Granerud soars to maiden World Cup victory to stun Eisenbichler in Ruta

Norwegian prodigy Halvor Egner Granerud claimed his maiden Ski Jumping World Cup victory and dashed Markus Eisenbichler's hopes of a hat-trick on a pulsating day of action in Ruta.

Granerud, 24, soared to jumps of 137m and 144m to hold off Eisenbichler, who won the first two events of the World Cup season, by 9.9 points on the Finnish slopes.

Poland's Dawid Kubacki was third but it was the inexperienced Granerud who stole the show as a searing second jump catapulted him to 282 overall points and a first World Cup victory.

Eisenbichler's bid to become the first German to win three World Cup events in a row since Severin Freund in 2014-15 looked to be well on course after he completed a fine first jump of 141m to lead the field.

Granerud could only must 4m - and 12.2 points - fewer while impressive efforts from Robert Johansson and Karl Geiger were not enough to prevent Eisenbichler seizing the advantage.

But a stunning second jump from Granerud, whose previous best World Cup result was fifth in Engelberg in 2017, propelled him into the lead to dash Eisenbichler's hopes of a third consecutive triumph.

Kubacki racked up 265.6 points to scoop his second podium finish in as many days, while a mammoth second jump of 146m from Japan's Yukiya Sato was not quite enough to haul him onto the podium.

Eisenbichler now sits 80 points ahead of Granerud in the overall World Cup standings, while Kubacki is a further 56 behind on 144.

The Ski Jumping World Cup season next heads to the Russian venue of Nizhny Tagil, where Granerud will bid to build on his first taste of victory and cut the gap on Eisenbichler at the summit of the table.