Freund, a member of the German team which won the team competition at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, was second in the season-opener yesterday but finished top of the pile today as he recorded a score of 290.6 points.

It came thanks to impressive jumps of 146 metres and 138m, which saw the 28-year-old end the event 11.8 points clear of nearest challenger Norwegian Daniel-Andre Tande.

The Norwegian athlete managed efforts of 131.5m and 139m as he recovered from eighth after the first round to end the day in second.

Austria's Manuel Fettner equalled his career-best finish of third as he earned 273.3 points, achieved by virtue of leaps of 136m and 133.5m.

“I'm really satisfied, this is definitely not what I expected and this makes it so much more satisfying,” said Freund.

“Today I made the right jump at the right time because I was lucky with the conditions in the first round.

“I had the best conditions and made a very aggressive jump, which wouldn't have worked on many hills.

He added: “The season has just started and I already achieved my goal of winning again.

“Now I just want to get better from competition to competition.”

Freund leads the overall FIS Ski Jumping World Cup standings following the completion of the event in Ruka on 180 points.

Domen Prevc of Slovenia, who could only finish 13^th after claiming his maiden World Cup victory yesterday, is second on 120 points.

Fettner now sits in third, 10 adrift of the 17-year-old Slovenian.

Germany leads the Nation's Cup after the first weekend with 376 points, ahead of Austria on 311 and Slovenia, who have 225.

The next men’s event on the calendar is scheduled to take place in Klingenthal in Germany from December 2 to 4.

The women will compete in Lillehammer, host of the 1994 Winter Olympics, from December 1 to 3.