By Tommy Lund and Liz Hampton
PREDAZZO, Italy, - Austria won the gold medal in the men's super team event in ski jumping at the Winter Olympics on Monday in a chaotic competition where snow stopped the third round from being completed.
Poland claimed silver and Norway bronze.
The gold brought huge relief for Austria, which has a rich ski jumping tradition, claiming a first medal in the event in these Games thanks to jumpers Stephan Embacher and Jan Hoerl.
During the third round, heavy snow began to fall in Predazzo, making it increasingly difficult to clear the hill after each jump and causing repeated delays.
With conditions deteriorating further, and three of eight competitors left to jump, officials decided to abandon the third round and declare the second round results as final.
International Ski and Snowboard Federation race director Sandro Pertile defended the decision to end the competition prematurely.
“We had this sudden, heavy snowfall, wet snowfall, and we were trying to clean the track, but we saw immediately that we lost the speed in the in-run," he said.
“We also had completely different wind conditions. The wind was starting from behind, into a head wind, and with these conditions it was really unfair to continue. We have in our rules the possibility to cancel the round. Sometimes this happens, and it was happening tonight.”
{{/usCountry}}“We also had completely different wind conditions. The wind was starting from behind, into a head wind, and with these conditions it was really unfair to continue. We have in our rules the possibility to cancel the round. Sometimes this happens, and it was happening tonight.”
{{/usCountry}}The super team competition made its Olympic debut at these Games.
Each nation fielded two jumpers, with each athlete taking two jumps per round and the winners decided by the highest accumulated score.
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