Lindvik tops Planica podium as legends Stoch and Fettner retire

World champion Marius Linkvik claimed his first World Cup win of the season, as the 2025/26 FIS Ski Jumping campaign reached its conclusion in front of over 26,000 passionate fans at the iconic ski flying venue in Planica (SLO).

Lindvik had only attained one other podium position this season, with second in Sapporo last month, but delivered two strong jumps of 238.5m and 231m to attain an overall, event-winning, score of 459.5 points.

It was enough to edge victory over near all-conquering host-nation favorite Domen Prevc (SLO), who achieved 453.9pts, 5.6pts behind in second. Johann Andre Forfang (NOR) scored 441.3pts, to complete the top-three.

“It’s an amazing finish for me, it’s been a struggle this season, especially at the beginning, so it’s really great to finish like this,” said Lindvik, after securing what was also Norway's first victory on the men's circuit this season.

“There was a lot of waiting in the second round (due to the weather), but I managed to keep calm and do a good jump.”

During the 2025/26 season the phrase ‘Domenation’ has been coined, to acknowledge the Slovenian’s astounding run of success, which has included victories in the Ski Flying World Championships, Four Hills, two Olympic Winter Games gold medals and the overall Ski Jumping World Cup Crystal Globe.

While he did not finish it with what would have been a record-equalling 15^th individual World Cup victory of the season, his second-place result would ensure he claimed two further honors; the Ski Flying Crystal Globe and the ‘Planica 7’ title, for the most consistent performances across the Planica weekend.

There were more than just those awards to celebrate at the end of an astounding ski jumping season though. There was also the opportunity to pay tribute to two legends of the sport, Kamil Stoch (POL) and Manuel Fettner (AUT).

Stoch, a four-time Olympic medalist, with three Olympic golds, also claimed two World Championship and three Four Hills titles, as well as the Overall World Cup crown twice during his astounding career.

After his final jump in the second-round local young ski jumpers formed a guard of honour with skis as he took in much-deserved applause and appreciation from the assembled spectators.

He was then hoisted onto the shoulders of his team-mates after acknowledging the support was described by World medalist turned commentator Jernej Damjan as “one of the greatest ambassadors of ski jumping around the world.”

Stoch himself admitted he found the occasion “really emotional.”

“I will remember these last days and weekend, because I wanted to stay normal, focused and treat as a normal weekend in my sports career, like hundreds of previous ones, but when I was putting me skis on for the very last time, I just knew this was the end,” he told FIS after his final contest.

“I did it, the best I could in this moment and I’m happy I could compete to the very last jump and I guess finally I was one of the heroes in the last round of the season.”

Fettner claimed gold (Team Large Hill) as well as silver (Individual Normal Hill) at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and five World Championship medals.

There were similar celebrations of his career after landing a final jump of 230m, with partner Lisa Eder (AUT) among those joining him at the bottom of the hill as a banner was unveiled in tribute to his many achievements in the sport.

Marius Lindvik (NOR), Daniel Tschofenig (AUT) and Andreas Wellinger (GER) all achieved the rare feat of being awarded perfect style marks of 20 from each of the five judges for one of their two jumps, attaining the maximum score of 60.

“Of course it was a really amazing feeling,” said Wellinger. “The take-off was not perfect, but the flying, well five twenties is probably once in a lifetime and I’m really, really happy.”

Tschofenig was one of several high-profile ski jumpers, including Stephan Embacher (AUT), Anze Lanisek (SLO), Ren Nikaido (JPN) and Ryoyu Kobayashi (JPN) who were unfortunate with the conditions in the opening rounds.

However, the 2024/25 Crystal Globe winner would at least end his season with a strong positive, by climbing to 10 places to rank fourth and secure third in the overall World Cup standings, behind winner Prevc (SLO) and runner-up Kobayashi (JPN).

The FIS Ski Jumping World Cup will return later in the year, with Race Director Sandro Pertile confirming new adjustments, which will ensure the sport remains “great for the fans,” will be announced in May.