Maruyama makes it three-in-a-row with phenomenal Falun finish

World Cup leader Nozomi Maruyama (JPN) continued her stunning start to the FIS Ski Jumping season with a record-equalling third successive individual victory despite challenging conditions in Falan (SWE).

The event had been due to take place at the venue’s Large Hill, but due to stormy conditions leading up to the contest a decision was made for the women to begin, as the men did on Tuesday, with the Normal Hill competition.

That though was not the end of the schedule changes, with race officials opting to cancel the qualification round, meaning all 65 athletes would jump in the first ‘main’ World Cup round.

It seemingly made little difference to Maruyama, who recorded impressive jumps of 94m and 91m to attain a combined score of 229.6 points, a winning margin of 18.5pts.

She matches team-mate and women’s ski jumping pioneer Sara Takanashi (JPN) with three individual World Cup wins at the start of a season, an achievement she recorded in 2013.

"It's the best start of the season and I am surprised but the wins, but my form is getting better and better," Maruyama told FIS.

"This was the most difficult one of the three because of the wind and the delays."

All-conquering 2025 World Cup, World Championships and Two Nights Tour champion Nika Prevc (SLO) has struggling to find the form which brought her a host of landmark achievements last season, placing 15^th and third in Lillehammer (NOR) last weekend.

However, she showed improved form by rising three places in round two, to place second with a points score of 211.1 Lisa Eder (AUT) claimed the final podium place for the second time this season, with a score of 209.3pts.

"My jumps are okay, but I know I can jump better, but it feels good to be on the podium," Eder told FIS.

"The training was very long and the in-run was not very good with the wind, but it was actually good for jumping in the competition and much more fun."

Such was confidence felt by Maruyama, who had never won an individual World Cup event prior to this season, as well as her team, that they opted for her to jump from a lower gate (22) than the rest of the field in the opening round.

Incredibly she not only unlocked the desired bonus points, but also travelled further than any of the athletes leaving from the higher gate (24), recording 94m and a score of 115.2pts.

She led by 11.00pts from Lisa Eder (AUT), who had placed third in the season-opening Lillehammer (NOR) World Cup last Saturday.

Ahead of that event Norway stood on 199 all-time individual World Cup victories across women’s and men’s FIS Ski Jumping contests and Anna Stroem (NOR) looked best-placed to have any chance of attaining that landmark success, in third at the halfway stage.

However, despite improving her jump from 90m in round one to 93m in round two it would not be enough for a win, or in fact a podium place.

She and Eder would slip a place each as Prevc delivered one of the jumps of the day to climb from fifth to second in the final standings.

The World champion was not the only Slovenian to make significant progress either, with team-mate Nika Vodan (SLO) rising to fifth from eighth with the longest jump of the day, 96.5m.

None could come close to Maruyama though, who was again a class apart.

In the second round she opted to jump from gate 21, which was three lower than Prevc, but suffered no struggles, scoring 114.4 points, the second highest of the day following her first round of 115.2.

FIS SKI JUMPING WORLD CUP – FALUN (SWE) SCHEDULE

29.11.2024
18:00 – QUA Women’s LH

30.11.2024
10:15 – WC Women’s LH