Mikhail Maksimochkin helped Russia retain their men’s normal hill team ski jumping title ©Almaty 2017

Russia successfully defended their men’s normal hill team ski jumping title here at the 2017 Winter Universiade today after winning both rounds of the competition.

The team made up of Aleksandr Bazhenov, Roman Sergeevich Trofimov and Mikhail Maksimochkin added 413.2 points to their first-round score of 376.7 for an unrivalled total of 789.9 at the Sunkar International Ski Jumping Complex.

Slovenia’s Anze Lavtizar, Andraz Modic and Aljaz Vodan came closest to matching them with 783.8 points, while Poland’s Krzysztof Mietus, Stanislaw Biela and Przemyslaw Kantyka came third with 761.8.

Japan, silver medallists in 2015, had to settle for sixth place this year behind Czech Republic and Germany.

Finland and hosts Kazakhstan came seventh and eighth respectively.

Russia's success comes two years after their Winter Universiade triumph in Osrblie in Slovakia, where Olympian Maksimochkin was part of the gold medal-winning trio along with Evgeniy Klimov and Ilmir Hazetdinov.

Japan won the women's normal hill team competition ©Almaty 2017
Japan won the women's normal hill team competition ©Almaty 2017

Earlier in the day, Japan's Haruka Iwasa and Yuka Kobayashi won gold in the women's normal hill team competition after adding 213.0 points to their first-round score of 219.8 for a total of 432.8.

Czech Republic's Karolina Indrackova and Marta Krepelkova took silver with 344.4 points, while Russia's Stefaniya Nadymova and Alena Sutiagina claimed bronze with 307.8.

"I was very ill before the Universiade," Kobayashi, who was a silver medallist in this event in 2015, revealed after her win.

"Until the last moment I did not think that I would participate. 

"The luck was on my side and I showed decent jumps and won the gold medal with Haruka."