Norway's Jens Luraas Oftebro wins 2nd gold in Nordic combined

Norway’s Jens Luraas Oftebro has won his second Nordic combined gold at the Milan Cortina Winter Games in the large hill event

Norway's Jens Luraas Oftebro won his second Nordic combined gold medal at the Milan Cortina Winter Games after the large hill ski jump and 10-kilometer ski race Tuesday.

Johannes Lamparter of Austria won his second silver and Ilkka Herola of Finland won bronze.

The event begins with a single ski jump in the morning where distance and style points are computed into a time advantage for the best jumper. The rest of the field starts the cross-country ski race behind the leader according to the ranking from their jump.

Japan’s Ryota Yamamoto got an eight-second head start over Lamparter after the ski jump and Norway’s Andreas Skoglund started 16 seconds back.

Oftebro, who won the normal hill event last week, started 22 seconds behind in fifth place. Herola started 32 seconds back in seventh place.

Niklas Malacinski was the highest-placed U.S. finisher in 13th.

Yamamoto finished 15th.

Nordic combined has been contested in every Winter Olympics since their start in 1924 and is the only event in the Games that excludes women. It faces possible elimination from the International Olympic Committee because it draws a small TV audience and a few nations dominate.

The podium in the event was nearly a mirror image from the normal hill jump contest with the only difference being that Herola took the place of fellow Finn Eero Hirvonen, who won bronze on the shorter hill.

The IOC is due to make its decision later this year.

Lamparter, who won silver on the normal hill, and Oftebro are ranked first and second, respectively, on the World Cup circuit.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics