Silje Opseth clinches first World Cup triumph with Olympic champ Ursa Bogataj only fourth

Silje Opseth delighted the home fans with her first ski jumping World Cup victory in Oslo on Saturday (5 March).

The 22-year-old had been a runner-up six times previously in her career, but sailed out to jumps of 129.0m and 131.5m for a total of 249.7 points and victory on the famous Holmenkollen.

Opseth, who finished sixth at Beijing 2022, was 2.6 points ahead of Slovenia's Nika Kriznar with Japanese star Takanashi Sara 12 points off the pace.

Kriznar's teammate, Beijing 2022 individual and mixed team champion Ursa Bogataj was only fourth after a disappointing first effort gave her too much to do.

For Kriznar and Bogataj, this event followed team victory on Friday.

But the day belonged to Opseth who finally has a World Cup win after 12 podium finishes.

"I'm just so happy right now," she said afterwards. "I struggled a bit the last period actually so managed to just keep it simple today and it feels so great to stand on top of the podium for the first time."

After her seventh place, Austria's Marita Kramer - who missed the Beijing Games due to a positive Covid test - leads Kriznar by 200 points in the World Cup standings with just three events left.

The first of those is back on the Holmenkollen on Sunday with Opseth hoping to secure more home glory.