Korhonen pips Hagen to claim maiden World Cup victory

Minja Korhonen (FIN) celebrated a landmark maiden FIS Nordic Combined World Cup individual victory as the 18-year-old triumphed in the first women’s Large Hill Gundersen held on her home snow in Lahti, Finland.

Korhonen, regarded as a potential future Crystal Globe winner, has previously recorded six podium finishes this season but now holds the distinction of becoming the first Finnish woman to win a Nordic Combined World Cup competition.

A stunning 122.0-meter jump for 121.5 points, only bettered by a 125.5m effort from Alexa Brabec (USA), put Korhonen only six seconds behind the consistent Brabec for the cross-country, with World Cup leader Ida Maria Hagen (NOR) a further 50 seconds back.

The Norwegian star slashed that by 20 seconds inside the first 1.1km, and took another 20 seconds by the halfway point at 2.5km to close to within 15 seconds of Korhonen, who moved past Brabec into the lead.

Incredibly, as they went through 3km Hagen had hit the front but as Brabec tired, Korhonen kept up the fight, sticking close to Hagen as they approached the finish area.

Hagen tried to launch one last attack on the outside but roared on by the Finnish fans, Korhonen (right, below) put in a final burst to accelerate to a memorable victory, becoming just the second woman – after 17-year-old Katharina Gruber (AUT) earlier this season – to win a Nordic Combined World Cup event before the age of 19.

“I felt pretty good but I knew Ida is such a good skier and I was really surprised that I got to the finish line first,” she added.

Hagen admitted she was annoyed at missing out on an 11^th individual win of the season, a record she will attempt to achieve in the season finale in Oslo a week on Sunday, 15 March.

“First of all I am really impressed by Minja’s performance - at home it is a lot of pressure,” Hagen said.

“But I always want to win and I was mad at myself for not being a bit more tactically smart. I think I could have pushed more in the second lap and been first at the top here but that is life.”

Brabec maintained her record of finishing in the top four in every event this season but was also disappointed not to be able to convert an excellent jump into a higher place on the podium.

“I am really happy with how the jumping went but losing the race at the end was a little disappointing,” she said. “But a podium is still a podium.”

Competing on the HS130 Large Hill at the Salpausselkä Stadium for the first time, the women earlier produced a superb jumping competition.

Ronja Loh (GER) was the first to go beyond 100-meters with a 112.0m effort before 17-year-old home favourite Heta Hirvonen (FIN), who has also been competing in the Ski Jumping World Cup this season, nailed a 117.0m jump for 108.4 points.

But that ultimately only proved good enough for fifth place on the hill .

First Ingrid Laate (NOR), the season’s best jumper, soared out to 121.0m to score 116.6 points and set a challenging new target, which remained until the final three starters.

Korhonen flew 122.0m for 121.5 points, but had barely had time to take that in before Brabec jumped even further, a stunning 125.5m effort giving her victory on the hill with 122.9 points.

“It is super exciting,” said the 21-year-old American. "I am so happy that we are jumping large hills.”

Hagen, going last, jumped 116.0m (108.9 points), to leave herself 56 seconds back in fourth, a challenging but not insurmountable deficit for the best skier in the field.

But on this occasion, and for just a third time in 13 events this season, she was denied victory at the last.

Saturday will see the women team up with the men for a Mixed Team competition, with one woman and one man per team, and a maximum of two teams per nation.

Each athlete will ski 6km – four laps of a 1.5km course - in the cross-country.

Click here for full results from Friday's Large Hill Gundersen in Lahti.