Hagen breaks wins record to crown dominant overall title

Norwegian star Ida Marie Hagen set a new record of individual wins in a single FIS Nordic Combined Women’s World Cup season with an 11^th victory in the 14^th and final event of the winter on home snow in Oslo.

The 25-year-old, already crowned overall champion for a second time, set the platform for her 28^th win overall with a superb 126.0-meter jump on the HS134 Large Hill to put herself second for the Gundersen cross-country race.

Despite a deficit of 1:07 on young compatriot Ingrid Laate (NOR), Hagen wiped out nearly 50 seconds inside the first 800m, caught Laate by the 1.6km mark and had established a 24.3-second lead by the end of the first 2.5km lap.

Hagen powered on during the second half of the race to win comfortably in 13:55, with Tara Geraghty-Moats (USA) holding off a strong sprint from Minja Korhonen (FIN) to take second in a photo finish.

Hagen surpassed the record of 10 wins in a season she shared with compatriot Gyda Westvold Hansen (from 2022-23) and also moved into joint-fourth in the all-time list of World Cup wins - for men and women - alongside Ronny Ackerman (GER).

Hagen also matched her feat from her previous Crystal Globe-winning season of 2023/24 by finishing on the podium in every individual World Cup competition. 

“It means so much," she said. "Before my home competition I always have more emotions.

Geraghty-Moats, the winner of the inaugural World Cup event in women’s Nordic Combined back in December 2020, celebrated her best result since returning to the discipline this season, after spells competing in ski jumping and biathlon.

The 32-year-old American powered her way up from eighth place after the ski jumping to finish second, pipping Korhonen by a tiny margin, to earn a second podium after a third place in Seefeld.

“It is an amazing way to finish the year with my best result,” she said.

Korhonen cemented her third place in the overall standings with an eighth podium finish of a hugely successful season, which included her maiden individual World Cup win in Lahti last week.

“I wasn’t feeling my best on the course," she said. "It was the last competition and it has been a long season, competing in ski jumping also.

"I usually struggle a bit here so compared to other years it was pretty decent. Of course you need to be happy with a podium but second place wasn’t that far away."  

Alexa Brabec (USA), runner-up to Hagen in the overall standings, also maintained her record of finishing in the top four of every event this season.

Earlier, in misty conditions on the Holmenkollbakken, Ingrid Laate (NOR, above) - the best jumper of the season - took victory on the hill for the eighth time in 14 events this season.

The 18-year-old glided serenely through the air out to 132.0m, earning 123.8 points for a jump that was 6m further than anyone else.

“I’m really happy,” she said. “I was a bit nervous at the top but it ended up really good.”

Slovenian duo Tia Malovrh (117.5m) and Teja Pavec (117.0m) - who won Team Sprint gold together at last week’s World Junior Championships - set the early target with 91.6 points before Heta Hirvonen (FIN) improved on that with an 118.0m effort for 99.0 points.

Once Laate had set a huge target for the rest, Lisa Hirner (AUT) - 100.8 points - and Korhonen (102.5) both landed 120.0m jumps to put themselves 1:32 and 1:25 back.

But the two leading women of the season both excelled, Brabec landing a 124.0m jump for 106.0 points, a deficit of 1:11, before Hagen, going last, screamed in delight after her superb 126.0m jump (107.1 points) put her in pole position heading to the tracks.

“I did one of my best jumps of the season and it feels really good to take that into next year,” added the Crystal Globe winner.

Click here for full results of Sunday's Gundersen in Oslo.