Slovenian ski jumper Nika Prevc wins Ljubno World Cup event
Ljubno ob Savinji, 15 February - Slovenia's Nika Prevc won a World Cup event in Ljubno pri Savinji on Saturday, scoring 258 points. She jumped 95 metres in the finals to beat Selina Freitag from Germany (240.6 points) and Thea Minyan Bjoerseth from Norway (233), who suffered a nasty fall in the second run.
Ljubno ob Savinji
Ski jumper Nika Prevc.
Photo: Bor Slana/STA
Prevc celebrated her 15th individual victory and the 28th victory in the history of Slovenian women's ski jumps.
She was second after the first run, 2.5 points behind Bjoerseth, who set a new record of Ljubno, jumping 97 metres or 6.5 metres more than Prevc.
But Prevc came out strong in the second run. Bjoerseth jumped very well too, landing at 94.5 metres but then fell as she landed to finish third.
Prevc was surprised by her father and her brother, the retired ski jumping star Peter Prevc, at the awards ceremony. Her brother handed her out the award.
"I didn't know it, it was only at the award ceremony that I noticed them and it was a big surprise for me, the most beautiful thing. So there really isn't much room for things to be even better tomorrow, both in terms of the jumps and the atmosphere. I just hope to repeat today's jumps," said Nika Prevc.
"I'm happy with all my jumps, even the bad one in today's first round, because I still pulled it off. In the second run none of the jumpers were comfortable, Bjoerseth jumped very well today and she didn't deserve it," Prevc said after the unfortunate fall of her rival.
The head coach of the Slovenian national team, Jurij Tepeš, said that Prevc would probably have won even if the Norwegian had not fallen. "It's hard to know if she would have won, we can believe or we can speculate what a thousand and one outcomes could have been," Prevc said.
Prevc came to Ljubno with two wins from the US, having already delighted the home fans in Ljubno last year with a victory. "This time I was very happy at the end of Friday's training and then things moved well."
Prevc now has as many victories as former ski jumping star Primož Peterka, while her brother Peter Prevc is still in the lead with 24 wins. "I'm not chasing Peter, but I hope to continue my career together with him," Nika Prevc said.
The next best ranking Slovenian today was Ema Klinec (211.6) in 11th place. Three other Slovenians competed in the finals. Jerica Jesenko (173.6) was 24th, Katra Komar (169.2) was one spot behind her, and Mia Ingolič (164.4) finished 29th.
Prevc gained another 100 points of advantage overall today in the battle for the crystal globe, which she won in the 2023/24 season. She is now 265 points ahead of Germany's Katharino Schmid, her closest rival.
Another event is scheduled in Ljubno on Sunday.