‘94 WINTER OLYMPICS / LILLEHAMMER : It’s V for Victory for Germany’s Weissflog : Ski jumping: The 1984 gold medalist edges fellow veteran Bredesen.

Youth was served handsomely only two years ago in Olympic ski jumping, but Sunday was old-timers’ day on the large hill here.

German Jens Weissflog and Norwegian Espen Bredesen, a couple of veterans who had to change styles in mid-career when the V-technique became all the rage a few years ago, dueled on a sunny day at the Lysgardsbakkene ski jumping arena, the Olympic venue that dominates the scene here.

Weissflog, 29, who last won Olympic gold at Sarajevo in 1984, when the German Democratic Republic was still the polite name for his country, East Germany, and a unified country was the farthest thing from any German’s mind, uncorked a stylish second jump of 436 feet 4 inches off the 120-meter slide and beat out Bredesen, 26, the favorite.

Austrian Andreas Goldberger, baby-faced and apple-cheeked at 21, upheld the honor of the youth brigade by taking the bronze. But nothing was heard from the teen-age stars of the Albertville Games, Toni Nieminen of Finland and Martin Hoellwarth of Austria, simply because they weren’t good enough to make their Olympic teams.

“Toni grew up this much (six inches) and has had trouble finding the right balance,” said the Finnish delegation’s Matti Salmenkyla of Nieminen, who won two golds and a bronze at Albertville.

Meanwhile, Weissflog and Bredesen, who have been battling all season on the World Cup circuit, carried on in that tradition Sunday.

First it was Bredesen, soaring 444 feet 6 inches, the longest jump of the day, in the first round, knocking Weissflog out of the lead he had given himself 12 jumpers earlier with a leap of 424 feet 10 inches. Bredesen’s landing was less than perfect, but his hill-record leap left him with a 10-point lead before the second round.

“The first jump was a good jump,” Bredesen said. “Not a super jump but a good. I had a little wind and that helped.”

Neither had any appreciable lifting wind in the second round.

Weissflog’s big effort--the length and style on his second jump were worth 140.4 points and gave him a two-jump total of 274.5--gave Bredesen something to shoot at and he came up short, soaring 400 feet 3 inches and settling for a total of 266.5 points.

Goldberger, 1993 World Cup champion, finished with jumps of 421-7 and 398-7, good for 255 points.

“My first jump was really very good,” Weissflog said. “It was not ideal, compared to Espen’s, but the second one was even better. After the first round, I thought it would be impossible to catch up--but there’s always a second round.”

Weissflog actually won two medals in ‘84, the gold on the normal hill and the silver on the big.

“Considering that I won this one on the big hill, I’d have to say today is the most important victory of my career,” Weissflog said.

Not many years ago, there were serious questions whether Weissflog would compete again in the Olympics.

Swedish jumper Jan Boklov pioneered the V-style in 1985, spreading the tips of his skis while keeping the tails together. In the classical style, the jumper kept his skis parallel and leaned over them while in the air. Boklov’s new style drew gibes at first, but gradually other skiers tried it and by 1989, after it had been shown that the V funneled more lifting air onto the jumper’s chest--resulting in longer jumps--it was being touted as the wave of the future.

Young jumpers took to it readily, not so those who grew up keeping their skis together. Both Weissflog and Bredesen, who had been hailed as Norway’s next great jumper, were caught in the switches and the young lions had their day at Albertville.

“I tried to change before the last Olympics, but it takes at least a year to get it right,” Bredesen said. “It’s hard to change. But I’ve had a couple of years now and it’s OK.”

Weissflog’s adjustment was apparently even more difficult.

“I had many problems and I doubted that I could make the change at all,” he said. “Even last year, in the V-style, I was not very stable. But this year I feel I have really mastered it.”