Stoch goes for 2 golds in a row at Sochi Olympics

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) — Kamil Stoch of Poland overcame a touch of influenza to win the normal hill gold medal at the Sochi Games last weekend. He's apparently feeling just fine heading into Saturday's large hill competition, which can't be good news for the other 49 jumpers in the final at the RusSki Gorki Jumping Center.

Peter Prevc of Slovenia took the silver and Anders Bardal of Norway the bronze in the normal hill. All three return to action with visions of another podium finish.

One veteran in the mix is 41-year-old Noriaki Kasai of Japan. He competed in his first Olympics — at Albertville, France in 1992 — seven months before the 21-year-old Prevc was born, and has had some strong training jumps.

Here are five things to know about the large hill gold medal final:

MILESTONES AWAIT: Stoch, 26, looks to become the third man to win both individual ski jumping events at the same Winter Games after Matti Nykanen of Finland (Calgary 1988) and Simon Ammann of Switzerland (Salt Lake 2002 and Vancouver 2010). Ammann is bidding for his fifth Winter Olympics gold.

ROCKY RELATIONSHIP?: Stoch referred to the normal hill as a "mean girl," after winning gold there, then called the large hill the mean girl's "nice older sister." He might have been caught up in some Valentine's Day hype, but, referring to a fall he took in training, said: "Yesterday with the hill, we had some misunderstandings, but our relationship is good."

PREVC THE BRIDESMAID: Prevc has been or is sitting second to Stoch a lot lately — in the normal hill final here, the large hill at the world championships in 2013 and currently in the World Cup standings. "I have good feelings in the run-in and at the takeoff, the big hill is a copy-paste from the small hill with a longer run-in," the Slovenian said. He should hope that the result isn't a copy of the normal hill.

ONE TO WATCH: Michael Hayboeck of Austria, jumping 40th among 61 scheduled starters Friday, won the qualifying round. He was also first in normal hill qualifying round and finished fifth in the final.

ROUGH LANDINGS: The competition lost Mikhail Maksimochkin when the Russian fractured two ribs in training Wednesday and he spent two nights in the hospital. Stoch also crashed the same night and had a bloody nose and hurt his left arm. Thomas Morgenstern of Austria is lucky to be in Sochi at all after two recent mishaps — the three-time Olympic champion was hospitalized with skull and lung injuries after a training crash on Jan. 10, four weeks after sustaining facial cuts and a broken finger following a bad landing during a World Cup event.