Peerless Prevc does the Lake Placid double

Feb 08, 2025·Ski Jumping

Prevc has now won seven World Cup events this season ©Authamayou/NordicFocus

Nika Prevc (SLO) delivered further evidence of her World Championship gold medal prospects with a second successive victory in Lake Placid (USA), rounding off an impressive couple of days which saw the teenager further extend her lead in the World Cup standings.

The 19-year-old won the first-ever women’s FIS Ski Jumping World Cup contest to be held in North America on Friday and was a class apart from the field again, extending her first round lead of 6.8 points to 10.9 at the end of the contest.

She attained a combined points total of 272.1, with Germany’s Agnes Reisch (261.2) claiming her first-ever World Cup podium, in second.

Her national team-mate Selina Freitag (254.7) was third, with Eirin Maria Kvandal denied a fifth successive podium finish, as the Norwegian placed fourth.

Prevc’s nearest rival in the overall World Cup standings, Katharina Schmid (GER), ranked joint seventh, alongside Anna Odine Stroem (NOR), while allowed the Slovenian to put a 201 point gap between herself and Germany’s seven-time World champion.

“I really enjoy jumping here,” Prevc told FIS after her latest success.

“I tried not to listen to what’s happening in the competition before me, I just tried to believe in myself and I’m super happy with another win today.”

Prevc’s seventh victory of the season came at the end of a fascinating World Cup contest which saw a number coaches make gate change requests and employ different tactics in an attempt to give their athletes an advantage.

The Norwegians attempted this with Kvandal in the opening round, but by jumping from a lower gate than the jury had recommended and missing the target distance of 121m, by 0.5m, she failed to attain the bonus point advantage.

She would place seventh at the halfway stage, 14.1 short of Prevc’s total after the Slovenia’s 126m jump, which was the furthest travelled by any of the 40-strong field and scored 134.5.

Annika Belshaw gave the home-fans reason to cheer with a strong opening round showing, which saw her place 11^th, with two-time Olympic silver medalist Schmid just ahead in tenth.

USA celebrate the conclusion of the first-ever women's FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in North America - ©Authamayou/NordicFocus

Reigning World champion Alexandria Loutitt (CAN) secured her second podium finish of the season with third on the opening day of World Cup finals action in Lake Placid.

After a strong showing in qualifying the Canadian was confident of “another podium” on what she described as a “fun” hill with “lots of personality.”

However, she would slip from sixth to tenth, with Lisa Eder (AUT) another who would move out of contention once the second round progressed.

Thea Minyan Bojerseth (NOR) was the biggest mover in the top-10, rising from ninth to fifth.

Kvandal is third in the overall World Cup standings and rapidly catching Schmid in second - ©Authamayou/NordicFocus

Kvandal would again switch up her start gate and at the second time of asking would achieve the target distance and rose in the rankings accordingly.

Freitag stuck to the recommended gate and was rewarded with the furthest jump of the contest, 128m, which scored 130.5.

Her countrywoman Reisch had finished fourth ones and fifth twice during the 2024/25 Ski Jumping campaign and had also shown her prowess with a series of strong qualifying sessions.

However, the 25-year-old had never managed to push onto the podium, until today, when two impressive jumps saw her achieve a landmark moment in her career.

It could have been gold, but Prevc also switched up her gate position and that combined with a strong jump ensured the Slovenian would achieve a World Cup double – winning both events in the same venue across a weekend – for the first time in her career.