FALUN, Sweden (AP) Rune Velta of Norway stunned the pre-competition favorites to win the men's normal hill ski jump competition Saturday at the Nordic skiing world championships.
The 25-year-old Velta has never won an individual World Cup competition - and doesn't even have a podium finish in normal hill events - but put down two jumps of 95.5 meters to claim the gold medal with 252.7 points.
Velta led after the first round and then did just enough in the second to hold off Severin Freund of Germany, who finished 0.4 points behind for the silver medal. Freund was third after the opening round but had the longest jump of the day with 96 meters in the second.
Stefan Kraft of Austria took bronze with 248.3 points. World Cup leader Peter Prevc of Slovenia was only 13th.
