PREDAZZO, Italy, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Norway's Anna Odine Stroem struck gold in the women's normal hill ski jumping event at the Milano Cortina Olympics on Saturday, edging Slovenia's Nika Prevc with spectators holding their breath until the final scores were announced.
While favourite Prevc dominated the trial round, jumping 103 metres, 27-year-old Stroem topped the first round with 100 metres to take a one-point lead over Prevc.
Stroem then jumped 101 metres in the final round to finish with a total of 267.3 points and win the title by 1.1 points to give Norway their first gold of these Olympics. Japan's Nozomi Maruyama grabbed the bronze 5.5 points behind Stroem.
The 20-year-old Prevc came into the race as the standout contender, having topped the women's overall World Cup standings last season and set the pace again this winter.
But her 98-metre jump in the first round was a disadvantage that Stroem took advantage of in the windy conditions and she went on to secure the title and celebrate with her parents.
"It feels amazing. Actually I cant believe it to have the gold medal around my neck," Stroem told Reuters.
"There was so much work put towards this from me and my teammates and the team around us."
The Norwegian added that she did not know if she had won before she saw her cheering teammates.
"I saw the green line was very far down and I thought I've just got to get down that ... luckily I had enough speed and height to put a telemark (landing technique) in ...
"I didn’t quite believe it until my teammates hugged me," Stroem said at a press conference.
Prevc looked somewhat disappointed with the result and the youngster did not overly celebrate claiming a silver medal.
"I still need some time to think about what was going on today... there is just a lot of things.." said Prevc.
"I'm very happy with my first Olympic medal. My childhood dreams are coming true and now I'll continue and go on," she added, saying she felt the pressure of being the favourite.
"... there was too much pressure on me today, but that's a thing I wasn't able to cooperate with today... but now I am really happy with my first competition ... I had a great experience... now I can just enjoy the Olympics."
Prevc added that she was looking ahead to the rest of the Games, with the mixed team and large hill events to come.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund and Liz Hampton in Predazzo; Editing by Alison Williams and Ken Ferris)
