Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla racing to a win in her first race of the 2017/2018 season, the women’s 5 k freestyle in Gällivare, Sweden, on Friday. (Photo: Sporteventgallivare/Instagram)
Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla and Hanna Falk went 1-2 in Sweden’s season-opening International Ski Federation (FIS) race on Friday in Gällivare, with Kalla winning the women’s 5-kilometer freestyle by 8.8 seconds in 12:58.1 minutes. Falk, her teammate on the Swedish women’s team, placed second and Russia’s Yulia Belorukova took the third spot on the podium, 10.3 seconds out of first.
The host nation had three in the top four, with Ida Ingemarsdotter in fourth (+16.1). Switzerland’s Nathalie von Siebenthal finished fifth (+17.8), Russia’s Yulia Tchekaleva placed sixth (+23.4), and Russia’s Natalia Nepryaeva was seventh (+25.0).
Kikkan Randall of the U.S. Ski Team raced to eighth (+27.2), just ahead of Sweden’s Evelina Settlin in ninth (+32.0) and Russia’s Anna Nechaevskaya in 10th (+33.5). Japan’s Masako Ishida was just 0.3 seconds out of the top 10 in 11th.
In an email, Randall explained that she decided to venture to Europe earlier this year to get some racing in ahead of the World Cup.
“We also wanted a little extra time to let Breck adjust to the 10hr time change!” she wrote of her 1-year-old son, who will be traveling the World Cup circuit with Randall and her husband, Jeff Ellis, this winter.
(Article continues below)
Most of the U.S. Ski Team arrived in Rovaniemi, Finland, on Thursday, Nov. 16 (with the exception of Andy Newell, who is racing this weekend in Beitostølen, Norway, with Noah Hoffman). The rest of her teammates planned to train at the Santasport Olympic training center in Rovaniemi until Nov. 21, when the entire team will meet up in Kuusamo (also known as Ruka), Finland — the site of next weekend’s World Cup opener.
“I’m happy with my start today,” Randall wrote of Friday’s race. “It took my a couple km’s to get going today but I felt like I was finding my rhythm in the 2nd half of the course. It’s my first hard session this week after the travel over so today was a good jolt! It was a competitive field and I was satisfied to be in the mix.”
Ninety-two women raced the Gällivare 5 k skate, compared to 56 women on Friday in Beitostølen (Norway’s FIS season-opener). Randall planned to race the 10 k classic on Saturday in Gällivare, then skip Sunday’s classic sprint.
“It’s great to be back around other World Cup skiers again and I’ve always liked Gällivare so it’s nice to be back here,” she wrote. “My former wax tech lives here and has been taking great care of us. … Looking forward to meeting up with the team in Ruka next week.”
With 46 Swedes and 23 Russians accounting for most of the women’s field, Canada’s Emily Nishikawa put herself in the mix in 26th, 54.9 seconds behind Kalla. Nishikawa’s Canadian World Cup teammate Dahria Beatty placed 56th (+1:38.3).
For Nishikawa, who’s known as a distance skier, the top-30 result was notable in that a 5 k falls somewhere between a sprint and a distance race.
“5km is such a hard distance, and it is over so fast, but it is a lot of fun,” Nishikawa wrote in an email. “I have been able to work on my sprinting a bit more this summer as I have been injury free, so I’m looking forward to seeing more speed in my racing this season.”
She planned to race all three days in Gällivare, including Sunday’s sprint.
“With these races, I am just hoping to fine tune my fitness and get some hard intensity in to feel sharp for the upcoming World Cup races,” added Nishikawa, who’s entering her fifth World Cup season as a leading member of the Canadian women’s World Cup Team. “Today’s race was a really hard effort and I am happy with how I skied today.”
In the men’s 10 k freestyle on Friday, another one of the Russians sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Evgeniy Belov won in 23:08.5. He was 6.5 seconds faster than his Russian teammate Sergey Ustiugov, who placed second. Ustiugov is the defending Tour de Ski champion and Overall World Cup runner-up.
Switzerland’s Dario Cologna placed third, 7.6 seconds out of first, and Russia swept fourth through ninth, with Sweden’s Marcus Hellner following in 10th (+36.4). Out of the five actively competing skiers the IOC sanctioned earlier this month, all five raced on Friday in Gällivare, which was legal considering FIS had not ruled they can’t.
Four of those skiers are men. In addition to Belov, Maxim Vylegzhanin placed 14th (+43.2), Alexander Legkov followed in 15th (+45.9) and Alexey Petukhov finished 23rd (+56.7) out of 157 finishers on Friday.
Devon Kershaw (front) training with U.S. Ski Team sprinter Andy Newell in Sjusjøen, Norway, last week. (Photo: Noah Hoffman)
Ahead of them, Canada’s Devon Kershaw ended up 12th (+39.9), tying another Russian Artem Maltsev (who is not on the IOC-banned list) with identical times.
“My stance on the whole Russian fiasco is unchanged,” Kershaw wrote in an email, referring to a previous email he wrote to FasterSkier earlier this week when asked how he felt about the IOC-banned Russians competing in FIS events. “I find the entire thing both disturbing and hilarious. The fact that FIS is risking their credibility like this makes no sense to me. Apparently there will be an emergency meeting of sorts tomorrow about it (with FIS I’m assuming but I haven’t heard much about it) – so we’ll have to all wait and see what they come up with.
“As for seeing Belov win – I mean, that’s no surprise,” Kershaw continued. “He’s shown that he’s a force when he’s in form. But yeah, the fact that he and others have been recently banned for life by the IOC are winning races after that news came out just shows the Mickey Mouse club that our sport has become.”
As for his own race, Kershaw wrote that he felt great about it. The course suited him well without too much hard climbing. “… You kind of need to be pushing the whole way around. I really like courses like that,” he wrote.
