Embacher makes history as Austria and Norway dominate in Lillehammer

Austria’s Stephan Embacher and Heidi Bucher were among the standout performers at the 2026 FIS Junior and U23 World Ski Championships in Lillehammer, Norway.

Embacher claimed a historic third consecutive Junior Worlds Ski Jumping title, while Bucher won a full set of medals in the Junior Cross-Country events.

Host nation Norway topped the medal table with 18 medals across the disciplines, including seven golds, all from Cross-Country.

Austria – dominant in Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined – finished second overall on five gold medals and 11 medals in total, with victories across all three sports. Slovenia finished third in the table with three gold medals – two from Ski Jumping and one from Nordic Combined.

Several young stars returned from the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games to compete at the iconic 1994 Games venue, where many new talents also announced themselves on the world stage.

Bucher’s medal hat-trick headlines strong Norwegian showing

Austria’s Heidi Bucher produced one of the most consistent performances of the Cross-Country competitions, winning a full set of medals across the Junior women’s individual races with gold in the Sprint Free, silver in the 10km Classic and bronze in the 20km Mass Start.

‘I’m just so happy. I’m really dead but really happy,’ 19-year-old Bucher said after completing her medal collection with the 10km second place on Friday.

Norway dominated the junior Cross-Country programme on home snow, claiming titles through Julie Sand-Hanssen in the Women’s 20km Mass Startr Free, Emil August Longva in the Men’s 20km event, Ingrid Wollan Benum in the Women’s 10km Interval Start Classic and Leopold Strand in the Men’s 10km event, showing that there is a bright future ahead for the Scandinavian Cross-Country powerhouse.

Strand is a part of Norway's Cross-Country icon Petter Northug's team. Benum and Casper Kvam Grindhagen, who won silver in the Men's U23 10km Classic, are from the Trondheim area, home to Northug and 11-time Olympic champion Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo.

Norway also secured the Junior Mixed Relay title, where Strand and Benum joined Sand-Hanssen and Magnus Torjus Harbo to edge France in a close finish.

In the U23 events, Finland’s Niko Anttola produced one of the most dominant individual performances of the championships in the Men’s 10km Classic.

‘It feels very good. I had a lot of energy and very good skis,’ the 23-year-old said after claiming Finland's only gold medal of the championships.

Canada also celebrated a major success as Alison Mackie, who had competed at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games only weeks earlier, claimed the Women’s U23 20km Mass Start title.

Germany’s Elias Keck then delivered one of the most dramatic finishes of the week in the Men’s U23 20km Mass Start, where the top 10 skiers crossed the line within two seconds.

‘I didn’t have a tactic actually, I was just lucky in the end,’ Keck said.

Embacher writes history as Austria and Slovenia take team golds

In Ski Jumping, Austria’s Stephan Embacher produced one of the defining moments of the championships by becoming the first male ski jumper to win three Junior World titles, claiming his third consecutive Normal Hill crown.

The 20-year-old, who had also won Olympic gold in the Super Team event at Milano Cortina 2026, held off Poland’s Kacper Tomasiak and the USA’s Jason Colby to secure the historic victory.

Tomasiak, who won three medals at the Winter Games, was another of the Olympic returnees in Lillehammer.

In the women’s competition, Anezka Indrackova of Czechia led from start to finish to claim her first Junior World Championship title.

‘It’s absolutely amazing. I worked really hard the last two weeks and I think I did really well,’ the 19-year-old said.

Austria continued its dominance in the men’s team event by securing a sixth consecutive Junior Worlds title, while Slovenia claimed both the Women’s Team and Mixed Team gold medals to underline the depth of its next generation.

Austria lead the way as teenage champions emerge

Austria also enjoyed a strong Nordic Combined championships, highlighted by victories in both team events as well as Katharina Gruber’s success in the women’s individual competition.

Gruber, 17, continued her breakthrough season by winning the Women’s Individual Gundersen title after leading from the ski jumping phase and maintaining control on the cross-country course. The teenager had already become the youngest-ever winner of a Women’s Nordic Combined World Cup event earlier in the season.

‘It was really hard but I felt so strong and I am super happy,’ Gruber said.

The Men’s Individual Gundersen gold medal went to Lukas Dolezal of Czechia, who surged from seventh place after the jumping round with a powerful cross-country performance.

Austria also won the Men’s Team Sprint, where Andreas Gfrerer and David Thuer came back from fourth place after the jumping phase, before closing the Nordic Combined programme with victory in the Mixed Team event.

Lillehammer also highlighted how quickly athletes are emerging at the top of Nordic sport, with teenage champions including 17-year-old Nordic Combined winner Gruber and 18-year-old Cross-Country gold medallists Benum, Strand and Longva already making their mark on the world stage.

Click here for all results from the Lillehammer 2026 Cross-Country, here for the Ski Jumping results and here for the Nordic Combined.