Slovenian ski jumpers have brilliant start to Olympic season
Slovenian ski jumpers are having a brilliant start to the Olympic season. Anže Lanišek leads in the men's overall World Cup rankings ahead of his teammate Domen Prevc after they collected six podium finishes from five individual events.
Meanwhile, Nika Prevc sits second in the women's rankings, having podiumed at three out of four events, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.
Lanišek, 29, earned his tenth career World Cup victory in Finland's Ruka on 29 November, at the same hill that he notched up his debut win in 2021 and another one in 2022.
Domen Prevc, the 26-year world record holder, rounded off the feat for the second consecutive Slovenian double podium by finishing third at the same event, with Japan's Ren Nikaido from Japan placing in between in second.
"What can I say, yet another long day. A successful one. Three very good, solid jumps. I managed to win, which is great," Lanišek commented, referring to trial, qualifying and first series.
The final series was cancelled due to bad weather. Strong winds also led to cancellation of a second men's event in Ruka on 30 November.
"A classic event in Ruka. Difficult conditions, but Anže and I managed to concentrate and did our job, caught the very good first and third places. Others did well too, but unfortunately the conditions were such that prevented them from ranking higher. I'm very happy,," Prevc said.
Just four days earlier, Lanišek and Prevc took first and third places on the large hill in Falun, Sweden, sandwiching Austrian Stephan Embacher in between.
With the win Lanišek took the lead in the overall World Cup standings, having finished second on the small hill in Falun the day before.
Prevc himself came in second in Lillehammer, Norway, on 23 November, two days after he was part of the mixed team that won Slovenia second place at the season opener at the same venue. The team, which also featured his sister Nika, Timi Zajc and Nika Vodan, narrowly missed out on victory to Japan.
Nika, the 20-year-old who won the World Cup the past two seasons and also holds the current women's world record, clinched her 23rd career victory on the large hill in Falun on 30 November to break the winning streak of Japan's Nozomi Maruyama this season.
Nika Prevc previously placed second in Falun and third in Lillehammer, missing out on the podium just in one out of four women's individual events this season. She now sits second overall behind Maruyama.
"My first training jump was already very good; I started to feel comfortable and managed to continue in a similar rhythm with a relaxed approach. I hope to produce as many performances like today's as possible for the rest of the season," Prevc said after jumping 125 and 132 metres.
With the latest feat she is now just one World Cup victory shy of the all-time Slovenian record held by her retired older brother, Peter Prevc.
Photo: Anže Malovrh/STA
