Hagen goes back to back in Lillehammer with Compact win

Norway’s Ida Marie Hagen maintained her dominant start to the women’s Viessmann FIS Nordic Combined season with a second victory in two days on home snow in Lillehammer.

Having won the last four individual competitions of last season, and eight of the last 10 overall, the 24-year-old has picked up where she left off by winning both the season-opening events.

After victory in an opening Gundersen on Friday, Hagen took her 11^th World Cup victory with some ease on Saturday in the Compact, making up a 12-second deficit from the jumping after barely 90 seconds of the 5km cross-country race.

Hagen had built a 35.7-second lead at the first 1.3km checkpoint, extended it to 45.8 seconds by halfway and continued to power away to eventually win at a canter in 13:43.4, 51.1 seconds clear of Nathalie Armbruster (GER).

“It felt pretty close behind me but I was really fighting for it today,” said defending champion Hagen, who made it six successive World Cup wins.

Armbruster, despite starting 36 seconds back, earned her first podium finish of the season after a strong cross-country performance.

"It feels amazing," she said. "I am so, so happy. It is hard to describe how I feel right now.

"It's a bit surprising because yesterday during the race I didn't feel so good but today I was feeling so strong. I'm still not satisfied with my jump but more than satisfied with my race."

Gyda Westvold Hansen (NOR), who started 44 seconds adrift after a poor jump on the hill, overhauled Ema Volavsek (SLO) in a stunning sprint finish to claim the final place on the podium, with Lisa Hirner (AUT) coming home fifth and Japan’s twin sisters Haruka Kasai and Yuna Kasai sixth and eighth.

A 96.0-meter jump on the Lysgårdsbakken HS98, earning 119.6 points, put Hagen in third position heading into the cross-country.

Maria Gerboth (above) headed the jumping standings for a second day running with a 95.5m effort scoring 125.8 points, one of five German competitors in the top nine on the hill, including Ronja Loh, Jenny Nowak, Svenja Wuerth and Armbruster.

As on Friday, Norwegian teenager Ingrid Laate had the longest jump of the day with a 97.5m effort earning the 17-year-old 120.0 points to finish second on the hill, but again she did not start the cross-country with a hand issue.

A request by Hansen’s coach to change the position of the start gate to reduce her speed failed to pay off as the two-time overall champion’s 85.5m jump only earned 98.1 points.

But the 22-year-old showed her stamina in the tracks to record another podium finish at the last.

"I tried to go hard from the start but I was almost dying after the first long effort," Hansen said. "I had to slow down a bit but I knew if my body was not dead before the last part, I could do it. I trusted that and I think it was a smart race."

Click here for full results of the women's Compact.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Ida Marie Hagen (NOR) took her 11th World Cup victory, and her sixth in a row going back to last season

• Nathalie Armbruster (GER) finished on the podium for the first time this winter, adding to her three podiums from last season

• Gyda Westvold Hansen (NOR), having won all six of the previous World Cup competitions in Lillehammer until this weekend, had to settle for third place to add to her second in Friday's Gundersen

• Maria Gerboth (GER) was the leading jumper for the second day in a row, a 95.5m effort earning her 125.8 points, but finished 12th overall after a fifth place in the Gundersen