Gruber leapfrogs Hagen to win Trondheim — first Austrian woman to claim a Nordic Combined World Cup

Katharina Gruber captured a landmark victory at the Viessmann FIS Nordic Combined World Cup in Trondheim, winning the Women’s Mass Start Normal Hill with a 97‑meter jump and 111.8 points.

The 17‑year‑old became the youngest woman to win a Nordic Combined World Cup event and the first Austrian woman ever to do so. Her win came at the expense of home favorite Ida Marie Hagen, who had dominated the earlier mass‑start cross‑country race and started last on the normal hill, but her 90‑meter jump and 103.5 points were not enough to keep Gruber at bay.

Germany’s Nathalie Armbruster reached 93.5 meters for 100.9 points to take third overall behind Gruber and Hagen.

Earlier, Hagen broke clear by the 1.2 km mark of the mass start and avoided a repeat of her duel with Armbruster from the previous day’s Individual Gundersen. The chase group included Norway’s Marte Leinan Lund and American Tara Geraghty‑Moats, who briefly raced without a pole after it broke before receiving a replacement.

Geraghty‑Moats — winner of the first women’s Nordic Combined World Cup in Ramsau in 2020 and more recently a biathlete — made a notable return to the discipline in Trondheim. Further contenders included Norway’s Ingrid Laate, Finland’s Heta Hirvonen and Minja Korhonen, and Japan’s Yuna Kasai, the mass start world champion, who finished the race 10th and ended the day sixth after the hill round. Norway’s depth showed with Mille Marie Hagen in fourth and Hanna Midtsundstad fifth in the race segment, while Alexa Brabec placed third in the mass start.

Quotes after the competition reflected the breakthrough: “I can’t believe it, I’m so overwhelmed… it’s like a dream come true,” said Gruber. Ida Marie Hagen praised the teenager’s performance, noting that the rising level is pushing the sport forward.