The International Ski Federation (FIS) Ski Jumping World Cup leader had topped yesterday’s qualification and produced a first round jump of 133.5 metres to occupy joint-first position on the leaderboard.

Typically,  he was joined by fierce rival Severin Freund, who claimed the World Cup title last season by virtue of earning more victories over the course of the season after they had ended on equal points.

With Freund having won the first Four Hills event in front of his home crowd in Oberstdorf on Tuesday (December 29), Prevc was aiming to hit back at the first attempt.

The Slovenian’s second round jump of 136m saw him end the competition on a total of 272.7 points, enough to secure the victory as Freund proved only able to manage an effort of 132.5m, ending on 256.8 points.

Freund eventually had to settle for third place as Norway’s Kenneth Gangnes produced jumps of 132m and 134m to end as the runner-up on 260.1 points.

"This was one of the best competitions of my career, I'm very happy that I could show such good jumps here,” Prevc said.

“The day went great for me and I'm very satisfied with the level of my jumps.

“If it goes that well, then jumping is really fun and you can be very relaxed

“The atmosphere was great again, at each stage there are more and more Slovenian flags."

Prevc’s triumph saw him take over the overall leadership of the tournament, moving onto a total of 572.6 points, with Freund 8.6 adrift.

The duo are due to continue their rivalry over the weekend with the third Four Hills event set to take place in Innsbruck, with qualification in the Austrian city due to be held tomorrow.