Nikaido claims first World Cup win, denies Prevc Four Hills ‘Grand Slam’

Jan 04, 2026·Ski Jumping

Ren Nikaido (JPN) - FIS/ActionPress/Julia Piatkowskav

Domen Prevc (SLO) was denied the chance to complete the mythical ‘Grand Slam’ in the Four Hills Tournament as Ren Nikaido (JPN) emerged victorious at the third stop of the event on Sunday in Innsbruck, Austria.

Securing the first World Cup win of his career, Nikaido finished just 0.5 points ahead of Prevc, who still leads the overall standings of the Four Hills Tournament with one competition to go.

Prevc had previously claimed victories in both Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, but Nikaido brought the winning streak to an end in Innsbruck with strong jumps of 131 and 128 meters. After tying for first place with Stephan Embacher (AUT) following the first round, Nikaido jumped to 128m and 136.7 points in the final round for a combined total of 276.5 points, edging Prevc by the smallest of margins.

“I’m really glad I could show two good jumps”, Nikaido said afterward. “Of course, they were not perfect, but still… it was enough to win”, he added with a smile.

Embacher landed in third with a combined total of 275.8 points, securing his second Four Hills Tournament podium after a third place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

The Austrian missed out on victory by just 0.7 points. “I did two good jumps today here, in front of my home-crowd”, Embacher said, referring to the sold-out stadium high above Innsbruck’s city center, where 21,125 spectators enjoyed top-level ski jumping. “It was a really good day. It was close (for the win). I’m really excited for Bischofshofen. I want to fight again for the top places.”

Prevc bounces back after 30th place in qualifications

Prevc, who had only qualified in 30th after struggling in difficult wind conditions on Saturday, came back strong, advancing from his knockout duel against Valentin Foubert (FRA) and climbing to fourth after the first round.

The 26-year-old Slovenian trailed the leaders by 2,4 points and managed to move up from fourth to second with a strong second round jump of 128m, scoring 138.7 points, but came up short to walk away with the win. “I made some mistakes”, Prevc admitted. “To be honest, sometimes you’re just not the best. There were some other guys who did better. Ren (Nikaido) deserves it more than I do today, he was really in form. It was super nice to watch his performance and how he did.”

Prevc said he didn’t ‘bother much’ about his disappointing qualification result from the day before. “Our coach came to me in the evening and said ‘look, you don’t need to worry, you just need to enjoy. Don’t let this one jump be a distraction. Just go and what you can do. That’s what I did.”

'Too early to talk about the Golden Eagle'

Ahead of the grand Four Hills finale in Bischofshofen, Prevc holds a commanding 41.4-point lead over his closest challenger, Jan Hoerl (AUT). The last jumper to enjoy a lead of more than 40 points at this stage was Japan’s Ryoyu Kobayashi in 2019, when he went on to win the Golden Eagle.

“There are still two jumps to go”, Prevc said when asked about winning the Golden Eagle. “We are too early to really talk about it. It will be a tough fight until the end and I still need to focus. I will just go to enjoy in Bischofshofen and will keep it safe.”

Domen Prevc (SLO) can become the third ski jumper representing Slovenia to win the Four Hills Tournament, after Primoz Peterka in 1996/97 and his brother Peter Prevc in 2015/16.

Runner-up Hoerl (AUT) finished fourth on Sunday, while Felix Hoffmann (GER) rounded out the top five. Last year’s overall Four Hills Tournament winner Daniel Tschofenig (AUT) finished sixth.

How the Four Hills Tournament works

68 athletes took the hill for qualifying on Saturyday and the top 50 qualified for the first round.

The top 50 were placed into a series of duels, with the top ranked athlete, facing the lowest ranked qualifier, and so on throughout the field.

The winner of each duel would progress, as would five ‘lucky losers’ who recorded scores which ranked among the top five non-automatic qualifiers, from their first round.

The scores from the first round would be retained and added to the second round, this time without duels, to determine the overall standings.

The points total from each of the contests during the 2025/26 Four Hills Tournament will be combined to determine who becomes this season’s overall winner and takes home the Golden Eagle title.