
2025–26 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Zakopane
Contents
- 2025–26 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Zakopane
- Venue, Format, and Prize Pool Overview for the 2025–26 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Zakopane
- Participating Teams/Athletes in the 2025–26 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Zakopane and Qualification Overview
- Structure and Competition Format of the 2025–26 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Zakopane
- The 2025–26 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Zakopane Favorites, Betting Options, and Where to Watch
- Pros and Cons of the 2025–26 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Zakopane Favorites
- FAQs
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The 2025–26 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Zakopane is held on January 10–11, 2026, in the Polish city of Zakopane. Traditionally, Saturday is a team event, and Sunday is an individual event, unless FIS schedules otherwise.
The Zakopane round is one of the most prestigious and atmospheric weekends in the entire Ski Jumping World Cup calendar. Its importance stems from huge live audiences, often among the season’s biggest, and strong media attention, especially within Poland, a core ski jumping nation. The event timing is immediately after the Four Hills Tournament, making it a key momentum and ranking checkpoint. As Zakopane has hosted major ski jumping competitions for decades, it has a historic prestige. It’s considered a flagship World Cup stop, not just a standard stage.
The Polish ski association (Polski Związek Narciarski – PZN) poses as the local organizer, while FIS is the regulator and official sanctioning body, organizing and overseeing each event under its auspices.
Venue, Format, and Prize Pool Overview for the 2025–26 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Zakopane
The 2025–26 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Zakopane is held at the iconic Wielka Krokiew (HS140), known as “The Great Krokiew”, Zakopane’s historic ski jumping hill built on the slope of Krokiew mountain, one of the most famous ski jumping venues in the world.
Note: HS 140 refers to the Hill Size of the ski jumping hill — one of the key measurements used to classify ski jumping venues. HS = Hill Size and 140 = the distance (in meters) from the take-off to the hill’s “hill size point”, which is the point considered safe for landing and marks the approximate limit of normal jumps. A hill with HS140 is classified as a large hill.
Because the Zakopane weekend traditionally features one team event and one individual event, participation looks like this:
- Team event: Twelve to 14 national teams are expected (based on standard World Cup team-event entry numbers).
- Individual event: Typically, 50–70 ski jumpers compete, depending on national quotas allocated for the 2025–26 season.
Exact numbers are finalized closer to the event, but these ranges are accurate for Zakopane World Cup weekends.
FIS Ski Jumping World Cup events have standardized prize money, unless organizers or sponsors add bonuses. For 2025–26, the expected amounts follow the typical FIS structure:
Individual event prize pool (CHF 39,000 total)
- Winner: CHF 10,000
- 2nd place: CHF 8,000
- 3rd place: CHF 6,000
- Prize money continues decreasing down to the 30th place, which receives CHF 100.
Team event prize pool (CHF 25,000 total), distributed among the top-8 teams, typically:
- 1st place team: roughly CHF 10,000
- 2nd place: approx. CHF 8,000
- 3rd place: approx. CHF 6,000
- Lower placements receive smaller amounts, down to eighth place.
These figures follow FIS World Cup prize guidelines, which rarely change from season to season.
Participating Teams/Athletes in the 2025–26 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Zakopane and Qualification Overview
All countries with active men’s ski jumping programs and FIS World Cup quotas can participate. Typical nations present in Zakopane include:
- Poland
- Austria
- Germany
- Norway
- Slovenia
- Japan
- Switzerland
- Finland
- Italy
- United States
- Czech Republic
- Romania, Kazakhstan, China, and others, depending on quotas
As for individual competitors, the field normally includes:
- 50–70 male ski jumpers for the individual event
- 12–14 national teams (four jumpers per team) for the team competition
The exact list is determined closer to the event, but Zakopane always includes all major World Cup stars, especially Poland’s top jumpers, Austria’s and Germany’s leading athletes, Norway’s and Slovenia’s strongest lineups, and Japan’s top representatives. As long as they are active in the 2025–26 season, the usual World Cup elite will compete. Names can’t be fully confirmed until national teams submit entries.
Qualification for World Cup events is governed strictly by FIS quotas, rankings, and nation allocations.
- National quotas (Nations Cup standings). Each nation gets a number of starting places based on its performance in the previous World Cup season.
- The top-ranked nations (e.g., Austria, Norway, Slovenia, Poland, Germany) receive six starting spots.
- Mid-ranked nations receive four–five spots.
- Lower-ranked nations receive one–two spots.
- Additional host nation quota. As the host country, Poland receives extra starting spots (“national group”). This typically gives Poland up to six additional jumpers, meaning they may have 10–12 athletes competing in Zakopane.
- Individual qualification through the provisional round qualification list (PRQL). Athletes ranked high enough in the PRQL ranking are pre-qualified for the competition round and don’t need to fight for spots in Friday’s qualification.
- Standard qualification round. All non-prequalified athletes compete in a qualification round, where typically the top 50 advance to the individual event.
- Team event eligibility. To enter the team event, a nation must field four healthy, active World Cup–registered jumpers.
Structure and Competition Format of the 2025–26 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Zakopane
The 2026 Zakopane World Cup weekend consists of two competition stages plus one qualification stage:
- Qualification round (Date: January 10, 2026): Determines which athletes advance to the individual event.
- Team event (Men; Date: January 10, 2026): Held after qualification (evening or late afternoon session).
