Large Hill, Individual, Men

Toni Innauer, Olympic champion in the Normal Hill, was heavily favored for another gold in the Large Hill, but this time the 21-year-old Austian had much stronger competition from the other jumpers. In the first round the 21-year-old Swiss Hansjörg Sumi, made a mighty jump of 117.0 m, taking the lead ahead of Jouko Törmänen from Finland and Austria’s Hubert Neuper. In fourth place, to everyone’s great surprise, was Steve Collins, a 15-year-old Ojibway Indian from Canada, a jumper totally unknown outside his homeland. Innauer was in sixth position, almost 9 points behind Sumi.

In the second round, Neuper was starting first of the favorites and was in a clear lead after a good jump of 114.5 m. Finland’s Jari Puikkonen, lying fifth after the first round, was in second position when his teammate Törmänen impressed with another 117.0 m jump, taking over the lead. First of the challengers was Innauer, but a jump of only 107.0 m placed him behind Puikkonen and outside the medals. Next was the leader after the first round, the Swiss Sumi. He could not duplicate his first jump and landed at 100.0 m, 17.0 m shorter than his first jump. Last to jump was the 15-year-old Collins, a jump of 108.0 m would put him in the bronze medal position. However, the young Collins could not control his nerves, as his 102.5 m dropped him from fourth to ninth.

Finland had fought back against the Austrian/East German dominance in ski jumping, winning gold and bronze. The Austrian team jumped well, placing second, fourth and fifth, but for the East Germans the Large Hill event was a great disappointment, their best Henry Glaß ending as a distant 11th. Steve Collins won the Junior World Championships in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden five days later. Nine days after that he showed that his first jump in Lake Placid was not just luck, being the youngest ever winner of a World Cup ski jumping event in Lahti, Finland, four days before his 16th birthday.