Large Hill / 10 km, Individual, Men1

The jumping began in fog, and after 31 athletes had made their way down the large hill, it had to be re-started an hour later. This hurt Frenchman Jason Lamy-Chappuis , who had already won the normal hill gold medal and was leading the World Cup competition coming into Vancouver. Lamy-Chappuis had the best early jump on the hill, but after the re-start he placed only 29th and could not make up enough ground. The jumping was finally led by Austrian Bernhard Gruber. But he was caught almost from the start of the ski run by American Johnny Spillane, who had been second in jumping. They were soon joined by another United States’ skier, Bill Demong, who had placed sixth on the large hill. On the final lap, Spillane fell, which hurt his chances. Demong and Gruber were virtually tied as they entered the stadium with about 500 metres to go, but Demong had far more left in his legs and powered ahead to win by over 10 seconds ahead of Gruber. Gruber, exhausted by his effort, was also passed by Spillane as the Americans finished 1-2. It was the culmination of a great Winter Olympics for the USA Nordic combined team.

Prior to Vancouver, no American had won an Olympic medal in this sport, but in 2010, they won gold and silver on the large hill, silver on the normal hill (Spillane), and a silver in the team event. This was not considered an upset, however, as Demong had been World Champion in the large hill event in 2009, Spillane had won that event in 2003, and Todd Lodwick was 2009 World Champion in the normal hill and mass start event.