PREDAZZO, Italy
The rain fell in sheets. The floodlights cut through the mist. And at the top of the towering hill, Domen Prevc stood alone with a simple, childlike instruction for himself:Â Go play.
Trailing the leader heading into his final jump of the men’s large hill competition, the Slovenian did not calculate distances or obsess over standings. He did what he has done since he was a boy learning to love the flight—he let go.
“I was just here to play and enjoy it, have fun,” Prevc said. “I was like, ‘Do your thing, do your best, enjoy the jump and feel the air.'”
What he felt was perfection.
With a flawless takeoff and a serene soar through the damp Italian sky, Prevc landed a staggering 141.5 meters (464 feet)—a new hill record.
The jump vaulted him from second place to first, securing his second gold medal of the Milan Cortina Olympics and etching his name into a new chapter of his family’s storied legacy.
On a rainy, cold night that tested the nerve of every competitor, Japan’s Ren Nikaido claimed silver—his third medal of these Games—while Poland’s Kacper Tomasiak took bronze, his second.
All three are first-time Olympians, but while they celebrated firsts, Prevc celebrated a familial breakthrough.
He became the fourth Prevc sibling to win an Olympic medal when he stood atop the podium in the mixed team event on Tuesday alongside his sister, Nika. That moment was historic in itself: the first brother and sister to win ski jumping medals at the same Olympics.
But Saturday night was different. This was his alone.
The individual gold had long eluded the Prevc clan. Older brothers Peter and Cene had collected silvers and bronzes in years past, building the family into Slovenian royalty.
Domen entered as the favorite—the reigning world champion on the large hill, the dominant force of the season, the man who already owned the distance record.
Now, he owns the gold.
And in the quiet before his championship-winning flight, the 25-year-old found it not by gripping tighter, but by letting go—reaching back to the joy of a child who simply loves to fly.
By James Kisoo
