Niskanen wins in Falun as Diggins nears globe, women's ski flying off

Finland's Kerttu Niskanen won the final 10 kilometre classic race of the women's cross-country skiing World Cup season in Falun on Saturday, but American Jessica Diggins extended her overall lead.

Niskanen set 30 minutes 01.03 seconds in a wet and foggy Sweden to beat compatriot Johanna Matintalo by 4.2 seconds. Sweden's Jonna Sundling was third and Diggins fifth as she closes in on her second World Cup title with just Sunday's 20km freestyle mass start left.

Sweden's Linn Svahn could only finish 18th and is now 75 points behind Diggins.

The men's race follows later.

The first World Cup ski-flying event for female ski jumpers was cancelled on Saturday due to bad weather.

The Raw Air competition in Vikersund, Norway, could not take place as planned due to strong winds and precipitation, governing body the FIS announced. There were 17 athletes on the start list.

The jumpers, who have been campaigning for years to jump from the monster hills like the men, understood the decision.

"The conditions are really windy. It's not possible to organize any ski flying today. That's why we'll pack up, recover well and go again tomorrow," said Austria's Eva Pinkelnig. Another World Cup competition is scheduled for Sunday.

The men are due to jump in Vikersund later on Saturday and it remains to be seen if that will be possible.

The women were allowed to try out ski flying in Vikersund last year but there were no World Cup points back then. Jumpers can fly over 200 metres in ski flying, thanks to much larger hills than normal ski jumping.

In other Nordic skiing action on Saturday, the mixed team event at the Nordic combined World Cup finals in Trondheim, Norway takes place.