Slovenian siblings aim to make ski jumping history at Milan Cortina Games

PREDAZZO, Italy (AP) — An early photo of the Prevc ski jumping clan shows teenager Peter eyeing three little siblings — Nika, Domen and Cene — perched on the edge of a sofa, tiny torsos tucked over bent knees and arms stretched back as if about to launch themselves to Olympic glory.

Sixteen years later, three of the four are now Olympic medalists after Nika won silver on Saturday on the women’s normal hill. And there may be more hardware to come: Domen enters Monday’s men’s competition as the current top male ski jumper in the world.

“At that time I didn’t know that the photo would be so great and so historical,” Gorazd Kavcic, who snapped the picture for a newspaper in the region of Slovenia where the Prevcs grew up, told The Associated Press. “I hope Domen will bring the Olympic medal home so the four of the Prevcs own Olympic medals. It's amazing.”

The Prevc athletes are national heroes back home, though they are hardly known outside the rarefied world of ski jumping.

The first Olympics for Nika, 20, and Domen, 26, could change that, particularly if they repeatedly step onto the podium as is widely expected.

It all began for the family more than 20 years ago in the village of Dolenja Vas in southern Slovenia when Peter as a young boy got bored skiing and started building small jumps to make it more exciting.

“They got bigger and bigger and when I was around 10 years old the jumps were already 25 meters long, and I was kind of enthusiastic for it,” Peter Prevc said. “My father saw my enthusiasm and he drove me to the ski jumping club.”

Peter said the others followed his path because they saw he was having fun and that's what sparked their passion and motivated them.

When Kavcic took the photo in 2010, Peter had entered the World Cup circuit and was beginning to make a name for himself.

The younger ones were either learning to jump or, like Nika, keen to get started.

Nika said her ambition was always to compete on the world’s largest stage.

“My childhood dreams are coming true,” she said after her second-place finish. “Now I will continue and go on.”

Cene attributes their unusual success to the values their father, who owns a furniture business and is a ski jumping judge and mother, a librarian, taught them: to excel at whatever they do.

Kavcic thinks the success was due more to the amount of practicing the children did. Their father was constantly shuttling them from one hill to the next.

Another factor is likely due to the ski jump-crazy nation’s development program for promising skiers, said Tomi Trbovc, a team spokesperson. All of the siblings attended a special school in Kranj in the north, where skiers are educated around daily training sessions.

Peter, 33, is a four-time Olympic medalist who won gold in the mixed team jump four years ago in Beijing. Cene, 29, shared a team silver with his brother in Beijing in the team event.

Both are now retired, though still associated with the sport. Peter is head of equipment development for the Slovenian ski jumping team and Cene, who does standup comedy, is doing TV commentary during the Milan Cortina Games.

Nika, 20, and Domen, 26, are reigning World Champions on the large hill, and Nika also holds the title for the normal — or shorter — hill. The two hold the records for the longest jumps ever and have dominated World Cup competition this season.

Domen said that even though he fantasized of some day being in the Olympics, he never believed it would happen and said it was amazing to be there.

“They always told me that your brothers are successful, but you’ll never manage to get there," he said. "Sometimes people tell you some things, but they tell you maybe to give you a chance to prove them wrong.”

Nika entered the normal hill event Saturday as the favorite to win, but technical mistakes at the take off of one jump and landing of the other cost her the gold to Anna Odine Stroem.

Stroem was gracious in victory, saying she had figured the main competition was for second place behind Prevc. Referring to Prevc's prowess in ski flying, the largest of jumping hills, she said: "we get to ski-fly and watch Nika almost never land.”

Although Nika failed to win Saturday, she became the first woman to join a brother — two in her case — to win Olympic medals in the sport.

Domen dismissed his 21st place showing in Sunday's practice round as not very important and said the real test will come Monday.

If he medals then in the men’s normal hill, it would mark the first time brother and sister ski jumpers have medaled at the same Olympics.

Depending on the outcome of that event, the two siblings could also join forces for the mixed team even Tuesday.

