Kraft, representing Austria, had won both days of qualifying to book himself as the favourite to take gold in the World Cup final.

However, Zajc had other ideas by scoring an unassailable 407.9 to take the crown.

Poland’s Piotr Żyła finished second with a total of 401.1 while Austria’s leading ski jumping star in the men's format had to settle for bronze.

Kraft scored 399.8 to nudge out Slovenian Žiga Jelar’s competitive tally of 397.5.

Following the first run, Żyła was out in front thanks to a score of 190.2.

Kraft fell behind with 186.4 while Zajc totalled a modest 182.9.

The Slovenian flipped the contest on its head after he scored 225.0 on the second run.

Żyła also did well to tally 210.9, but he ultimately could not match the quality of his opponent.

Kraft, on the other hand, produced the third best result of the round, 213.4, to secure a bronze.

In the overall World Cup standings, with two events remaining Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi, who finished sixth today, leads with 1544 points.

In second overall is Germany's Karl Geiger with 1478 points, after a ninth-placed finish today.

In third overall is Norway's Halvor Egner Granerud, who finished 33rd today, with 1176 points.