The conditions, however, with about 10 to 15 centimeters of new snow from the early morning that continued into the race, made the course slower, which Kershaw found to be more challenging.
“But that is another reason why I am so satisfied with the effort today. Individual start skating in soft conditions? Not my favourite, so I’m happy how I was able to execute things,” he wrote. “For me to be in the mix in a 10km skate like that feels great. I had good energy all race and hit my technical goals for the race too, so I have to be satisfied.”
Kershaw and the rest of Canada’s Period 1 World Cup team arrived in Gällivare last Sunday. Over the last week, they’ve been testing equipment and getting into a race routine ahead of the World Cup opener, he explained.
“I changed various things with my training this year so it’s exciting to see how my body feels in the beginning of a new season,” Kershaw wrote. “… My goals are really to just be calm and execute well – which means going into the racing with no expectations other than to ski as technically well as possible while working on the whole pacing thing (which can be challenging at the beginning of the season when you don’t have that many races in the body). I’ll look to have another well executed race tomorrow and the results will be what they will be.”
Canada’s NorAm leader at the end of last season, Russell Kennedy (Team R.A.D.) was the next-best Canadian in 48th (+1:35.7), followed by Len Valjas (World Cup Team) in 49th (+1:37.0). Jack Carlyle (Alberta World Cup Academy) placed 67th (+2:07.2), Julien Locke (National U25 Team) was 72nd (+2:10.9), Graeme Killick (World Cup Team) 90th (+2:32.2), Brian McKeever (Para Nordic Team) 97th (+2:39.0), and Jess Cockney (World Cup Team) 119th (+3:10.7). Knute Johnsgaard (World Cup Team) did not start.
Racing continues in Gällivare this weekend with 10/15 k classic individual starts on Saturday followed by classic sprints on Sunday.
Katharine Ogden (Stratton Mountain School/U.S. Ski Team D-team) racing to fifth in the women’s 5 k freestyle at 2017 Junior Worlds on Wednesday for her best result in her third Junior Worlds. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)
(Note: This article has been updated to include comments from Americans Katharine Ogden and Taeler McCrerey, as well as Canada’s Gareth Williams.)
Katharine Ogden’s name had already been in the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association (USSA) record books, right behind Lindsey Williams, Leif Zimmerman and Torin Koos as one of the top finishers in U.S. history at Nordic Junior Worlds Championships.
Ogden, 19, of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) and U.S. Ski Team (USST) Development “D” Team, was tied with five other Americans who also placed sixth at Junior Worlds, including current World Cup skiers Andy Newell and Kikkan Randall, and Kris Freeman, who went on to finish fourth in two senior World Championships.
On Wednesday, Ogden moved up in the ranks, placing fifth for the second-best U.S. result at Junior Worlds, equalling Zimmerman and Koos.
Katharine Ogden (Stratton Mountain School/U.S. Ski Team D-team) racing to fifth in the women’s 5 k freestyle at 2017 Junior Worlds on Wednesday at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)
“I’m really psyched about my result … it was so awesome to see that I’m in a good place to stick with these top girls in the mass start race,” Ogden wrote in an email after the women’s 5-kilometer freestyle at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah.
She had previously finished sixth in the 10 k skiathlon two years ago in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
“My goal going into the 5k skate was mostly just getting a feel for how I can race in this field and on these courses so as to know how to race the skiathlon,” she explained, referring to her target race on Friday. “In the skiathalon I’m really hoping for another top 6 and maybe (hopefully) a podium.”
“It’s really encouraging to know that all those U.S. Ski Team girls that are doing so well [on the World Cup] right now were in the same place that I am at one point,” Ogden said in a post-race interview with the U.S. Ski Team.
She has her share of World Cup starts, eight to be exact, after racing the entire Ski Tour Canada — an eight-stage series that closed out the 2015/2016 international race season. This year, her fifth place on Wednesday puts her soundly within U.S. Ski Team criteria for selection to 2017 World Cup Finals, which will take place March 17-19 in Quebec City, Quebec.
But back to Junior Worlds: Ogden achieved a career best on Wednesday and was 6.5 seconds shy of a medal. Ogden started the one-lap 5 k individual start in bib 54 (of 57).
Asked what she was thinking about as she warmed up and lined up at the start, Ogden couldn’t get over how nervous she was.
“Honestly I was pretty nervous before the start of the race. That’s basically all that I was thinking about,” she wrote. “I felt good once I started racing, the nerves just went away! The course was totally awesome for me.”
While she didn’t get many splits, Ogden explained she heard just enough to know that she was with the leaders.
“That motivated me because I was aware that every second was important,” she wrote.
Just over 13 minutes later, she crossed the finish line in third, 6.5 seconds behind behind Russia’s Mariya Istomina, who was fastest across the line in bib 50. Italy’s Anna Comarella, who started 53rd, 30 seconds ahead of Ogden, came up 3.2 seconds shy of the Russian for second at the time. And Ogden was another 3.3 seconds back in third.
“I honestly didn’t have too much of a strategy,” Ogden told the U.S. Ski Team. “It was a short race, so I knew I was going to have to go hard basically from the start. But I was also trying to walk the line of not blowing up.”
The 2002 Olympic trails at Soldier Hollow peak out around 5,900 feet above sea level. That can be a doozy for most of the world that trains closer to sea level, including Ogden from Landgrove, Vt. Asked in a pre-Junior Worlds questionnaire what she was most excited for at these championships, Ogden wrote “racing at altitude.”
