Large Hill, Individual, Men

The Large Hill- competition on the Bergisel-Hill in Innsbruck was contested nine days after the Normal Hill competition, and ski jumping fans were looking forward to another great duel between Veikko Kankkonen and Toralf Engan, the two rivals from the Normal Hill.

The first round showed some excellent jumping. Kankkonen made the longest jump of the day, 95.5 m and had a 4.2 points lead over Engan, who did 93.5 m. Dieter Neuendorf was third, only 0.7 points ahead of the bronze medal winner from the Normal Hill, Torgeir Brandtzæg.

In the second round, with reduced runway length, Engan again made a stylish jump at 90.5 m. Kankkonen equalled Engan’s distance, but was penalized for a bad landing and was 1.8 points behind Engan. Brandtzæg advanced into bronze medal position after a 90 m jump, and was almost ten points ahead of the rest of the field. Engan, Kankkonen and Brandtzæg were all in a position to take the gold medal.

In the third round, the speed was again reduced. Brandtzæg, jumping first of the favorites, improved with another good jump at 87 m, but could not catch Engan and Kankkonen in the total points and had to settle for his second bronze medal. Engan, seemingly nervous, made a total miss at 73 m, but was still in the lead. Kankkonen had to make an 87-88 m jump with decent style points to pass Engan in the fight for the gold medal. The Finn made another excellent jump at 88 m, and seemed to have full control, but just after the landing he lost his balance and touched the snow with one of his hands. The jump was judged as a fall, and Engan had his revenge.

Engan was Norway’s first Olympic ski jumping champion in 12 years, and the Norwegians were back again as a major force in ski jumping. However, both Engan and Brandtzæg had short careers after their 1964 Olympic success. Later in 1964, during training two days before the Holmenkollen competition, Brandtzæg had a bad fall, while jumping 10 m longer than the hill record, and was severely injured. This fearless jumper tried a comeback the year after, but in spite of winning the national Large Hill Championships he felt he was not able to regain his former strength, and therefore decided to quit at the age of 23. After his great 1964- season Engan had two rather disappointing seasons. He was on the Norwegian 1966 World Championship team, and ended his career by coming 10th in the Large Hill Competition at the World Championships in Holmenkollen.