Nika Prevc wins second Ski Jumping World Cup event in Ljubno
Ljubno ob Savinji, 16 February - Slovenian ski jumper Nika Prevc won the second World Cup event in Ljubno in the north of the country on Sunday, sweeping the competition by more than ten points to reaffirm her dominance in the overall World Cup standings.
Ljubno
Nika Prevc (centre) wins a second Ski Jumping World Cup event for women in Ljubno ahead of German Selina Freitag and Austrian Lisa Eder.
Photo: Jure Makovec/STA
Ljubno
Nika Prevc (centre) wins a second Ski Jumping World Cup event for women in Ljubno ahead of German Selina Freitag and Austrian Lisa Eder.
Photo: Jure Makovec/STA
Ljubno
German Selina Freitag second in the Ski Jumping World Cup event for women in Ljubno.
Photo: Jure Makovec/STA
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Austrian Lisa Eder third in the Ski Jumping World Cup event for women in Ljubno.
Photo: Jure Makovec/STA
Ljubno
Ski jumper Nika Prevc.
Photo: Jure Makovec/STA
File photo
Ljubno
Nika Prevc victorious at Ski Jumping World Cup meet for women in Ljubno for the second day running.
Photo: Jure Makovec/STA
The 19-year-old Slovenian scored 266.4 points to beat German Selina Freitag (256.2pts) and Austrian Lisa Eder (248.9pts).
Winning her fourth straight victory over two weekends, she increased her lead in the overall standings to 320 points ahead of her closest rival, German Katharina Schmid.
"I was a bit worried about how the competition would go, but it turned out to be unnecessary," Prevc told TV Slovenija in her first comment. "I can hide a lot of things under my ski goggles, I can best relax at the start gate."
Clinching her 16th career victory, nine of which this season, she is now second most successful Slovenian ski jumper, including both men and women. Her brother Peter tops the ranking, having mustered 24 wins before retiring last year.
Four more Slovenians competed in the final round today, with Ema Klinec placing highest in 16th (192.1pts).
Three jumpers from the start list failed to compete: Canadian Alexandria Loutitt, who is ill, and Norwegians Heidi Dyhre Traaserud and Anna Odine Stroem.
Their teammate Thea Minyan Bjoerseth suffered a nasty fall in the final round on Saturday after setting the hill record in the first at 97 metres. She was taken to hospital with elbow and knee problems and is still waiting for an MRI scan in her home country, but the season is over for her, according to the rtvslo news portal. She placed third in Saturday's event.
Prevc's brilliant results augur well ahead of the upcoming Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim (26 February to 9 March).
After the World Cup meet attracted some 10,000 spectators to Ljubno ob Savinji on Saturday, this time ski jumpers were cheered on by 5,500 fans.