The women’s 5 k freestyle podium on Wednesday at 2017 Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, with Sweden’s Ebba Andersson (c) in first, Norway’s Marte Mæhlum Johansen (l) in second and Russia’s Mariya Istomina (r) in third. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)
Of the three women that started after Ogden, two of them reached the podium. Norway’s Marte Mæhlum Johansen in bib 56 bested Istomina’s time by 1.5 seconds to become the new race leader — albeit briefly. That bumped Ogden to fourth and the American ultimately placed fifth after the final starter, Sweden’s Ebba Andersson, finished 13.8 seconds faster than Johansen for the win in 12:45.4 minutes.
Andersson became a three-time Junior Worlds champion, after winning last year’s 10 k freestyle and 4 x 2.5 k freestyle relay with Sweden’s women’s team in Rasnov, Romania.
“When I was thinking about the race I made a tactic that I would have a controlled start and then power to the end and I think I succeeded,” Andersson told the U.S. Ski Team media. “The course was amazing today. It was incredible and the weather, too.”
Following the trend of the rest of the week so far, conditions were hard-packed and temperatures just below freezing on a bluebird day.
Ogden led three U.S. women in the top 20 on Wednesday, with Hannah Halvorsen (Sugar Bowl Academy/USST) in 13th (+1:01.2) and Taeler McCrerey (University of Denver) in 20th (+1:18.9). The team’s fourth woman, Hailey Swirbul (University of Alaska Anchorage) placed 31st (+1:35.5).
“My goal for this race was to pace it well so I could use my energy wisely,” Halvorsen, also a member of the USST D-team, wrote in an email. “I liked how firm and fast the course was because I could focus on skiing smooth, powerful, and relaxed. I was really happy with how things went!”
As the 22nd starter, Halvorsen initially crossed the line in second.
“I was excited to cross the line in second but I didn’t know how promising that would be with half the field still to finish,” she wrote. “I was a little bummed to not stay in the top ten but I know this was a great race for me.”
Two days earlier, in her first race of her first Junior Worlds, Halvorsen finished 11th in the classic sprint.
Also on Monday, McCrerey, a sophomore at the University of Denver, placed 40th in the classic sprint. She landed 20th on Wednesday for a career best at her first Junior Worlds.
“Today I set out to achieve my first solid race at world juniors,” McCrerey wrote in an email.
She explained that interval-start races are her strength and growing up 9,000 feet above sea level in Frisco, Colo., didn’t hurt, either.
“The 5k course is one of the most challenging I have raced at Soldier Hollow so that also benefited me,” McCrerey noted.
The 44th starter, she explained that she received splits at two parts of the race.
“The splits were surprisingly close as skiers 5-18 were all within 6 seconds of each other,” she wrote. “Unfortunately all the fast girls started behind me so I was not receiving splits off of them. Racing at ‘home’ in this big of races has been an incredible experience. It’s fun to hear people cheering for the ‘host country’ and waving the stars and stripes so proudly!
“Today was a good day,” McCrerey added. “I learned a lot about racing at this level which has made me grow as a skier. Special congratulations to my teammates Hannah and Katherine on their exceptional performances today.”
Canada had four women in 39th through 46th, with Lisle Compton (NTDC Thunder Bay) in 39th (+1:51.9), Annika Richardson (NTDC Thunder Bay/Canadian Junior Team) in 41st (+1:57.8), Claire Grall-Johnson (Nakkertok) in 42nd (+1:58.2), and India McIsaac (Rocky Mountain Racers) in 46th (+2:12.9).
Russia Sweeps Men’s Podium; Wonders 16th
The all-Russian 10 k freestyle men’s podium on Wednesday at 2017 Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow, with winner Vladislav Vechkanov (c), Egor Kazarinov (l) in second, and Yaroslav Rybochkin (r) in third. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)
After women’s race wrapped up in the morning, the men’s 10 k freestyle began at noon. Hunter Wonders, of Alaska Pacific University, led two Americans in the top 20 — finishing 16th in 24:25.8. The winner, Russia’s Vladislav Vechkanov, who had qualified fifth in the classic sprint then went on to place 10th on Monday, started in bib 59 (of 73) and posted an untouchable time of 23:08.6.
Russia swept the podium with two of Vechkanov’s teammates coming closest to him. Egor Kazarinov, the 70th starter, finished 7.9 seconds back in second, and Yaroslav Rybochkin was 13.3 seconds back in third.
For 19-year-old Vechkanov, the gold was his first medal in two Junior Worlds, after placing seventh in the skate sprint last year in Rasnov.
“I arrived at the finish and actually I didn’t think I would win gold,” he told the U.S. Ski Team media. “So I pushed knowing that I would be in top three, but not winning. I started really slow. The on the second loop I tried to increase my speed. On the last uphill I tried my best to make it to the finish line without any strength and I hoped I would be in the top three. But now I’m first!”
American Hunter Wonders (APU) racing to 16th in the men’s 10 k freestyle at 2017 Junior World Championships on Wednesday at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. (Photo: U.S. Ski Team/Steven Earl)
Wonders’s time was 1:17.2 minutes back, which put him 16th in his first Junior Worlds race. He started 25th, two minutes behind his U.S. teammate Wyatt Gebhardt, of the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club. Gebhardt ended up 19th (+1:21.9), also in his Junior Worlds debut.
Also for the U.S, Bill Harmeyer (University of Vermont) placed 29th (+2:02.6) and Lance McKenney 61st (+4:23.3).
Following Gebhardt in 19th, Canada’s Gareth Williams, of the Telemark Race Team in Kelowna, B.C., placed 20th (+1:24.6) in his first Junior Worlds race. His Canadian teammates Antoine Blais (Skibec) followed in 32nd (+2:07.8), Philippe Boucher (CNEPH) 35th (+2:10.3), and Remi Drolet (Black Jack) 50th (+2:49.1).
