Surprise as young Russian Iakovleva wins World Cup event in Lillehammer

The 17-year-old impressed on Friday and claimed her first ever top-10 finish at a World Cup event but went even better on Saturday as she surprised the field to win.

Norway's home hero and Olympic champion Maren Lundby was second while Slovenian Ema Klinec came third. Second place was good enough for Lundby to take top spot overall in the World Cup series.

It was only Iakovleva's fourth World Cup appearance of her career and on two occasions, she failed to make the finals. On Friday, she finished eighth.

But Saturday saw her record the best performance of her young career as she managed to stay ahead by 4.9 points in the final.

She said: "It was a good competition, and I feel very good. I´m the winner and this is my first World Cup win. My experience on the large hill is limited."

Olympic champion Lundby posted the longest jump of the day in the final round (101.5 meters) claiming second place for the second time in a row.

She said: "I think my jumping is improving with every jump. I'm really happy.

"I was lucky with the conditions in my first jump. With the second jump, I was a little bit unlucky, so I think I deserve the second place today.

"I'm back in the yellow bib - that's how I like it best.

"The large hill will be exciting. I think there it will be a tight competition for the overall win. I'm motivated for the large hill."

Aside from the surprising victory for young Russian Iakovleva, one of the biggest talking points was the disqualification of the Japanese superstar Sara Takanashi before the jump in the first competition round. Sportsbeat 2018