Naoki Nakamura made himself what is surely the best birthday present on his 30th birthday: On Saturday, the Japanese athlete won the first of two Summer Grand Prix events in Rasnov, thereby securing the overall title in the summer series. On the Romanian normal hill, Nakamura secured a clear victory with jumps of 93 and 96 metres and a total of 234.1 points. The Japanese athlete particularly underlined his exceptional form in the second round: with a jump of 96 metres, he achieved the longest jump of the day.

Nakamura was already comfortably in the lead after the first round. His lead over second-placed Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal stood at 7.6 points at that stage. In the final, the Japanese athlete extended his lead further and ultimately won by a margin of 18.9 points. Behind Nakamura, a thrilling battle unfolded for the remaining podium places. Jason Colby from the USA made two strong jumps of 89 and 90.5 metres, scoring 215.2 points. This saw him move up from third to second place in the final. Sundal had to settle for third place with 214.7 points, just 0.5 points behind Colby.

For Nakamura, this was already the third Grand Prix victory of the summer. He won both events at the season opener in Wisla, followed by third and eighth places in Courchevel. With his success in Rasnov, the Japanese athlete has now secured the overall title. Going into the weekend, Nakamura had a clear lead in the overall standings with 292 points. Daniel Tschofenig was in second place with 200 points, followed by Gregor Deschwanden on 181 points and Philipp Raimund on 160 points. Thanks to the additional 100 points for his victory, Nakamura was already uncatchable even before the final competitions.

Behind the podium, Juri Kesseli from Switzerland finished fourth and Ilya Mizernykh from Kazakhstan came fifth. Kaimar Vagul finished sixth, followed by Hektor Kapustik and Adrian Thon Gundersrud. Pawel Wasek fought his way up to ninth place in the second round. Dawid Kubacki, on the other hand, had to settle for 18th place.

 

The German ski jumpers did not compete in Rasnov. The focus was on preparations for the winter season.

In the women’s event, Anna Twardosz celebrated a historic victory. On Saturday, the Polish athlete won the first Summer Grand Prix event in Rasnov, becoming the first female ski jumper from her country to win a competition in the summer series. With jumps of 96 and 90 metres, Twardosz scored 256.1 points and finished well ahead of Japan’s Ringo Miyajima (237.0) and China’s Bing Dong (233.2). Juliane Seyfarth was the best German in 14th place. After finishing seventh in the first round, she dropped down the rankings in the final following a jump of 79.5 metres. Emely Torazza, in 27th place, secured her first Grand Prix points of the summer.

Kira Maria Kapustikova also attracted attention. The Slovakian finished sixth, setting her country’s best-ever result for a female ski jumper to date. The Austrian team also put in a strong performance, with Hannah Wiegele in seventh place and Grand Prix debutant Sara Pokorny in eighth. Luisa Görlich’s return to competition was particularly emotional. The 2023 Planica team world champion returned more than a year and a half after tearing her cruciate ligament and finished 32nd with a jump of 83.5 metres.

The competition was overshadowed by a serious fall involving the Chinese athlete Qi Liu. She landed from a great height after her 98.5-metre jump and subsequently fell. Liu was unable to continue the competition and was carried away from the landing area.

 

On Sunday, Jason Colby made ski jumping history in Rasnov. The American won the second competition of the weekend, thereby celebrating the first-ever Summer Grand Prix victory for a US ski jumper.

Colby landed two strong jumps. With jumps of 91 and 93.5 metres, he scored 244.9 points, edging out Pawel Wasek of Poland. Wasek scored 234.1 points with jumps of 92 and 87.5 metres. Third place went to Danily Vasilyev of Kazakhstan with 233.5 points. On Saturday, Colby had already secured his first-ever Summer Grand Prix podium finish with a second-place result. Just one day later, he achieved the greatest success of his career to date.

The American had to rise to the challenge once again in the final. After the first round, Wasek was ahead of him in second place. However, with his strong second jump, Colby decisively won the head-to-head duel and ultimately triumphed by a margin of more than ten points.

The newly crowned overall winner, Naoki Nakamura, was unable to match his performance from the previous day on Sunday. Following his victory on his 30th birthday, the Japanese athlete jumped 89 and 88.5 metres this time, finishing in seventh place. Ahead of him were, amongst others, his compatriot Yuto Nakamura in fourth place, Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal in fifth and Dawid Kubacki in sixth.

 

 

In the women’s event, Sunday belonged to Anna Twardosz. Less than 18 hours after her first victory, the Polish athlete won again, becoming the first female ski jumper of the summer of 2026 to secure two Grand Prix victories. With jumps of 94 and 83 metres, Twardosz scored 221 points. Behind her, China’s Ping Zeng secured her first Grand Prix podium finish with 211 points. Third place went to Slovenia’s Ema Klinec with 208.8 points.

 

Hannah Wiegele narrowly missed out on the podium in fourth place, but celebrated her best result of her career with this performance. Sara Pokorny confirmed her strong performance from the previous day by finishing tenth. Ringo Miyajima was the highest-placed Japanese athlete in fifth place, whilst Kira Maria Kapustikova once again finished sixth. Juliane Seyfarth also showed improvement on Sunday. The German jumped into the top ten, finishing ninth. Luisa Görlich also scored points in 21st place, whilst Emely Torazza finished 28th.

 

The competition was once again overshadowed by a fall. Japan’s Haruka Iwasa fell whilst landing her 76.5-metre jump, but was able to leave the landing area unaided. China’s Qi Liu, who had fallen the previous day, did not compete on Sunday.

 

This brought an eventful weekend in Rasnov to a close: whilst Nakamura had already been confirmed as the overall winner in the men’s event and Colby secured a historic US victory, Twardosz dominated both competitions in the women’s event.