- Individual World Cup event (Men; Date: January 11, 2026)
As for the format of the competition and the elimination system:
Qualification round format
- All non–pre-qualified athletes participate.
- Single-jump format.
- The top 50 athletes advance to the individual competition.
- Pre-qualified jumpers (top of PRQL ranking) are automatically added to the 50 qualifiers.
Elimination system: Anyone outside the top 50 is eliminated and doesn’t jump on Sunday.
Team event format – structure
- Four jumpers per national team
- Two rounds:
- Round 1: all teams jump
- Round 2: top-8 teams from round 1 advance
Team event format – scoring
- Every jumper performs one jump per round
- Total score = sum of all eight jumps
Team event format – elimination system
- Only the top-8 teams after round 1 advance to round 2
- The remaining teams are eliminated after round 1
Individual event format – structure
- 50 athletes in round 1
- 30 athletes advance to round 2
Two-round format
- Round 1: all 50 jump
- Round 2: top 30 based on points go again
Final score
- The sum of both jumps determines the winner
- Includes wind compensation and gate compensation
Individual event format – elimination system
- After round 1 → athletes ranked 31st–50th are eliminated
- Only the top 30 reach round 2
In short, ski jumping uses a two-round total-points format, not a duel or “best-of” system. Winners are determined by accumulated points (distance + style + wind/gate adjustments).
The 2025–26 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Zakopane Favorites, Betting Options, and Where to Watch
Because the 2025–26 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Zakopane field will be confirmed closer to the event, favorites are based on the most consistent large-hill performers expected to be active at that time. Zakopane historically rewards power jumpers with excellent stability in windy, high-energy atmospheres, such as:
- Stefan Kraft (Austria): A perennial podium threat on large hills.
- Anže Lanišek (Slovenia): A strong all-rounder with reliable style points and smooth flight mechanics.
- Domen Prevc (Slovenia): A specialist known for producing huge, explosive jumps when conditions align.
- Daniel Tschofenig (Austria): A top Austrian prospect steadily evolving into a reliable World Cup podium presence.
- Ryoyu Kobayashi (Japan): A natural threat on any large hill.
The Zakopane stop of the Ski Jumping World Cup is heavily covered by international and European bookmakers, especially those with strong winter-sports markets, belonging to the group of the best-rated bookmakers online. Common markets include:
- Winner of the individual event
- Podium finish
- Head-to-head matchups (e.g., Kraft vs. Lanišek)
- Team event winner
- Top-6 / Top 10 finish
- Longest jump of the day
- Best Polish jumper
- Round 1 + round 2 combined points totals
Ski jumping is heavily influenced by weather, so bettors typically wait for wind data and gate information before placing final wagers. Reputable international sportsbooks that regularly offer Ski Jumping World Cup markets include:
- bet365 – typically fastest with odds and provides deep H2H markets
- bet-at-home – popular in Central Europe, strong coverage of Polish events
- Unibet – wide range of prop markets and live betting
- Betsson – strong Nordic sports offering, often with early odds
- STS & Fortuna (Poland) – ideal for Polish bettors, deep Zakopane coverage
Most sportsbooks release Zakopane markets 7–10 days before the event, with live betting enabled during both rounds.
The Zakopane weekend is one of the most broadcast World Cup stops globally. Coverage usually includes:
Europe
- Eurosport 1 & Eurosport Player / Max – pan-European coverage
- TVP Sport (Poland) – full live coverage with studio analysis
- ORF 1 (Austria) – extensive World Cup broadcasting
- ARD / ZDF (Germany) – rotates coverage of major World Cup weekends
- NRK (Norway) – live coverage, including qualification
- RTV Slovenija – national broadcast for Slovenian stars
International / online
- FIS Live Streaming (if rights allow)
- Eurosport / Max online platforms (subscription-based)
- Local federation streaming platforms, depending on rights agreements
Broadcast rights vary by country, but Zakopane is always available live across Europe and usually globally through Eurosport/Max.
Pros and Cons of the 2025–26 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup in Zakopane Favorites
| JUMPER | PROS | CONS |
| Stefan Kraft (AUT) | • Exceptional consistency across large hills • Top-tier style scores and stable in-air control • Excellent in varying wind conditions typical of Zakopane | • Sometimes conservative on takeoff, limiting max distance potential • Fatigue can appear during mid-season stretches |
| Anže Lanišek (SLO) | • One of the smoothest, most technically complete jumpers • Very strong scoring base due to high style marks • Rarely makes major mistakes in two-round formats | • Lacks the explosive power of the very longest jumpers • Needs ideal timing to win on hills that reward raw distance |
| Domen Prevc (SLO) | • Capable of massive jumps when he hits the takeoff • Thrives on HS140 hills and big-crowd venues • High momentum potential — can jump far beyond average form | • Inconsistency remains his biggest weakness • Risk-reward technique can lead to early-round elimination if mistimed |
| Daniel Tschofenig (AUT) | • Rapidly improving form and stability • Compact technique well-suited for Zakopane’s profile • Increasingly strong in pressure situations | • Less proven than veterans in chaotic wind conditions • Still developing the elite-length jumps needed to win major events |
| Ryoyu Kobayashi (JPN) | • Among the best in the world at generating distance • Aerodynamic mastery allows him to excel on large hills • Proven ability to win high-pressure competitions anywhere | • Form can be streak-based from season to season • Sensitive to gate and wind changes — can struggle if conditions shift mid-round |




