Maruyama lands maiden World Cup win in Lillehammer
Nov 22, 2025·Ski Jumping)
Japan’s strong start to the 2025/26 season continued with Nozomi Maruyama (JPN) claiming the first individual FIS Ski Jumping World Cup title of her career.
Maruyama, who won the FIS Grand Prix series during the Northern Hemisphere summer months, was also part of her nation’s Mixed Team World Cup winning team on Friday.
She held a lead of 7.6 points after the opening round and extended that to 25.8 with an outstanding second jump, attaining an overall total of 285.5pts.
Abigail Strate (CAN) secured her best World Cup result in nearly two years with second (259.7pts), with Lisa Eder (AUT) making an impressive comeback to claim third (255.4).
Reigning Crystal Globe champion and double World gold medallist Nika Prevc (SLO) was aiming to achieve a record-breaking 11th successive World Cup win, but endured a challenging day and would ultimately place 15th.
Fluctuating winds meant the field were prepared for tricky conditions on the first day of individual action at the opening 2025/26 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Lillehammer.
67 athletes began the morning qualifying contest, with the top-40 reaching the opening round of the main World Cup, who were chasing 30 qualifying spots for the final showdown.
The 1994 Olympic Winter Games venue also hosted the season-opener 12 months ago, an event which was won by Nika Prevc (SLO), ahead of her outstanding campaign, which saw the then teenager set a host of records, including a new women’s world record of 236m.
The now 20-year-old looked a little off her best during the Grand Prix series and ahead of her first World Cup contest spoke about her ambition to “repeat or even do better” than her history-making achievements last season.
However, the Slovenian found herself down in 15th after the opening round and was unable to progress further following jumps of 124m and 118m, which scored 115.1 and 111.4pts respectively.
2024/25 overall World Cup runner-up Selina Freitag (GER), who placed third and second in Lillehammer last season, was targeting another podium place after spending the last few months focusing on physical conditioning to improve her strength.
There was no immediate reward for her endeavours though, with the 2025 double World Championship silver medallist finishing 19th.
Nozomi Maruyama (JPN) had no such problems though, with the overall Grand Prix winner able to maintain her form and consistency into her winter World Cup campaign by landing a colossal and unmatched 133.5m jump, which scored 150.7pts in the opening round.
Abigail Strate (CAN), who was part of Canada’s bronze medal winning Mixed Team line-up at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, won two Grand Prix events in recent months and was being backed by followers of the sport to make a major impact this season.
She did just that, placing second at the halfway stage following a jump of 129m / 143.1pts.
Maruyama’s fellow Mixed Team World Cup winner from Friday Yuki Ito (JPN) was third after the opening round, but would ultimately slip down the standings slightly and place eighth.
Annika Sieff (ITA) and Julia Muehlbacher (AUT) made strong improvements in the final round, rising nine and 10 places respectively, to rank 17th and 18th.
Making the most significant steps up the rankings though was three-time World Junior champion Lisa Eder (AUT), who following the retirement of Jacqueline Seifriedsberger and injury to Eva Pinkelnig, is bearing the sole burden of her nation’s medal prospects.
The 24-year-old was in fifth after the opening round, but a jump of 125.5m, in tricky conditions, gave her enough points to secure the final place on the podium and just the sixth top-three World Cup result of her career.
The battle for victory would come down to the shoot-out contest between Strate and Maruyama, but while the Canadian did enough to secure a top-two finish, her jump of 121m left her Japanese rival requiring just 115m for victory and distance she achieved with ease.
Maruyama was the only woman in the field to achieve a leap in excess of 130m and did it twice, with 130.5m, scoring 134.8pts, helping her ultimately ease to victory.
The field will reunite on the hill for ‘round two’ of the Lillehammer World Cup, on Sunday.
FIS SKI JUMPING WORLD CUP – LILLEHAMMER (NOR) SCHEDULE
22.11.2025
14:30 – QUA Men’s LH
16:00 – WC Men’s LH
23.11.2024
10:30 – QUA Women’s LH
12:00 – WC Women’s LH
14:30 – QUA Men’s LH
16:00 – WC Men’s LH
All times listed are CET.
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