“This and the skiathlon were both my target races after not qualifying for Canada’s sprint team,” Williams explained in an email. “In my head I wanted to be inside the top 20 on the day, but since it is my first Worlds race I had no idea what to expect.”
Toward the end of the second lap, he started cramping.
“This made it difficult for me to give a proper finishing kick on the last few hills. I was getting splits that I was fighting for a top 20, so for me that was motivating,” Williams wrote. “Overall I am happy with the day, top 20 is something to be pleased with. Now that I have a taste of what it’s like here at Worlds, I can adjust my goals for the coming races. I hope tomorrow’s skiathlon can go equally as well, if not better.”
Katharine Ogden (Stratton Mountain School/U.S. Ski Team D-team) racing to fifth in the women’s 5 k freestyle at 2017 Junior Worlds on Wednesday for her best result in her third Junior Worlds. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)
FIS Nordic Junior World Championships (Midway, Utah): 5/10 k freestyle
Coming into 2017 Junior World Championships with a career-best individual of sixth at Junior Worlds (which she achieved in the 10-kilometer skiathlon two years ago), Katharine Ogden of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) and U.S. Ski Team (USST) D-team did one better on Wednesday, racing to fifth in the women’s 5 k freestyle individual start at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah.
Ogden started 54th and initially finished third, behind Russia’s Mariya Istomina and Italy’s Anna Comarella, respectively. That was a good spot to be in, considering there were only 57 starters.
But the final two women out on course, Norway’s Marte Mæhlum Johansen in bib 56 and Sweden’s Ebba Andersson in bib 57 ultimately bumped Ogden out of third, then fourth, respectively. Andersson took the win in 12:45.4 minutes, finishing 13.8 seconds faster than Johansen in second. Istomina held on for third (+15.3), Comarella was fourth (+18.5), and Ogden was 6.5 seconds off the podium in fifth (+21.8) for her best result in three Junior Worlds.
The U.S. had three women in the top 20 with Hannah Halvorsen (Sugar Bowl Academy/USST) in 13th (+1:01.2) and Taeler McCrerey (University of Denver) in 20th (+1:18.9). The team’s fourth woman, Hailey Swirbul (University of Alaska Anchorage) placed 31st (+1:35.5).
Lisle Compton (NTDC Thunder Bay) led the Canadian women in 39th (+1:51.9), Annika Richardson (NTDC Thunder Bay) finished 41st (+1:57.8), Claire Grall-Johnson (Nakkertok) was 42nd (+1:58.2), and India McIsaac (Rocky Mountain Racers) 46th (+2:12.9).
[UPDATED] In the men’s 10 k freestyle that followed, Vladislav Vechkanov, the fifth qualifier in Monday’s classic sprint, led a Russian podium sweep. He won in 23:08.6, 7.9 seconds ahead of his teammate Egor Kazarinov, while the third Russian, Yaroslav Rybochkin was 13.3 seconds back.
Two Americans finished in the top 20, with Hunter Wonders (Alaska Pacific University) in 16th (+1:17.2) and Wyatt Gebhardt (Steamboat Springs WSC) in 19th (+1:21.9). Also for the U.S, Bill Harmeyer (University of Vermont) placed 29th (+2:02.6) and Lance McKenney 61st (+4:23.3).
Gareth Williams (Telemark) led the Canadians in 20th (+1:24.6), Antoine Blais (Skibec) finished 32nd (+2:07.8), Philippe Boucher (CNEPH) placed 35th (+2:10.3), and Remi Drolet (Black Jack) 50th (+2:49.1)
The women’s podium at the 5 k freestyle on Friday at Stage 5 of the 2017 Tour de Ski, with two Americans: Jessie Diggins (c) in first and Sadie Bjornsen (r) in third, and Finland’s Krista Parmakoski in second. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)
Lining up at the start of the women’s 5-kilometer freestyle individual start on Friday, it was a different Jessie Diggins than a year ago. Here the American was, again in Toblach, Italy, again in the third-to-last stage of the Tour de Ski, again about to race another one of those rare formats on the World Cup circuit: the 5 k individual.
But this time last year, she had never won a World Cup, let alone reached the podium in an individual race. Thirteen minutes later (well, more than that, after all of the 5 k racers had finished), that all changed.
This time around, reporters asked her leading up to the 5 k freestyle whether this race was hers to lose. She joked that she was shooting for a top 23.
“I did feel that I was working hard to not put a lot of pressure on myself,” Diggins recalled on the phone after Friday’s race, Stage 5 of the 2017 Tour de Ski. “… Of course I want to go out there and win. I believed in myself, I believed in the team, I believed in the techs, so I knew that if everything went well, I knew I could win. But I didn’t want to make this bigger than big, crazy, pressure-filled day.”
So she woke up and went for a jog, “did a little happy dance,” and prepared as she would any other race day.
“When an athlete is in the top five, you get asked some pretty aggressive questions,” U.S. Ski Team Women’s Coach Matt Whitcomb said on the phone after Friday’s race. “They just want to focus on skiing the best race possible, but the media is asking you if you plan to defend your title. So I think [Jessie has] developed a really professional approach to some of the harder questions that she’s getting asked in these flash interviews just before the races. She’s saying, ‘Yeah, I do plan to defend my title,’ but just because you say that, it doesn’t mean you’re betting your house. You’re identifying that you are going to go out there and race with all you have.”
Per her request, Diggins started 12th on Friday in a field of 40 women remaining in the Tour.
“I asked the coaches to start me as early as possible for no other reason than I didn’t want splits,” she recalled. “It didn’t matter to me. I just wanted to go and race.”
