Nordic Combined World Cup 2023: Norway pull off podium clean sweep as Gyda Westvold Hansen triumphs

Norway pulled off a podium clean sweep in the Women’s Individual Gundersen as Gyda Westvold Hansen won the first Nordic Combined World Cup event of the season.

Ida Marie Hagen finished second and Marie Leinan Lund claimed third place on a day which saw temperatures plummet to minus-16 degrees centigrade in the Birkebeineren Stadium.

On home snow in Lillehammer, last year’s overall World Cup winner Hansen jumped 97 metres to take the lead after the ski jump.

She maintained a safe distance on her competitors in the cross-country, which she started with an 18-second lead, to take first place with a time of 15:03.4.

Hagen, who was sixth at the halfway stage, proved her skiing strength once again, overtaking Lund on the last lap to take second, 16.5 seconds behind her winning teammate.

Lund came home 32.5 seconds after Hansen but still finished more than half a minute ahead of Japan’s Haruka Kasai in fourth.

Svenja Wurth reached the furthest distance of the day with 98.5 meters in her jump but could not hold onto her strong position in the cross country, finishing ninth with a time of 16:01.3.