukan scored the overtime winner. In 172 NHL regular-season and playoff games, he had just six goals and ranked this one top three in his career.

Timo Meier of the New Jersey Devils and Pius Suter of the St. Louis Blues also scored for Switzerland, and 38-year-old national team goaltender Leonardo Genoni stopped 29 of the 32 shots he faced.

Fiala, the Los Angeles Kings' second-leading scorer, had surgery to repair what the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation only called a lower left leg injury. He sent his teammates a video message from his hospital bed, and coach Patrick Fischer hopes Fiala is back at the athletes' village Monday.

“He’s still with us,” said Nico Hischer, who captains the Devils in the NHL. "We’ll play for him. And obviously you hate to see injury like that. He’s one of our best players, so it’s obviously a tough loss for us. But we know he’s still engaged with us, and he’ll cheer us on.”

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

Czechia's Tomas Hertl (48) is challenged by Switzerland's Damien Riat (9) during a preliminary round match of men's ice hockey between Switzerland and Czechia at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Switzerland players celebrate their victory after a preliminary round match of men's ice hockey between Switzerland and Czechia at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Canada's Macklin Celebrini (17) scores on a penalty shot in the second period against France's goalkeeper Julian Junca (33) during a preliminary round game of men's ice hockey between Canada and France at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Canada's Macklin Celebrini (17) scores a goal on a penalty shot in the second period against France's goalkeeper Julian Junca (33) during a preliminary round game of men's ice hockey between Canada and France at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Canada's Mark Stone (61) celebrates after scoring a goal against France's goalkeeper Julian Junca (33) and France's Jules Boscq (27) in the first period during a preliminary round game of men's ice hockey between Canada and France at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)