Jessie Diggins (U.S. Ski Team) racing to first for her third-straight 5 k freestyle victory on Friday at Stage 5 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. Diggins won her first World Cup race in the Toblach 5 k one year ago. She remains fifth in the Tour standings with two stages to go. (Photo: Salomon/NordicFocus)
One 5 k lap and 12:45.6 minutes later, Diggins finished as the new race leader, 14.9 seconds faster than Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla in bib 10. It was almost exactly 30 seconds faster than Diggins’s time on the same course last year.
She was psyched, but had no idea if it would be fast enough to stay in first. Either way, she had to race again the next day, so Diggins proceeded to gather her clothes and begin her recovery routine, starting with a snack.
By the time Diggins returned to the finish area, she realized that her time not only stood, but her fellow U.S. Ski Team member Sadie Bjornsen was contending for a podium as well. Bjornsen started 26th and initially finished second, 0.3 seconds ahead of Kalla and 14.6 seconds behind Diggins. By the time Diggins reached her teammate, Bjornsen was third after being bumped by Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski, who was still 13.6 seconds off Diggins’s time.
“I came back just as Krista finished and bumped her down one, but we were still just like, it’s gonna happen, it’s gonna happen,” Diggins said of Bjornsen’s first career podium. “And we were just so excited, jumping up and down. I hugged Sadie and she started crying and then I started crying. It was so cool because if the whole team can celebrate like that … when you win by yourself, that’s fun, and people are psyched and stuff. When more than one person’s on the podium, then the whole team really celebrates. It’s a different feeling and it’s way cooler and I love it a lot.”
Sadie Bjornsen (U.S. Ski Team) after placing third for her first career World Cup podium on Friday in the 5 k freestyle at Stage 5 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. She is now ninth in the Tour standings. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)
“At first I couldn’t believe it,” Bjornsen recalled on the phone about her third-place finish, which became official not too long after she celebrated with Diggins.
“Two months ago, I was struggling so much that I wasn’t sure if I would be starting on the World Cup,” she said of painful bone spurs in her heels. “The emotions of what it took to get there comes to you at that point. … I had to wait till Heidi [Weng of Norway] came in to seal the deal.”
Bjornsen’s reality began to set in once Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (who entered Friday ranked third overall in the Tour) finished seventh, 8.9 seconds off Bjornsen’s time and 23.5 seconds behind Diggins. Then the last starter, Norway’s Heidi Weng (previously ranked second in the Tour) crossed the line in fifth, 2.9 seconds slower than Bjornsen and 17.5 seconds off Diggins’s winning time. That bumped Østberg to eighth (and subsequently everyone else after Weng down one place as well).
So that was that. Diggins defended her victory in the Toblach stage one year later and notched her third-consecutive 5 k win, which ties the record set by Russia’s Elena Välbe in the 1990s (for the most 5 k freestyle victories in a row), according to an International Ski Federation (FIS) press release.
Also of note, Friday marked the 17th World Cup win for the U.S. women’s team. According to FIS, 13 of those wins came in sprints. The four others were a 3 k freestyle prologue (won by Kikkan Randall at the 2012/2013 Tour de Ski) and now three 5 k skate races (all won by Diggins in the past year).
“The skill we are all trying to accomplish, to acquire, is to become a faster ski racer, and also how to win, and how to be not such an emotional and taxing process,” Whitcomb explained. “It’s a big deal. There’s a lot of responsibilities along with success, so the difference between [Diggins] this year and last year is her dealing with these little pieces of the equation that come with being a ski racer, and particularly a successful ski racer.”
As for Bjornsen’s podium, he said that was expected.
“Not in a way that would put pressure on Sadie, but in a way that … we believe in her,” Whitcomb said. “She’s an incredible competitor. For it to finally come together in an individual race, Sadie’s been on the podium numbers of times [in team events] and with teammates. To have it happen in a distance event, in an individual race, that’s very special.”
“It feels so good to get my first individual podium… but even more special to get that first one with a teammate on top,” Bjornsen wrote in an email. “All the girls on this team are an inspiration to me. We are dreamers, but we are also believers. It’s crazy how much confidence you can get from a teammate’s success if you allow yourself to stand beside them.”
‘What Would Jessie Diggins Do?’
Jessie Diggins celebrating her third career win (in three-consecutive 5 k freestyle races) as well as double podium for the U.S. women with teammate Sadie Bjornsen (not shown) in third on Friday at Stage 5 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. (Photo: Salomon/Nordic Focus)
In terms of the 5 k itself, it was one you couldn’t attack like a sprint. Or else you’d die, Diggins said. Then she laughed. “Well, probably not die, but you know, I’m feeling dramatic at the moment,” she jested.
Same ol’ Diggins after all. At 25, the Minnesota native simply has seven more podiums and three more wins than she did before last year’s Toblach 5 k.
All kidding aside, Diggins said it was important to be mindful of Toblach’s altitude, some 4,500 feet above sea level. Also, the first half of the course is a bit of a grinding, winding uphill, she said.
“If you finish the very first climb, and you’re like, I nailed it, now I really need to tuck for a minute, you don’t get that [in Toblach],” Diggins said. “So I guess you do have to ski each section fast, but with enough gas in the tank that you can finish hard.”
Before the race, Diggins made a plan that included breaking the course into sections and attacking every part of it to the best of her ability.
“Instead of thinking about splits or worrying about what anyone else was doing, I was just thinking, right now I need to V2 this climb as well and technically good as I can, and then I’m going to corner on the fastest part of the snow possible, and then I’m going to ski this downhill in a tiny tuck,” she reflected. “Just really dissecting the course, and focusing on each second. I guess Matt [Whitcomb] would probably call that being in the flow.”
Diggins found her rhythm, as did Bjornsen, who came close to a podium three days earlier with her previous career best of fifth on Tuesday in the Stage 3 skiathlon.
