'So strong' Gruber and 'perfect' Dolezal win Junior Worlds golds

Katharina Gruber (AUT) added another milestone to a breakthrough season by winning Individual Gundersen gold at the FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships in Lillehammer on Friday.

The 17-year-old became the youngest woman to win a Nordic Combined World Cup event in December with a stunning Mass Start victory in Trondheim and sits sixth in the overall World Cup standings.

Gruber, who won a Mixed Team silver with Austria at last year’s Junior Worlds, set the platform for her first individual medal by taking victory on the hill, her 94.0-meter jump for 123.8 points earning her an 11-second lead for the cross-country over Karina Kozlova (UKR) and 16 seconds over Yuzuki Kainuma (JPN).

The teenager delivered a composed performance in the tracks and was never really threatened, doubling her advantage to 22.1 seconds after the first of two 2.5km laps before easing up over the second half of the race to win by 10.6 seconds in 14:00.8.

“It was really hard but I felt so strong and I am happy I could bring it to the finish line," she said. "I am super happy; it was a really great race.”

Kainuma, 18, and Slovenian duo Teja Pavec and Tia Malovrh, who won gold in the Team Sprint on Wednesday, all moved past Kozlova to make it a three-way fight for the remaining medals.

The trio were locked together heading into the final kilometre but it was Kainuma who finished the strongest, sprinting clear to win silver with Pavec, 18, outlasting her 17-year-old team-mate Malovrh to take bronze.

“I thought about the gold medal but today I got silver,” said Kainuma. “I am happy but a little sad too.”

Pavec also declared herself “so happy” after adding another medal to her collection. “I wanted a medal today and I pushed for the whole race,” she added.

Kozlova (UKR), the only athlete apart from Gruber to start from gate 15 rather than 16, earlier set the target on the hill with a 93.0-meter jump for 121.0 points.

Malovrh and Pavec, who won gold together in the Team Sprint on Wednesday, both soared 95.0m – the joint-longest jumps of the round – to score 119.3 and 118.1 points respectively.

But Kainuma (JPN), who has enjoyed a consistent season on the World Cup circuit, came closest to Kozlova with a 94.0m jump for 119.8 points before Gruber (below), jumping last from gate 15, took victory on the hill.

The 17-year-old’s 94.0m effort for 123.8 points gave her an 11-second advantage over Kozlova for the cross-country, with Kainuma (16 seconds), Malovrh (18 secs) and Pavec (23 secs) all putting themselves in medal contention.

Dolezal storms to men's gold

The men’s Individual Gundersen saw Lukas Dolezal (CZE) surge up from seventh place after the ski jumping to pip Frenchman Lubin Martin (FRA) to gold.

Dolezal started 31 seconds behind compatriot Lovro Percl Serucnik (SLO), who had earlier taken victory on the jumping hill.

But with Martin and Sverre Kumar Lundeby (NOR) for company, the trio overhauled the early leader, Henrik Elias Wikstroem Hilmarsen (NOR), before fighting it out for the podium positions.

Dolezal finished the stronger, winning by 6.6 seconds from Martin in 23:30.4, with Lundeby taking bronze, 12.6 seconds back.

“It was perfect,” said Dolezal. “My legs and body felt so good and I had so much power when I got to that last uphill, so it was a great finish.”

Martin, despite leading for large sections of the cross-country, was happy with silver.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “I had a really great jump and a really good race, so it was a perfect day. I have not participated in a World Cup yet, but that is a dream for me now.”  

Lundeby said his plan for the cross-country was simply to “follow Lubin” (Martin).

“He pulled me all the way and it was a perfect pace for me,” said the 18-year-old. “I was kind of nervous beforehand but I felt better and better as the race went on.”

Earlier, 17-year-old Percl Serucnik (SLO), going 31^st of the 54 starters from 16 nations, jumped 95.0m to earn 124.7 points, a tally none of the remaining 23 athletes could match.

Compatriot Timon Brglez (SLO), Lundeby (NOR) and Maximilian Uhr (GER) all nailed 93.0m jumps for 117.2, 117.3 and 117.4 points respectively to leave themselves within 30 seconds, with Dolezal (90.0m) and Martin (93.0m) making up a five-strong group all starting within three seconds of each other.

But Hilmarsen (NOR)’s 98.0m jump, the longest of the day, for 123.3 points, put the Norwegian only six seconds behind for the cross-country, with Eemeli Kurttila (FIN), who won the PCR on Thursday with a 98.5m jump, starting a further two seconds back after a 94.0m effort in the competition round.

Hilmarsen started off like a train and powered into a five-second lead over the first 2.5km, but the effort cost him on the second lap as Frenchman Martin, who started 32 seconds behind in eighth place, hit the front, with Lundeby and Dolezal close behind (below) as Hilmarsen dropped to fourth.

The Norwegian eventually finished ninth as Austria’s Andreas Gfrerer and David Thuer, who won Team Sprint gold together on Wednesday, made their way up after starting 58 seconds and 1:09 behind respectively to finish fourth and fifth.

Click here for full results from Friday’s Women’s Individual Gundersen.

Click here for full results from Friday's Men's Individual Gundersen.