There is a younger sibling, Ema, who is still in school, but there's no chance she will end up in the Olympics, Cene Prevc said.

“She never even had a slight interest to perform in a ski jumping,” he said. “The only smart one in the family.”

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Gold medalist Anna Odine Stroem, of Norway, right, applauds silver medalist Nika Prevc, of Slovenia, on the podium of the ski jumping women's normal hill individual, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Predazzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Domen Prevc, of Slovenia, takes his position on the ramp for a jump during a ski jumping, men's normal hill, training session, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Predazzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Domen Prevc, of Slovenia, waits his turn for a jump during a ski jumping, men's normal hill, training session, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Predazzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Nika Prevc, of Slovenia, poses after winning the silver medal in the ski jumping women's normal hill individual, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Predazzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

From left, Domen, Nika and Cene Prevc gesture as their older brother Peter looks on, in the living room of the Prevc family house, in Dolenja Vas village, in Slovenia, March, 22, 2010. (Gorazd Kavcic via AP)

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Center-left Socialist candidate António José Seguro recorded a thumping victory over hard-right populist André Ventura in Portugal’s runoff presidential election Sunday, according to official results with 96% of votes counted.

Seguro won a five-year term in Lisbon’s riverside “pink palace” with 66% of votes, compared with 34% for Ventura.

The ballot was an opportunity to test the depth of support for Ventura’s brash style, which has struck a chord with voters and helped make his Chega (Enough) party the second-biggest in the Portuguese parliament, as well as gauge the public appetite for Europe’s increasing shift to the right in recent years.

Seguro, a longstanding Socialist politician, positioned himself as a moderate candidate who will cooperate with Portugal’s center-right minority government, repudiating Ventura’s anti-establishment and anti-immigrant tirades.

He won the backing of other mainstream politicians on the left and right who want to halt the rising populist tide.

In Portugal, the president is largely a figurehead with no executive power. Traditionally, the head of state stands above the political fray, mediating disputes and defusing tensions.

However, the president is an influential voice and possesses some powerful tools, being able to veto legislation from parliament, although the veto can be overturned. The head of state also possesses what in Portuguese political jargon is called an “atomic bomb,” the power to dissolve parliament and call early elections.

In May, Portugal held its third general election in three years in the country's worst bout of political instability for decades, and steadying the ship is a key challenge for the next president.

Ventura, an eloquent and theatrical politician, rejected political accommodation in favor of a more combative stance.

Ventura said he will keep working to bring about a political “transformation” in Portugal.

“I tried to show there’s a different way … that we needed a different kind of president,” he told reporters.

Making it through to the runoff was already a milestone for Ventura and his party, which have recalibrated Portuguese politics.

One of Ventura's main targets has been what he calls excessive immigration, as foreign workers have become more conspicuous in Portugal in recent years.

“Portugal is ours,” he said.

During the campaign, Ventura put up billboards across the country saying, “This isn’t Bangladesh” and “Immigrants shouldn’t be allowed to live on welfare.”

Although he founded his party less than seven years ago, its surge in public support made it the second-largest party in Portugal’s parliament in the May 18 general election.

In March, the winner will replace center-right President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who has served the constitutional limit of two five-year terms.

Ballot papers at a polling station during the Portugal's presidential election in Lisbon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

Presidential candidate Andre Ventura, of the populist Chega party, casts his ballot in Portugal's presidential election in Lisbon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

Presidential candidate Andre Ventura, of the populist Chega party, arrives at a polling station before voting in Portugal's presidential election in Lisbon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

Presidential candidates Antonio Jose Seguro, of the center-left Socialist Party, right, and Andre Ventura, of the populist Chega party, shake hands before a television debate ahead of the Feb. 8 presidential election, in Lisbon, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Presidential candidate Andre Ventura, of the populist Chega party, arrives for a television debate with opponent Antonio Jose Seguro, of the center-left Socialist Party, ahead of the Feb. 8 presidential election, in Lisbon, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Presidential candidate Antonio Jose Seguro, of the center-left Socialist Party, waves to the crowd during a campaign rally ahead of the Feb. 8 presidential election in Lisbon, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)