Nika Prevc continues 'amazing' Ljubno World Cup domination

World champion Nika Prevc (SLO) won her fourth successive Ljubno World Cup contest in her homeland, delighting over 8,000 host nation fans with an unrivalled performance.

Reigning Crystal Globe holder Prevc took the overall lead in this season’s World Cup standings after two victories in Villach (AUT) last weekend and was well-placed to extend her overall advantage with nearest rival Nozomi Maruyama (JPN) missing the event.

A commanding jump of 96m gave her a 14.5-point advantage at the halfway stage, which she further extended in the second round to take the win with a combined total of 278.3pts.

Lisa Eder (AUT) would finish second, for the third event in a row, after two strong jumps which saw her attain an overall score of 254.1pts, with Selina Freitag (GER) rising one place between the rounds to complete top-three line-up, with 244.7pts.

“The audience today was amazing because the number of spectators is enormous and I think they broke the record again and the atmosphere was crazy,” she said after her latest win. 

“My jumps today were much better than yesterday (in qualification), I enjoyed the competition and let’s hope to continues that tomorrow.”

The 30^th victory of her career at this level puts Prevc joint-third in the all-time list of women’s World Cup winners, sharing the ‘silver medal position’ with retired Norwegian legend Maren Lundby. Sara Takanashi (JPN) leads the standings with 63.

21-year-old Julia Muehlbacher (AUT) had held that position after the opening jumps, but will take encouragement from fourth, her best result since attaining the only World Cup podium of her career to date in Rasnov (ROU) in early 2023.

Seven-time World champion Katharina Schmid (GER), who recently announced she will retire at the end of the season, placed an encouraging fifth, as she looks to show improved form ahead of her last Olympic Games appearance, at Milano-Cortina 2026.

Ljunbo is one of the most celebrated venues on the women’s tour, having featured in all but one of the women’s FIS Ski Jump World Cup campaigns since it was established in 2011-12, missing only the 2013-14 edition.

Last season Norway’s Thea Minyan Bjørseth set the current hill record, of 97m, but also suffered a nasty crash which not only ended her campaign, but has seen her ruled out of this year’s Olympic Winter Games. 

As a precaution, the majority of the Norwegian team opted to skip this season’s events in Ljubno in order to maximise preparations for the World Cup circuit in Asia, as well as Milano-Cortina 2026.

The one exception was young talent and reigning World junior champion Ingvild Midtskogen. She was being coached by the USA team, who work closely with the Norwegian setup in Lillehammer, but struggled in the opening round and would not progress.

There were no such problems for a host of Slovenian athletes who took the gate for the opening round, with six of the nine attaining the top-30 results which saw them progress to the final.

As expected, in addition to Nika Prevc (SLO), team-mate Nika Vodan (SLO) was also strong and just 7.1 points short of the podium places at the halfway stage. 

Countrywoman Maja Kovacic (SLO) made the greatest progress between the rounds, rising nine places to rank 21^st, while Vodan would gain one position to finish sixth. 

Schmid celebrated her impressive 91m effort in the closing stages of the contest, which put her in contention for a second top-three result this season, but she was soon outscored by team-mate and 2024/25 Crystal Globe runner-up Selina Freitag (GER) after her jump of 92m.

She would place third in the final standings, with Eder and Prevc’s efforts of 88.5m and 89.5m respectively, ensuring they would retain their placements from the opening round, in second and first.

“The jumps weren’t quite as good (as she hoped) and it was difficult, but otherwise everything was quite okay,” Eder told FIS.

Freitag, who after a challenging start to the season has now attained four top-three results over the last month, added that she found the event challenging today.

“I didn’t find the transition on the ski jump quite so easy and I kept losing my centre of gravity a bit and it wasn’t clean, but I’m very satisfied with the result,” she said.

FIS SKI JUMPING WORLD CUP – LJUBNO (SLO) SCHEDULE
11.01.2026
10:45 – Start Qualification - QUA Women’s NH
12:00 – Competition Start – WC Women’s NH

All times listed in CET and are subject to change.