Kraft, Prevc, Diggins and Amundsen win World Cup titles

Austrian ski jumper Stefan Kraft won his third World Cup title with victory on the giant hill in Norway's Vikersund on Sunday while Nika Prevc won her first overall prize as women's ski flying made a successful debut.

American Jessica Diggins and Norwegian Harald Østberg Amundsen also secured overall World Cup glory in cross-country skiing's finale in Falun in Sweden.

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 was the Four Hills tournament in Germany and Austria, 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 among men and women 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 - a huge 230.5m - but was still 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.

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.

Women ski jumpers have been campaigning for years to jump from the monster hills like the men instead of just normal and large hills.

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

The Raw Air series, similar to the Four Hills in Germany and Austria, counts the scores from four Norwegian hills jumped in recent weeks.

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 having triumphed in 2021.

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).

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

In the men's 20km, Norway's Johannes Høsflot Klæbo triumphed as so often but his compatriot Amundsen took his first title thanks to picking up bonus points while finishing 17th.

Klæbo was looking for overall glory for a fifth time but Amundsen had the advantage thanks to his Tour de Ski title in January, an event his countryman missed due to illness.

The Nordic combined season also wrapped up in Trondheim, with Norway's Jarl Magnus Riiber and compatriot Ida Marie Hagen already crowned overall winners.

Austrian Johannes Lamparter and Hagen, much to the delight of the home fans, won the final events.