Kraft, Prevc, Diggins win World Cup titles; women master ski flying

Austrian ski jumper Stefan Kraft won his third overall World Cup title with victory on the ski-flying hill in Vikersund on Sunday as American Jessica Diggins secured overall glory in women's cross country skiing in Falun.

The 30-year-old Kraft has dominated this season and his triumph over 244.5 metres for 256 points in the one-off jump in Norway also extended his lead in the Raw Air series.

Kraft, who also tasted overall World Cup success in 2017 and 2020, picked up a 43rd World Cup win of his career and 13th this season.

His only blot this European winter was the Four Hills tournament in Germany and Austria, which was won by Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi - his main rival in the World Cup.

"It was a perfect start to the season with four wins in a row. It was then a three-way battle for a long time, very nerve-wracking. I did lose sleep a few times times because Ryoyu was in my dreams," he laughed.

"But this is my best season so far."

Another men's jump in Vikersund follows later after competition on Saturday was cancelled due to wind.

Earlier, Eirin Maria Kvandal triumphed in the first World Cup ski-flying event for female ski jumpers on the same hill to also wrap up the women's Raw Air competition.

The Norwegian managed distances of 202 and 212m for a score of 431.2 to show that women can handle the massive hills.

Silje Opseth of Norway jumped the furthest ever by a woman ski jumper - a huge 230.5m - but had to settle for second. Slovenia's Ema Klinec was third.

"I think it means everything in the world," Opseth said.

She had jumped even longer in a test run - 236.5m - but ended that jump bloodied and bruised on the face after falling on her landing.

Nika Prevc finished 11th but that was enough for overall World Cup glory for the 19-year-old ahead of the season's final jump in her home country in Planica on Thursday on a normal hill.

Saturday's competition was cancelled due to wind but blue skies welcomed the jumpers as their delayed World Cup debut got under way.

Women ski jumpers have been campaigning for years to jump from the monster hills like the men instead of just normal and large hills. Jumpers often fly well over 200 metres in ski flying, thanks to much bigger hills than normal ski jumping.

The women were allowed to try out ski flying in Vikersund last year but there were no World Cup points back then.

This time the jumps did count and the Norwegian duo took full advantage.

The Raw Air series, similar to the Four Hills Tournament in Germany and Austria, counts the scores from four Norwegian hills jumped in recent weeks - Oslo, two hills in 2025 World Championship venue Trondheim and Vikersund. Lillehammer was previously on the programme.

Kvandal won three Raw Air events to easily seal the competition on home snow, although she is down in eighth in the overall World Cup.

American Diggins won the overall women's cross-country skiing World Cup for the second time.

The 32-year-old came out on top in the final race of the season, a 20-kilometre freestyle mass start in Sweden's Falun and extended her lead over Sweden's Linn Svahn (26th).

Diggins had already won the overall World Cup in 2021 and finished in second place in each of the following two years.

The American finished the season with 2,746 points ahead of Svahn (2,571), her compatriot Frida Karlsson (2,309) and the German Olympic champion Victoria Carl, who finished fourth with 2,114 points.

Other Nordic skiing action on Sunday includes the men's mass start and the last Nordic combined events of the season in Trondheim, Norway.