Sprint (Large Hill / 10 km), Men

While the 2022 Olympic champion Jørgen Graabak of Norway had retired, his silver medal-winning compatriot Jens Lurås Oftebro returned to Milano-Cortina and had already won the normal hill event. Japan’s Akito Watabe, the 2022 bronze medalist, was also present, although he had not medaled at a major international tournament since Beijing, and this would be his sixth and final Olympics. The winner of the last two World Championships, Norwegian Jarl Magnus Riiber, had retired, while Graabak was the most recent World runner-up. Oftebro was the 2023 World runner-up, while Austria’s Johannes Lamparter and Germany’s Vinzenz Geiger were the 2023 and 2025 bronze medalists respectively. Lamparter had been the runner-up in the normal hill in Milano-Cortina and was also at the top of the 2025-26 World Cup ranking.

Although several others had longer jumps, Ryota Yamamoto of Japan, a bronze medalist in the team event in 2022, was the top scorer after the ski jump, due to his style points. Lamparter, however, was close behind. In the cross-country skiing portion, however, Oftebro made up a considerable deficit, having been fifth after the ski jump, to be in the lead by the halfway point, and he never relinquished it. Lamparter, despite a valiant effort, ended up with a silver medal again. Oftebro would go on to win the team event, making him an Olympic champion in all three events, while Lamparter would take bronze.

Third place in this event, meanwhile, went to four-time Olympian Ilkka Herola of Finland, who would also take silver in the team event. Geiger’s third-place in cross-country skiing could not make up for his deficit in the ski jump, where he had been 18th, one ahead of Watabe, and he was ultimately ranked ninth overall, with Watabe 19th. Yamamoto ended in 15th.