Prevc won gold at the Junior Nordic World Ski Championships in the women's individual and team normal hill, and a silver medal in the mixed team normal hill event.

She also took two golds at the Vuokatti 2022 Winter European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF), and finished seventh at her home World Cup leg in Ljubno on her debut on the circuit.

There were four other athletes in the running for the award - Slovakia's men's ice hockey Olympic bronze medallist and most valuable player Juraj Slafkovský, German snowboarder and world junior champion Leon Ulbricht, Italian short track speed skater Lorenzo Previtali, who won four medals at the EYOF, and Austrian Alpine skier Victoria Oliver who won two golds in Vuokatti.

Prevc polled more than one-third of the votes from National Olympic Committees at the General Assembly here, and was presented as winner at a gala dinner held at the National Opera and Ballet in celebration of the Olympic Committee of North Macedonia's 30^th anniversary.

EOC President Spyros Capralos presented Prevc with the award, which also earns her a €15,000 (£12,800/$15,800) scholarship.

The other four shortlisted athletes also earned trophies and a scholarship.

Second-placed Slafkovský was awarded an €8,000 (£6,800/$8,400) scholarship, with Ulbricht in third receiving €5,000 (£4,300/$5,300), and Oliver and Previtali €3,000 (£2,600/$3,200).

Prevc is the seventh winner of the winter edition of the prize, and is aiming to become an Olympic champion.

"Of course it is everyone’s dream to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games," she has said.

"If I keep working hard and enjoying what I do then I believe I can achieve my dream one day."

The award was created in 2011 and named after former Polish Olympic Committee President Piotr Nurowski, who died in a plane crash in 2010.

She is the second consecutive winter award winner from Slovenia, following on from biathlete Lena Repinc last year.