Ski jumper Bickner ends his third Olympics with his best finish
Competing in his final event Monday at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, ski jumper Kevin Bickner earned his highest finish in three Olympic appearances.
The Wauconda native joined teammate Tate Frantz, of Lake Placid, N.Y., to capture eighth place in the men’s super team on the large hill at the Predazzo Ski Jumping Stadium.
Replacing a traditional four-man team event to make its debut at the Milan Cortina Games, the men’s super team was postponed twice in the final round and then canceled due to shifting wind and a sudden heavy snow. Final results reverted to those of the completed second round.
Three nations — Norway, Austria and Japan — were unable to take their final attempts when an international jury ended the competition due to safety issues for the athletes.
Austria earned the gold medal with Poland awarded the silver and Norway, adding to its Olympic medal lead, the bronze. By the time these athletes received their medals at the base of the 141-meter ski jump hill, the snow had significantly lessened.
Bickner, 29, had placed ninth in the men’s large hill team event at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. He was on the 10th-place team in the event at Beijing in 2022.
Bickner and Frantz, 20, finished 10th in the first round Monday, joining the top 12 teams to advance out of the initial field of 17.
After the second round the Americans’ score of 520.2 points — based on distance, style, and wind compensation — was 48.5 points below Austria but ahead of Finland, Italy, Kazakhstan, and France.
Eight teams advanced into the final round, with only the United States and Norway scoring more points in the second round than they did in the first.
The cancellation of the final round voided Bickner’s leadoff effort of 132 meters. Frantz recorded the same mark in his final-round jump.
Bickner soared 129.5 meters in the first round. In the second, he left the jumper’s table at more than 59 miles an hour and reached a distance of 133 meters. It was the sixth best mark of the remaining 24 competitors.
Bickner’s results improved as the Games went along.
Unable to reach the final round on the individual normal hill event Feb. 9 at Predazzo, on Saturday Bickner finished 20th out of 30 finalists on the large hill, matching his position in the event at Pyeongchang.