Prevc Wins Again – Austrian Skier Dominates in Ljubno

Nika Prevc claimed her fourth win in a row at the Women's Ski Jumping World Cup in Ljubno, marking her ninth victory in this World Cup season. The 19-year-old Slovenian athlete dominated the competition with a margin of 10.2 points over German Selina Freitag. Salzburg native Lisa Eder took third place with an additional 7.3 points behind, achieving her fourth podium finish this season, just 0.2 points ahead of Upper Austrian Jacqueline Seifriedsberger.

After the first round, the standings remained unchanged, although two additional Austrian jumpers improved their positions in the second round. Julia Mühlbacher advanced to eighth—the best placement of her season—while Eva Pinkelnig climbed from 14th into the top ten. Chiara Kreuzer, finishing 20th, enjoyed a modest personal success. Eder remarked, “Ex aequo would be cool, but we’ll save that for another time.”

Looking ahead, the next stop is Hinzenbach, which will be the final event before the World Championships in Trondheim starting on February 26. Eder expressed confidence about the jumps, stating, “The jumps are getting better. I’ve gained a good feeling here at Hinzenbach and plan to continue from where I left off.” Seifriedsberger also praised the quality of the jumps, while Mühlbacher was relieved at finally seeing her hidden potential expressed. In the overall World Cup standings, Prevc has widened her lead. She is now 320 points ahead of German Katharina Schmid, and the gap continues to widen with Seifriedsberger and Eder trailing further behind. Notably, Norwegian athletes did not start on Sunday after teammate Thea Minyan Björseth crashed in the first round despite setting a hill record, with a serious knee injury suspected.