On December 27, 2011, he was able to jump on the podium at a Continental Cup for the first time in Engelberg, Switzerland , finishing second . Less than a month later, on January 20, 2012 in Zakopane, Poland, he was able to score his first two World Cup points in his World Cup debut as 29th. At the Junior World Championships on the Kiremitliktepe in Erzurum , Turkey , he won the silver medal in individual jumping behind his compatriot Nejc Dežman in February 2012 . On March 4, 2012, he jumped into the top ten of a World Cup for the first time in Lahti, Finland , finishing ninth.
At the Slovenian normal hill championships on October 6, 2012 in Kranj , Hvala jumped second on the podium in the national championships for the first time. Eight days later he was able to repeat this result on the newly built large hill in Planica . On November 30, 2012, he jumped to third place with the Slovenian team in the first team competition of the 2012/13 season in Kuusamo, Finland, and thus achieved his first World Cup podium. On December 15th, 2012 he achieved his best individual result in the World Cup with fifth place on the Gross-Titlis-Schanze in Engelberg . His first World Cup victory with the Slovenian team was on January 11, 2013 in Zakopane, Poland . A few weeks later, on January 24, 2013, Hvala jumped confidently to the title of Junior World Champion in Liberec, Czech Republic . Two days later he won the team competition with the Slovenian team. On February 13, 2013, Jaka Hvala jumped to his first individual World Cup victory as part of the FIS Team Tour 2013 in Klingenthal . At the Nordic World Ski Championships in 2013 in Val di Fiemme , he finished 22nd on the normal hill and 25th on the large hill in the individual jumping. He was eighth on the normal hill with the Slovenian mixed team and sixth on the large hill with the Slovenian team. He finished the season with 480 points as 16th of the overall World Cup and achieved his best result to date.
At the start of the 2013/14 season , Hvala won the team competition in Klingenthal with the Slovenian team. During the season he never reached the top ten in the individual World Cups and did not get past twelfth place in Engelberg. In several competitions he even missed the finals. In the overall World Cup he finished 50th with 84 points. In the 2014/15 season he mostly jumped in the Continental Cup . He achieved two podium finishes as second in Planica and Titisee-Neustadt as well as other top ten placements. He finished fifth in the overall winter COC ranking. From March 2015 he was back on the World Cup team. In his few appearances, however, he always missed the points or failed in qualifying.
At the beginning of the 2015/16 season he jumped again in the Continental Cup . On January 24th, 2016 he achieved his first COC victory on the large hill in Sapporo , after having finished third and second on the two days before. After the COC competitions in Sapporo, he jumped in the World Cup for the rest of the season . He reached the points several times with 20th place in ski flying in Vikersund as the best season position. In the overall World Cup, he finished 46th with 46 points. In the 2016/17 season he still jumped in the World Cup during the first stations . But he only managed to qualify once for an individual competition, which he finished 49th. That is why he started again in the COC from January 2017 until the end of the season . He achieved two podium finishes as second in the jumping competitions in Erzurum.
On May 19, 2017, Hvala suffered a serious knee injury during the first training session for the new 2017/18 season. He then missed the entire 2017/18 season.
In the winter of 2018/19, Hvala mainly competed in the Continental Cup , where he finished second behind Aleksander Zniszczoł in Zakopane in March 2019 . Then Hvala celebrated his return to the World Cup while ski flying in Planica , but missed the points with the 38th place.
In August 2020, Hvala announced the end of his career.
Slovenia
Klingenthal
Zakopane
Sapporo
