Sudden end of career. He won't appear on the hill again

The 28-year-old Slovenian announced her retirement during a press conference in Ljubljana on Monday. This step is a consequence of the difficult previous season - the athlete struggled with health problems that ultimately prevented her from taking part in the Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina.

Ema Klinec, who recently won the national champion title after preparing for the season, leaves behind an impressive legacy. Her greatest achievement was the individual world championship in 2021 in Oberstdorf. During her seven appearances in an event of this rank, she also won medals in the team competition (silver) and mixed competition (silver and bronze).

She won two victories in the World Cup and stood on the podium 31 times, and finished the 2023 season in third place in the general classification - in the same year she also triumphed in the prestigious Raw Air tournament.

She participated in the Olympic Games twice: in Beijing (2022) she took fifth place on the normal hill, and in Pyeongchang (2018) she was fourteenth.

She also went down in history as a pioneer of women's ski flying. In 2023, she became the first ski jumper to officially cross the 200-meter mark, and then set a world record by reaching a distance of 226 meters during the first-ever women's ski flying competition in Vikersund. This result remains the fourth longest jump in the history of women's ski jumping.

After Klinec's departure, the Slovenian women's team remained two world-leading players: Nika Prevc, winner of the overall World Cup classification, and Nika Vodan, who won gold medals with the team in mixed competitions at the last two Olympic Games, and also won individual bronze in Beijing 2022.