Norway’s Oftebro and Hagen overcome early hiccup to win Mixed Team in Lahti

Norway’s Ida Marie Hagen and Jens Luraas Oftebro fought back from a disappointing jumping performance to win the Mixed Team event at the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup in Lahti, Finland.

The pairing beat local favorites Finland 1’s Minja Korhonen and Ilkka Herola by more than 18 seconds in the Cross-Country leg of the Mixed Team event on Saturday.

The Finnish pairing were in pole position going into the Cross-Country race after posting an impressive 258.1 points in the jumping round.

The Norway 1 team of Hagen and Oftebro finished seventh in Ski Jumping on 234.2 points and faced an uphill battle to make up for their 32-second deficit in the fast and furious Cross-Country sprint.

But Hagen and Oftebro proved unbeatable in Cross-Country after Hagen charged ahead in the third exchange to power away from the rest of the field and finish with a time of 25:23.6 – 18.8 seconds ahead of Finland 1.

“For me luckily I have the best team-mate with Ida going so strong,” said Oftebro.

“She just went hard from the start, and she got the gap, really happy that I can ski with Ida today and to bring home the victory.”

Third place went to the Germany 1 duo of Johannes Rydzek and Nathalie Armbruster.

“We are so, so incredibly happy. It’s just amazing to be on the podium with Johannes,” said Armbruster.

“I really wanted to be with him on the podium today but it was such a tough fight. I think it was such an amazing race. Mixed Team sprint, we can definitely do that more often (laughs).”

Saturday's event marks the first time the Mixed Team Sprint contest has been held at the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup.

Hagen and Oftebro’s Mixed Team victory on Saturday comes after Oftebro claimed his fourth individual FIS Nordic Combined World Cup victory of the season on Friday.

The triple Olympic Winter Games champion from Milano Cortina 2026 said his and Hagen’s shared victory on Saturday feels different to his individual victories.

“It’s always nice to win as a team, not just individually,” he said.

“It’s my second victory of the weekend, so I’m really happy.”

Hagen’s victory in Saturday’s Mixed Team event comes after the 25-year-old secured the season-long individual Crystal Globe and took second place in the women’s Large Hill Gundersen on Friday.

“It means so much,” said Hagen.

“We also have this Team Sprint but then I was on the boys side with Jens maybe 10 (to) 15 years ago. Then he told me he always had to catch up with the same people, so today I figured I just have to go.”

Finland 1's Minja Korhonen said she was proud to claim a podium finish in front of a home crowd.

"This has been a dream since I was a young skier in Nordic Combined. With Ilkka, we're both from a small village so it's nice and funny to be in the top together. We came from the same small place," she said.

Click here for full results from Saturday’s Mixed Team in Lahti.