Sadie Bjornsen (U.S. Ski Team) racing to her first career World Cup podium on Friday at Stage 5 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. She placed third in the 5 k freestyle. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)
“All this time, it’s like, I know I can do that, it’s just a matter of doing it,” Bjornsen said.
She had been waiting for this moment all her life, but felt particularly ready for a breakthrough after getting sick in France in mid-December. Then at Stage 2 of the Tour de Ski in Val Müstair, Switzerland, she said she went out to win the 5 k classic mass start, but ended up 35th, outside the top 20 for the first time this season. Bjornsen said she “exploded” because of the altitude, which crushed her confidence.
“I had to work hard to get mentally back in the game and that confidence from that fifth was huge for me,” she said of Tuesday’s 10 k skiathlon. “And I was like, that’s crazy in skating that I can be that strong. After that I was like, I should believe in myself.”
Throughout the race, she told herself two things: “Stay strong Sadie,” and “What would Jessie Diggins do?” Bjornsen wrote. “There is so much work on the second half of the race, and Jessie is just amazing at being strong on that section … so I was imagining her the whole second half in front of me, and it seemed to have worked”
A year ago, Bjornsen blew up on this course and hung on for the second half for 13th at the finish. Not too shabby, but she had been out to win.
“Last year I told people, ‘I’m going out there to win,’ and at the time that was maybe a little bit of a joke because I hadn’t had too much skating success…,” she said.
This time, she decided to have more of a plan and told herself Friday’s race would be 12 minutes of solid work without any rests. Mostly, she told herself to back off slightly early on. At one point, she was concerned she started too hard.
That made Bjornsen laugh later on Friday as she considered her splits. At 1.6 k, her time ranked 10th and by 2.1 k, she was 12th overall. But by 3.4 k, she was back in the mix in fifth out of the 40 finishers. (Diggins paced it similarly, with the seventh-fastest split at 1.6 k and fourth-fastest at 2.1 k, before taking the lead for good at 3.4 k.)
“I finished and I was like, hmm, I wonder how that went,” Bjornsen said, after specifically requesting no splits during her race, like Diggins. “I wanted to go out there today and see how strong I could be inside my head. I love this course, but pacing is important, and I wanted to do my own thing.”
Then she saw Randall’s husband Jeff Ellis, who conducts televised post-race interviews for FIS, at the finish. He showed her the live results on his phone. Bjornsen couldn’t believe it. She sat down, and a few moments later she started walking out of the finishing pen.
“One of the [finish-area officials] told me I should stick around and I was like, ‘Really?’ I didn’t think that was necessary,” Bjornsen recalled.
Then Østberg finished, and she realized her result was for real.
The women’s podium at the 5 k freestyle on Friday at Stage 5 of the 2017 Tour de Ski, with two Americans: Jessie Diggins (c) in first and Sadie Bjornsen (r) in third, and Finland’s Krista Parmakoski in second. (Photo: Salomon/Nordic Focus)
“We were just so giddy,” Diggins recalled of the moments following the race, including a cool-down jog together before standing on the podium. “… I remember how psyched she was for me last year when I got my first one, and I was so psyched for her. It was cool to share that experience.”
They shared that moment with the rest of their team as well.
“As one of the U.S. coaches, as you approach the media zone, people just make way for you,” Whitcomb said of the experience of having an athlete, especially two athletes, on the podium. “They move their huge television cameras so you can experience a piece of that podium, and make sure you get your little picture on your iPhone, too, and having the opportunity to share it with them.
“What’s also special … what makes our team different the most, is right behind me, hopping over fences is Rosie and Liz and Kikkan, who managed to see the podium ceremony as well,” Whitcomb said of U.S. women’s team members Rosie Brennan, who placed 23rd (+43.3), Liz Stephen, who placed 32nd (+49.7), and Randall, who placed 40th (+1:38.6), on Friday.
“You don’t see other teammates out there very often; that’s something we take a lot of pride in, making sure to really take a moment to celebrate the success of your teammates,” Whitcomb said. “It’s easy to say, but hard to do.”
Brennan reflected on her first glance at the live results. When she got as far down as Bjornsen, she stopped before finding her own name.
“At that point, Sadie was sitting in second and Jessie was winning,” Brennan said on the phone. “I was like, ‘Oh my god!’ It was crazy ’cause literally in that second, it was the best my legs had felt all day. I got a flush of really good feelings, so then I ran back out to find them. So I didn’t know how I finished until much later.”
Beyond being incredibly excited for both her teammates, Brennan said it was inspirational seeing her year-round training partner at Alaska Pacific University, Bjornsen, finally reach the World Cup podium.
“I know how hard she works for it, and I know a lot of the challenges that she’s had to overcome to get there,” Brennan said. “It gives me a huge sense of confidence because I train with her … and I know that it’s possible for all of us to be there, and it just makes me believe in my program and what we have going on. It’s huge for everybody.”
During the women’s race, Bjornsen’s younger brother and teammate, Erik Bjornsen, was in the car en route to the next World Cup stop in Val di Fiemme, Italy, with teammate Noah Hoffman, but followed the live timing online.
“I kind of feel like I won today just because Sadie had such an outstanding race!” Bjornsen wrote in an email. “I’ve pretty much trained beside her since we started taking this sport seriously. I’ve seen her make steady improvements over the years, but this summer/fall she took another big step in her skating. I’d never seen a girl ski that nicely and I knew she was going to get some podiums this year. … She’s a ridiculously dedicated and hard worker, she deserved that result more than anyone!”
“It was an incredible day,” Stephen wrote in an email. “Seeing anyone’s first individual podium is always a really special thing. Sadie has worked so hard on her skating and distance skiing and to see it pay off is really amazing, and it will not be her last. As for Jessie, Toblach is decidedly her course! Two years in a row taking the win, and today by a wide margin is a pretty fun thing to see. Our girls are on fire and it is a momentum for the team to latch onto for sure.”
