Gruber leapfrogs leader Hagen to claim victory in Trondheim

Austrian Katharina Gruber won the Women’s Mass Start Normal Hill at the Viessman FIA Nordic Combined World Cup in Trondheim with a 97-meter jump and 111.8 points, snatching what appeared to be a sure win for Norwegian star Ida Marie Hagan.

Near-perfect weather conditions held out for the second day of competition as Hagan dominated the Mass Start race earlier in the day, leaving her to start last in the Normal Hill, but ultimately her 90-meter jump and 103.5 points total was not enough to beat Gruber.

Hagan’s up-and-coming young compatriot Ingrid Laate did another decent jump at 93 meters to make up her points to 89.3 after her 32^nd place in the earlier Mass Start race, but with 20 jumps to go she was overtaken by Finnish 17-year-old Heta Hirvonen, before the competition started to heat up.

After another Finn, Minja Korhonen, took the lead, Gruber then shot to the top with her jump. Nathalie Armbruster then took second place after reaching 93.5 meters and 100.9 points, which eventually earned her a third-place finish behind Gruber and Hagen.

Hagen had built up an early 10-second lead after the 1.2km mark in the Mass Start race. The chasing group included fellow Norwegian Marte Leinan Lund and Tara Geraghty-Moats (USA), who did well to stay ahead having momentarily been without a pole which broke before she was handed a replacement during the race.

Geraghty-Moats, the winner of the first-ever Women’s Nordic Combined World Cup event in Ramsau in 2020, made her comeback to the event over the weekend having switched to biathlon in recent years. The American was also the first to hold the overall title after the Covid-19 pandemic meant that was the only World Cup event to be held that season.

While Armbruster briefly took to the front of the chasing pack at the halfway mark, Hagan remained a long way in front to escape a second tussle with the German as she had the day before in the Individual Gundersen. Lund then regained her position to finish the race +19.6 behind Hagen in second, while Hagen’s American training partner Alexa Brabec pushed to third.

Behind them was a strong showing from the Norwegians with Hagen’s sister Millie Marie in fourth and Hanna Midtsundstad in fifth, while the Mass Start world champion Yuna Kasai (JPN) was unable to challenge at the top, finishing the race in 10^th and then finally ending the day’s competition in sixth after the Normal Hill.

More to follow …