Besides his incredible achievements in sports, Prevc showed unrelenting persistence, determination in following his dreams, and inspiring modesty alongside his fellow ski jumpers, reads the statement from Pahor's office.

The president added that Prevc made history as an athlete, redefining the borders of human abilities.

The 23-year-old comes from a family of athletes and became Slovenia's sports hero after his stellar performances in the past two seasons.

Dominating the 2015-16 World Cup season in a spectacular fashion, he broke the record for the number of individual wins and points won, and ended the season with a win at home in Planica on 20 March.

In the 2014-15 World Cup, he came in second against his main rival Severin Freund from Germany only for having fewer individual wins, though they won the same number of overall points.

Prevc is a three-time winner of the Slovenian Athlete of the Year award and is the second Slovenian ever to win the overall ski jumping World Cup title after Primož Peterka in 1997 and 1998.

The president will also decorate Slovenian engineer and ski jumping hill constructor Janez Gorišek with the Silver Order for Merits for his contribution to the development of ski jumping and ski flying in Slovenia.

Pahor will also confer the Order for Merits on the team of ski jumping coaches for their work in training the national team. The Order for Merits will go to head coach Goran Janus and his assistants Jani Grilc, Nejc Frank and Matjaž Polak.