Weng New Tour Leader, Diggins 5th, Bjornsen 9th
Overall, Diggins kept her spot in fifth in the Tour, 1:23.3 seconds behind Weng as the new Tour leader with two stages in Val di Fiemme to go. Østberg is up to second overall, 11.1 seconds back, and Sweden’s Stina Nilsson slipped to third (+16.3) — after starting in the Tour leader’s bib — when she finished 20th (40.5 seconds behind Diggins).
Pärmäkoski remains in fourth overall, 36.8 seconds out of first and 20.5 seconds off the podium.
In an interview with iltalehti.fi, Pärmäkoski said she was surprised to be on the podium and felt it was more of a reflection of others being tired. Either way, she said a podium on Friday was an important step in her quest for a top overall finish.
“The weekend, with respect to everything, is open,” she said, according to a loose translation. “But the chances are good.”
“I guess I never expected to see that,” she said. “I mean you hope and you dream, and you train your butt off, but that was definitely a crazy thing, to realize that I could win by [not] just squeaking through, and I’m still trying to process that I guess.”
Bjornsen picked up three places for ninth overall in the Tour, 3:18.1 out of first and 6.8 seconds behind Germany’s Nicole Fessel in eighth.
“I’m just trying to think about each day individually,” Bjornsen said, “because as soon as I start thinking about overall, I get too nervous. Tomorrow’s another awesome race for me so I’m excited. I’m trying to conserve energy through this exciting time.”
The women race a 10 k classic mass start on Saturday followed by a 9 k freestyle hill climb up Alpe Cermis on Sunday to end the Tour.
“Every race is totally different. It’s a new opportunity, a new chance, so I’m going to go out tomorrow and go as hard as I can,” Diggins said. “I know that my fitness is in a great place. I have belief in myself that way. I think I just need to be focusing on my technique, as always. It was really weird, I had people ask me, ‘Will you be conservative tomorrow before the final [hill climb]?’ And I’m like, ‘When do you ever start a race and not plan on giving everything you have?’ I’m definitely going to go out there and race as hard as I can, and do my best, and then after, I’ll recover and then I’ll look forward to the next stage.”
Brennan Back in the Points
Also on track to finish out the Tour, Brennan notched her best result of the first five stages in 23rd, 43.3 seconds back from Diggins. Her split times were consistent, yet gradually faster, clocking in at 27th, 24th, and 23rd overall after she started 15th, a minute and 30 seconds after Diggins.
“We had really good skis … and I’ve raced this course quite a few times now, so I guess I had some familiarity with how it works, kind of how I wanted ski it,” Brennan said. “My legs felt absolutely horrible all day today. I was just trying to not think so much about how my body felt because it’s an individual start and you never know what’s going to happen. … I had no idea how well I was doing … and it worked out. It was great.”
U.S. Ski Team member Rosie Brennan (43) racing to a season-best World Cup result of 22nd in the 10 k freestyle mass start on Dec. 17 in La Clusaz, France. (Photo: Toko/NordicFocus)
Previously this season, Brennan placed 22nd in the 10 k freestyle at the World Cup in La Clusaz, France. That cemented her decision to stick around for the Tour de Ski.
“I really like the Tour format, it’s something that I think suits me pretty well, so it was definitely something that I had on my goals for the year,” she said.
“I’ve had a pretty rough Tour, and the last two days in Oberstdorf were particularly rough for me, and I was starting to wonder what the hell was going on,” Brennan explained. “I tried to start over fresh and just try to be like strong in my head, so I was really glad to see that I still had that, and that works, and I still had something in me.”
“We have two more days of racing so I don’t know how that will affect it,” she said of her overall World Cup standing. “It depends on how I do and how the people around me do. Any day you can score points, it’s going to help you.”
According to Whitcomb, he and Brennan discussed World Championships qualifying the night before.
“Last night we talked, just kind of cleared the air and discussed how qualifying for World Championships is a stressful thing, and the fact that we had made the commitment to this tour, which means that you can’t go home and try and prove it at nationals anymore, you’re in it,” Whitcomb said. “Rosie went into this race trying to focus just on it, through a fresh lens, without the stress of the disappointing races she’s had so far in this tour. .. It’s one thing to say what you’re going to do, but to actually execute it is challenging.
“I think she did that today, and skied fantastically,” he continued. “It was really impressive also to watch her work the downhills and generate speed on false-flat downhill sections … areas where someone like Jessie can really crank, that’s not one of Rosie’s strengths. Her jam is the gradual uphill … It was almost one of the most satisfying races of the day, for our team, was to see Rosie break out like that. … However World Championships selection shapes up, she’s certainly gotten two very competitive results. She’s feeling better about herself going into tomorrow.”
Liz Stephen (U.S. Ski Team) racing at the Lillehammer World Cup last month. (Photo: Toko/NordicFocus)
The fourth U.S. woman continuing on in the Tour, Stephen finished 32nd to move up one spot to 25th (+5:01.7) overall.
“I was shooting for a top 20 today, but was satisfied with my position, given how hard I skied and how mentally engaged I was today,” Stephen wrote. “My overall standing in the Tour this year is not where I would like it to be, but it is not over and I won’t stop trying to catch people until we cross the finish on the top of Cermis!”
Randall finished 40th to slip from 10th to 22nd overall (+4:44.9). On the rest day before Stage 5, Randall decided she would be finished with the Tour after today.
“I actually felt pretty good going into today’s stage,” Randall reflected in an email. “I had a good ski yesterday and felt fresh on my jog last night. It’s been fun to race back-to-back just to get so many opportunities to race and work on getting the feelings back. My body has seemed to handle it pretty well but maybe today was one race too many.”
