Slovenia reign supreme with fifth Junior Worlds Women’s Team gold

After Domen and Nika Prevc soared to World Cup glory, Slovenia’s next generation grabbed their share of the spotlight with victory in the Women’s Team event at the Junior World Championships in Lillehammer. It’s the fifth time the nation has won the competition, with a new-look team taking back the crown they lost to Germany in 2025.

Slovenia led from start to finish and secured the gold with 955.2pts - a winning margin of more than 37pts. The drama instead came in the fight for silver and bronze, which eventually ended in a tie. Austria and Germany both took silver after their eighth and final jumps left them on 919.5pts. Finland missed out on a medal in fourth, despite a stunning performance from Sofia Mattila, who landed two jumps of 99m to finish with the best individual points score.

“We knew that we were a strong team and had high expectations, but we managed to deliver,” said Slovenia’s Izadora Kopac.

Her teammate Maja Kovacic admitted to feeling the pressure as the number four jumper after she narrowly missed out on an individual medal on Wednesday.

“I’m still feeling a little nervous!” she laughed.

“I was so nervous on the hill after the other day so I’m glad I was able to do something and succeed today.”

The defending champions Germany were sitting in second until the penultimate jump, when Pia Stuetz did enough to put Austria 0.2pts ahead in silver. But Julina Kreibich - who was part of the gold-medal winning team 12 months ago - held her nerve to land 93m and ensure Germany shared the silver.

“The plan was we come here for a medal and it’s nice to achieve that,” said Anna-Fay Scharfenberg, who was also a member of the 2025 champions.

“I feel very good and I’m proud of my team,” agreed Megi Lou Schmidt.

Austria were thrilled with silver after missing out on the podium at Lake Placid 2025.

“It’s so great. I’m so thankful for everything, I’m speechless!” said Luise Tritscher, who landed 99m in the opening round to first close the gap on Germany in second.

“The individual event was really hard for me so I’m glad we could bring it down for the team and show them what were capable of,” added Meghann Wadsak.

Competition in Lillehammer continues on Saturday with the Men’s Team event, where Slovenia will be hoping to maintain their momentum by also upgrading their 2025 silver to gold. Austria are the defending champions. You can watch the action live on FIS TV.