Norwegians Tom Hilde and Bjørn Einar Romøren won the silver and bronze medals respectively in the World Cup event, while Gregor Schlierenzauer of Austria took gold. The Austrian, who also led after the first round of jumping, finished 8.9 points ahead of Hilde.
Romøren, meanwhile, had managed to move up from sixth place after the first round, and Norwegian fans were delighted. Thousands had turned out for a day of winter sports spectacle filled with nostalgia.
Members of Norway's royal family were in place as usual, and seven Norwegian ski jumpers had qualified to soar off the Holmenkollen jump, which will be torn down later this year.
There's been a ski jump on the hill known as Holmenkollen since 1892 and the present structure has been upgraded numerous times since the Winter Olympics in 1952. Another refurbishment wasn't enough, though, to meet standards for the World Championships to be held in Oslo in 2011, so state and city officials are funding construction of a new jump.
The building phase means Holmenkollen can't host the World Cup next year, which made this year's event special in the eyes of its organizers and fans. And the jumpers as well, who often have claimed they feel a unique fondness for the classic old jump.
Organizers, led by the ski association Skiforeningenen, hoped to attract as many as 40,000 spectators on Sunday. Attendance has fallen sharply over the years, not least when fog and wind forced cancellation. A lack of snow in recent years has also created challenges for the organizers.
Wind did cancel a morning round of test jumping on Sunday, but the competition itself proceeded as scheduled. Hilde of Norway was in third place after the first round of jumping., with Schlierenzauer of Austria in first place and fellow Austrian Thomas Morgenstern in second.
