Slovenia and Austria win Team Sprint golds at Junior Worlds

Slovenia upgraded their women’s Team Sprint silver from 2025 to claim the first Nordic Combined gold medal of the FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships in Lillehammer, Norway.

Teja Pavec, who won individual silver a year ago in Lake Placid, and Tia Malovrh, who won Team Sprint silver with Masa Likozar Brankovic last year, proved a potent combination on the hill and in the tracks.

Pavec, who has had eight top-20 finishes in the World Cup this season, jumped 96.5-meters for 124.8 points on the HS98 hill, with Malovrh soaring 97.0m (130.7 points) as the duo claimed a handsome lead of 44 seconds heading to the tracks.

Their closest challengers were Japan, with Yuzuki Kainuma’s 93.0m jump (121.7 points) bringing them up to second place after Yuzuka Fujiwara’s initial 80.0m effort.

The Japanese duo reduced the deficit by nearly nine seconds over the first three of the six 1.4km laps, but Slovenia maintained a consistent pace to retain a gap of more than 30 seconds throughout, taking victory in 21:43.4 with a winning margin of 32.5 seconds.

“We just wanted to enjoy the hill so we could do a good cross-country and we did it,” added Malovrh, 17. “It is just amazing.”

While Fujiwara also won Team Sprint silver with Hazuki Ikeda in 2024, it was a first Junior Worlds medal for Kainuma (JPN).

“I don’t have any medals so I am very happy to get a world medal today,” said the 18-year-old.

Earlier on the HS98 hill, Katharina Gruber (AUT, above), who became the youngest winner of a Nordic Combined World Cup event in Trondheim earlier this season, showed her class.

The 17-year-old went close to the hill record with a superb jump of 103.0-meters, the best by six meters, to earn 132.8 points.

But with team-mate Clara Mentil only managing 78.5m (85.2 points), Austria found themselves 50 seconds behind in third starting the cross-country, the same deficit as French duo Marion Droz Vincent and Romane Baud, with Italians Giada Delugan and Ludovica Del Bianco a further nine seconds back.

But the Italian pair swiftly caught and passed Austria and France to forge nearly 30 seconds clear by halfway in the fight for the final medal, and ultimately finished 23 seconds ahead of Gruber and Mentil, with the French duo edging Finland in a sprint finish for fifth.

“The jumping was so good today,” said Delugan. “On the skis it was not my best performance but I am still really happy.”

“The plan was just to go full gas and it was a pleasure to race with my friend Giada,” added Del Bianco.

Austria overhaul Germany to win men’s gold

The men’s Team Sprint saw Austria’s Andreas Gfrerer (AUT) claim a second successive gold in the event, having previously won gold with Paul Walcher in Lake Placid in 2025.

This time Gfrerer teamed up with fellow 19-year-old David Thuer as the duo delivered a powerful cross-country performance to come from fourth place, 33 seconds behind Germany, after the jumping phase to claim victory (below).

The German pair of Jonathan Graebert, whose 100.0-meter jump was the longest and earned the highest tally of 129.2 points, and Felix Brieden, who scored 128.6 points from his 98.0m effort, earned a 19-second lead for the cross-country.

Norway put themselves in contention with jumps of 96.0m (118.9 points) from Alvin Le and 94.5m (124.8 points) from Henrik Elias Wikstroem Hilmarsen, with a 97.5m jump from Lovro Percl Serucnik (SLO) helping Slovenia – in tandem with Aljaz Janhar - to start 27 seconds back in third.

Austria made light of their 33-second deficit though as Gfrerer and Thuer moved past Norway into second place on the fifth and sixth of 10 laps of 1.4km, closing to within 1.7 seconds of Germany before hitting the front on the seventh circuit.

Germany had no response as Austria eased clear to complete the 14km race in 30:43.2, winning by 22.9 seconds.

“It was tough,” said Gfrerer. “On the hill we had some problems but it went better on the track so in the end it was a perfect day.”

Brieden, who took silver with Graebert for Germany, added: “We knew it was going to be really hard with the sun because the track was pretty slow. We managed to get some good runs but it was pretty hard.”

Le and Wikstroem Hilmarsen had the consolation of bringing home bronze for host nation Norway, with Slovenia tumbling from third to 13th in the tracks and Czechia moving up to finish fourth.

“This is huge for us on home ground,” Le said. “We were good on the hill and doing this on the course felt really good. It was fun.”

Click here for full results from Wednesday’s Women’s Team Sprint and Men’s Team Sprint in Lillehammer.