Normal Hill, Individual, Men

The 2001-02 season had dominated by Germany’s Sven Hannawald who had become the first man in the fifty-year history of the tournament to perform the remarkable feat of winning a clean sweep of the Four Hills Tournament. If he was to be challenged in Salt Lake City then conventional thinking said that this challenge might come from 2001 world champion Adam Małysz of Poland.

Although he had performed consistently throughout the season few would have picked the bespectacled Swiss Simon Ammann to feature but he led the way after the first round as his superior style marks helped him push into a small lead. With Małysz having already guaranteed a rare winter medal for Poland only Hannawald and Amman were left to jump. Although the German’s leap was half-a-metre longer than Amman’s it failed to close the points deficit and Switzerland’s first Olympic ski jumping title was confirmed.