At the age of 27, Nozomi Maruyama is suddenly the world leader in ski jumping. At the start in Lillehammer she was in a league of her own.
It was significant for this weekend at the Olympic ski jump in Lillehammer: Nozomi Maruyama was the last jumper on the beam shortly before half past one on Sunday (November 23rd). The display read 117 meters, which was at least how far Japan’s new model pilot had to jump to win.
Without a hint of nervousness, she surpassed this distance almost playfully, standing almost two meters in the air by the green line on the slope. With a lead of almost 30 points, she outclassed her competitors and thus concluded what she considered a fantastic weekend.
Suddenly in the spotlight
The 27-year-old athlete from the Nagano Olympic region has had many reasons to celebrate in the last few weeks and especially on the opening weekend in eastern Norway. She has been in the Japanese national squad since 2014 and made her World Cup debut four years later. And despite a few fewer top results, it is still a blank slate for many. But that has now changed. Maruyama travels to the second World Cup stop in Falun, Sweden with the overall leader’s yellow jersey. Most of the attention there will then be focused on them.
Impressive numbers in Lillehammer
With her three victories (once in mixed and twice in singles) over three days, she got off to an extraordinary start to the winter. For the first time since ski jumping pioneer Sara Takanashi in Hinzenbach in 2021, a Japanese jumper was able to win two individual jumps in one weekend. And she did it in a superior manner.
A look at the numbers reveals how dominant Maruyama was on the Lysgardsbakken. In addition to her victories, she was also the best jumper in both qualifications. In total, she flew 1061.5 meters in the six evaluation and two qualifying jumps. Canada’s Abigail Strate, who came second on Saturday, managed 1,025.5 meters. Nika Prevc, double world champion and overall World Cup winner from the previous season, reached 1001 meters, Katharina Schmid 963.5 meters.
Nozomi Maruyama celebrates the victory in Lillehammer
Maruyama also impressed with a lot of consistency. While Schmid’s best jump was 126 meters in Sunday’s qualification, the Japanese only jumped shorter than 130 meters once – and that was in the first jump of the mixed competition. She won the qualification on the final day, even though she had a whopping four fewer attempts.
Maruyama shows strong nerves
In her first victory on Saturday, she also showed strong nerves when she had to take a break right in front of her because of the difficult wind conditions. The victory on Sunday was correspondingly “easy”: “Yesterday’s win was harder. The conditions were much more difficult, the wind was stronger and more changeable. But I’m very happy with my jumps.” She also sees further potential for improvement: “I can still improve my posture scores. I have set myself the goal of getting even better.”
She had indicated in recent months that Maruyama has what it takes to jump to the top. Her best individual placements before this season were second place at the World Cup in Willingen in February 2023, and a week later she was on the podium again in third place in Hinzenbach. Then things became a little quieter again, only in the Summer Grand Prix was she able to achieve further top-three placements. And the knot really broke during this preparation. In the summer series she achieved seven podium finishes and her first victory at the final in Klingenthal. She also secured the overall ranking of the 2025 Grand Prix.
Japanese team in impressive form
With the results from Klingenthal, Maruyama has now won the last five competitions (three singles and two mixed). Overall, things are going really well for the Japanese team; the jumpers from the Far East have started the Olympic season really well. After winning the mixed doubles on Friday and Maruyama’s two successes, Ryoyu Kobayashi also won the men’s singles on Sunday. In the women’s individual on Saturday there were five Japanese jumpers among the top twelve jumpers, and on Sunday there were four among the top 15.
Whether it’s just a very good early form or whether Maruyama has adapted best to the new regulations will become clear at the next competition in Falun next weekend. In any case, with her performances in Lillehammer she not only made herself known to a wider audience, but also brought some variety to women’s ski jumping. Nika Prevc dominated the end of the previous season and celebrated ten victories in a row. The Slovenian missed the historical record of eleven on Saturday due to poor jumps. But even a Prevc in top form would probably have cut her teeth on Japan’s new jumper.