Large Hill / 10 km, Individual, Men

The large hill favorites were two Germans, Eric Frenzel and Johannes Rydzek. Frenzel had won the last five overall World Cup titles, and was the defending gold medalist, while Rydzek had won four gold medals at the 2017 World Championships. Japan’s Akito Watabe was also considered a medal contender.

Watabe took the lead in the ski phase, followed by Norwegian Jarl Magnus Riiber, while the German triumvirate – Frenzel, Rydzek, and Fabian Rießle – were in fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively, with Austrian Willi Denifl in third.

The ski phase was won by Italy’s Alessandro Pittin, who had been a non-factor in the jump, and would finish only 27th overall. Rießle had the third-fastest ski time, but Rydzek was fourth in ski time, and held on to win the gold medal in a remarkably close finish. The three Germans came to the line almost together, with Rydzek winning by 0.4 seconds over Rießle, with Frenzel another four-tenths back, as Germany swept the medals.

Frenzel had already won gold on the normal hill at PyeongChang and would win another gold in the team event, along with Rydzek and Rießle. Rießle had been the bronze medalist in this event at Sochi, but had finished seventh on the normal hill in PyeongChang, done in by a poor jumping performance.

This was the first medal sweep in a Nordic combined individual event since 1936, as Norway had swept all the medals in the only Nordic combined event on the program in 1924, 1928, 1932, and 1936.