Austria Wins Team Gold In Ski Jumping

Austria defended its gold medal in the Team event of Ski Jumping Monday afternoon at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

The Austrian team scored a total of 1107.9 points for the win. Germany’s team tallied 1035.8 for silver while Norway took bronze with a score of 1030.2.

“I feel so fantastic. It is a dream. And now three, three gold medals (in his Olympic career),” said Austrian jumper Thomas Morgansteen.

“I really can’t believe this. We have all done it together, such great friends, such a great team.”

Austria’s win was secured when 20-year old Gregor Schlierenzauer soared 146.5 in the final jump, setting the mark for the longest jump at these Olympics. It is Schlierenzauer third medal of the Games, after winning bronze in both the large and normal hill individual competitions.

It was hardly a surprise that Austria came away with the gold.

Simon Ammann, the Swiss ace who won gold in both the normal hill and large hill individual jumps, didn’t participate in the final ski jump event of the Vancouver Games because Switzerland didn’t have four jumpers to field a team.

With the World Cup leader out, Austria’s four jumpers - Schlierenzauer, Thomas Morgenstern, Andreas Kofler and Wolfgang Loitzl - were the four highest-ranked athletes in the field.

In fact, Austria was so strong that Martin Koch, the 8th-ranked ski jumper in the World Cup standings, wasn’t good enough to make the team.

More: SB Nation’s full coverage of the Winter Olympics and the 2010 Winter Olympics Medal Count Tracker.