Predazzo, Italy, 17 February 2026 (dpa/MIA) - Austria won back-to-back ski jumping men's team gold as the super team format made its Olympic debut on Monday at the Milan/Cortina Winter Games, but had the last round cancelled due to weather conditions.

The competition was cancelled during the third and final round due to heavy snowfall in Predazzo. Therefore, the results from the end of the second round determined the medals.

Jan Hörl jumped 137.5 metres and 128 metres, while team-mate Stephan Embacher soared to 132 metres and 139 metres for a total of 568.7 points.

Hörl was also part of the Austrian team that won gold at Beijing 2022, when the men's team event was held in a different format.

"The last 10 days were hard for our team so it was the last chance today. We knew that, so we kept focused and we were able to enjoy five good jumps. It's amazing, unbelievable," Hörl said.

Embacher added: "It’s unbelievable, my first time (at the Winter Olympics) and to be Olympic champion is unbelievable. It was a great day."

Poland took bronze with Pawel Wasek and Kacper Tomasiak, while Norwegians Johann André Forfang and Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal won bronze.

Last year, Forfang was involved in a suit manipulation scandal at the world championships on home soil. He was suspended for three months for violating ethics and competition rules.

Shortly before the Olympics, the Norwegian ski jumper lost his father.

"I really struggle to talk about it. I made a deal with my father only days before he passed that I would go to the Olympics, first of all. That wasn’t a given," he said.

"I also promised him I would fight for a medal, even though it felt like empty words at the time. I hadn’t been fighting for a lot of podiums this winter, but I told him I will give it a try. To look at his face then was priceless."

Austria, Norway and Japan were the nations who had only one jump instead of two in the final round before the competition was cancelled.

The cancellation worked in favour of the Polish team, who had slipped down in the final round.

"We couldn’t celebrate right away after the last jump. It was a little strange, but it’s good that they cancelled the third run and we could celebrate," Tomasiak said.

Race director explains cancellation

Race director Sandro Pertile explained that there was an attempt to clean up the track "but we immediately noticed that the speed was lost." He added that the wind had also changed significantly.

"In these conditions, it was simply unfair to continue. The rules allow us to cancel the last round, which is what happened today," he said.

Domen Prevc couldn't add another medal to his men's large hill and mixed team event golds as Slovenia were only fifth. Germany, who took bronze at Beijing 2022 and were leading the final round, were fourth.

Germany missed bronze by 0.3 points. A jump with extra 17 centimetres would have been enough.

"That's extremely bitter because 0.3 is nothing," German ski jumper Andreas Wellinger told broadcaster ZDF.

"Now we'll do our duty, go through the motions, and then go and punch a wall somewhere. Coming fourth always sucks. But when you come fourth by such a narrow margin and in the way it happened..."

The super team format made its Olympic debut at Milan/Cortina, replacing the previous four-man event. In the new format, a team consists of two instead of four starters.

There are three rounds with both team members completing one jump in each round. Points from all six jumps are added together, producing the final result.

Photo: EPA