Prevc beat the previous record of 246.5m, set by Norwegian Johan Remen Evensen at the same resort back in 2011, by 3.5 metres to seal his place in history.

His incredible effort, which followed a jump of 237.5m in his first round, gave him a comfortable World Cup victory as he finished with a total of 438.8 points, 14.5 ahead of nearest challenger Anders Fannemel of Norway, who was 0.5m shy of Evensen's record himself during qualification, while Japan's Noriaki Kasai was third.

"The speed and the position was perfect," Prevc said.

"Then I just landed.

"Right now it's hard to describe my feelings, it will probably take a few days.

"It's always great to jump far.

"This win today and the world record is my biggest success so far."

The victory also saw the 22-year-old surge to the top of the overall World Cup standings and he now has 1250 points, 42 in front of Austrian Stefan Kraft.

Germany's defending champion Severin Freund, who was fourth with jumps of 210 m and 219.5m respectively is currently third, while Kasai is fourth.

In seemingly ideal conditions for his second attempt, Prevc soared through the air, landing perfectly as the Norwegian crowd began to realise the sheer length of his jump.

Japan's Sara Takanashi kept her dream of retaining her World Cup crown alive by winning the women's event in Ljubno ©Getty Images



The record will now take some beating, although second-placed Fannemel is hoping he can delight his home crowd by taking victory when the competition resumes tomorrow.

"I hope I can get a bit closer to Peter tomorrow," the 23-year old said.

"I'm not sure what was missing today, maybe the take-off was not that great.

"The conditions were perfect."

In the women's event, held in Ljubno, Slovenia, Japan's Sara Takanashi claimed another victory to boost her chances of defending her overall World Cup crown.

Takanashi posted efforts of 88m and 90m to finish on a total of 248.5 points, which proved enough to beat Austria's Daniela Iraschko-Stolz, winner of the first event in Rasnov, Romania, last weekend.

American Sarah Hendrickson was third as she earned her first podium place for two years after she sustained an anterior cruciate ligament tear.

"I can't believe that I won here," the 18-year-old said.

" I didn't expect to jump that far in the second round.

"The hill here is really special, we don't have anything like it in Japan.

"It is difficult to find the right timing at the take off."

Takanashi's victory cut the deficit to 89 points between her and Iraschko-Stolz, who remains in pole position at the top of the overall standings with two competitions remaining.

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