Maruyama conquers conditions to win home hill World Cup

Jan 20, 2026·Ski Jumping

27-year-old Nozomi Maruyama had never won a World Cup event before the 2025/26 season - @Taro Tampo / ActionPress / FIS

Host nation favorite Nozomi Maruyama (JPN) returned to winning ways with a commanding performance amidst challenging conditions which cause numerous delays during the opening Zao World Cup contest in Japan.

Maruyama, who has now recorded six victories during a stunning break-through season, had gone seven events without a win, but was consistently the strongest ski jumper throughout Tuesday's competition.

She scored a combined 222.5 points for jumps of 101m and 92.5m to top the podium by 15.4pts from nearest rival Lisa Eder (AUT), with Selina Freitag (GER) competing the top-three.

“I’m very happy that I was able to achieve my sixth victory in a home competition,” stated the delighted Japanese jumper Maruyama.

“I wasn’t in good form for the past few weeks, so I didn’t expect this win. I hope I can continue like this tomorrow.”

World champion and World Cup leader Nika Prevc (SLO) was in a shock 12^th at the halfway stage, but recording the longest jump of the day – 102m – helped her climb to fourth.

She still leads the overall standings by a commanding 310 points from Maruyama, but the result will have given the Japanese athlete hope of narrowing the gap further heading into not only the second Zao World Cup on Wednesday, but also the closing stages of the season.

Heavy winds and snowfall caused significant delays to the schedule, with qualifying ultimately abandoned, meaning all 50 jumpers would line-up for the first competition round.

In conditions like that, a second round is never guaranteed, so delivering a strong first jump was of critical importance and two-time Olympic silver medallist Katharina Schmid (GER) thought she had put herself into contention with an effort recorded at 88m.

Others would soon pass her though and a combination of mistiming together with fluctuating winds saw her plummet a further 20 places to rank 29^th at the end of the contest.

Another German who began well, but ultimately fell out of contention with Agnes Reisch (GER), who was second after the first round of jumps, but would place sixth.

Freitag, the 2024/25 Crystal Globe runner-up, would move in the opposite direction though, impressively climbing from seventh to third.

Anna Odine Stroem (NOR), who was initially not expected to contest the Zao World Cup, dropped from third to fifth, but will ultimately have plenty of positives to draw from her performance given the weather.

Lisa Eder (AUT) is still searching for the first World Cup win of her career, but proved yet again that she has the consistency to regularly push for major medals – something she will be targeting come the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games next month.

The Austrian rose from fourth to second, attaining a World Cup runner-up spot for the fifth time this season.

Selina Freitag (GER) endured a challenging start to the season, but has demonstrated an astounding turn-around in form since the turn of the year, attaining five podium finishes in January, with the latest a third-place finish in Zao.

Maruyama, who won both of the individual World Cup contest at the season-opening event in Lillehammer (NOR) in November, will look to secure her second double of the 2025/2 campaign when the field returns to the hill on Wednesday.