Kikkan Randall (U.S. Ski Team) finishing Friday’s 5 k freestyle in 40th at Stage 5 of the Tour de Ski, which put her 22nd overall. The night before, Randall planned to withdraw from the Tour after that stage in Toblach, Italy. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)
Her plan all along had been to stop after the fourth or fifth stage of the Tour.
“I decided yesterday that I would stop after today’s stage and rest up for next weekend’s sprints here in Toblach,” Randall explained. “It was actually a little harder decision to stop than anticipated since my overall result in the tour was going so well. But I felt that a partial tour and sprints next weekend would be the best prep for my biggest goals of the season in Lahti.”
Randall will spend the next week in Toblach preparing for the next weekend’s regular-season World Cup individual and team sprints there Jan. 14-15.
“This season is really a big experiment to see how my body returns from having the baby,” she explained. “I’m happy with some of my results here during the tour in which I felt better race feelings coming around. My biggest goals of the season are still focused on finding top form in the world championships and all the decisions around racing are being geared towards then.”
Whitcomb reiterated that the team “took a gamble” in choosing Randall for the Tour.
“She had not scored any points before the Tour de Ski, so we saw it as more of an investment in her winter, to get her these starts, that fixed start position,” he said. “It meant that other skiers who had scored World Cup points were not able to be selected, but that’s one of those decisions that’s painfully hard to make, and I think Kikkan really made the most of it with having some really breakout results, and we feel good about things.
“The goal of the Tour de Ski, for Kikkan and a few of these other people, is not necessarily to finish it, but to have some great races and to use it in what ways we can to prepare for the later in the season,” he continued. “Most specifically, the World Championships. The Tour de Ski is, for a lot of these athletes, is a separation tool we use to build some fitness, and then recover, and move into Period 2.”
“We’ve known Jessie would be strong in this race but I’m especially psyched for Sadie,” Randall continued. “She’s been qualifying so well in sprints this season and now she took it all the way through 5km. All fall she was battling problems with her heels but she stayed focused, didn’t get deterred and now she’s flying!
“I vividly remember the joy and excitement of getting those first podiums and it makes me so happy to see the girls get to experience that for themselves,” she added. “I’m glad I have played a part in helping them succeed and it’s such satisfying vindication for our whole program and everyone that helps contribute to USA’s success!”
Asked how the U.S. team usually celebrates a World Cup podium, Bjornsen said they usually have “some sort of little toast.”
“I don’t know if it will happen [tonight], but it will happen at the end of the Tour,” Bjornsen said.
Jessie Diggins (U.S. Ski Team) loving on her Salomon boards after placing second in Tuesday’s 10 k skiathlon at Stage 3 of the Tour de Ski in Oberstdorf, Germany. (Photo: Salomon/NordicFocus)
A little more than four years ago, a group of women clad in all black race suits and bib 3 huddled in an athlete warming room. The muffled voice of an announcer speaking in Swedish could be heard broadcasting outside, an English translation relaying the same message: 10 minutes to start.
The quartet departed the building, four blondes — one highlighted pink — headed for the start gate. A pass through a patch of sunlight revealed a second similarity. Cheeks swiped in sparkles, artwork courtesy of the then and now, youngest U.S. Ski Team (USST) A-team member, Jessie Diggins.
Diggins would go on to anchor the team in what became a historic cross-country World Cup relay for the U.S. — it was the first time an American women’s team reached the podium, with the group finishing in third overall.
The U.S. women (l-r Kikkan Randall, Holly Brooks, Jessie Diggins, and Liz Stephen) after their first ever World Cup relay podium in November 2012. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)
It could be said that the game-face glitter and a give-it-all relay leg performance from Diggins was the kickstarter of her World Cup career.
For the next few years, team races such as the above, would become some of the Afton, Minn., native’s favorite, and arguably, better performances. Her first individual podium came almost exactly a year ago at the 2015/2016 Tour de Ski.
“For years, I would pull out these awesome performances on relay day and I was like, ‘Oh my God, where did that come from?’ ” Diggins said during a phone conversation in November.
Now, at 25 years old, Diggins has reached the World Cup podium 13 times. Of the eight individual podiums, six occurred last season. The other two more recent: her win in the 5 k freestyle race last month and her second place finish in Tuesday’s Stage 3 skiathlon in Obsterdorf, Germany.
With close to five years of World Cup racing now under her belt, Diggins explained that while her love for team racing and facepaint has not changed, her mental approach toward individual races has. Part of the difference stemmed from her discovery that her individual effort is no less important than the one she puts forth for the team.
“I finally realized it’s OK to race that hard in an individual race, too,” she said. “Like that doesn’t make me a bad person for wanting to do it for myself and for my hometown and for all the people cheering for me.”
That said, Diggins is not bent on lining up and looking for the win at the start of every ski race this season. Her focus, as she indicated, will be where it matters: the Tour de Ski — which she currently ranks fifth in — and 2017 World Championships in Lahti, Finland.
“You’re not going to be able to race to the point of being barely conscious 40 times,” Diggins said, predicting that, if this season matches last year’s competition count, she’ll probably tackle close to 40 ski races. “I’m going to get ready for the big races, like the tours, World Championships, the ones that are the most important to me.”
Left to right: American Jessie Diggins with Norway’s Kari Øyre Slind and Ragnhild Haga after a strength training session with the Norwegian ski team this summer. (Photo: Roar Hjelmeset)
A firm believer in the role every individual plays within the team structure, Diggins described her part within the women’s USST as that of a “spark plug.” While some individuals show strength in race analytics, others psychological breakdown, hers comes as enthusiasm for the sport itself, which includes her signature sparkles.
“You know, everyone has very unique skills that they bring to the table and mine is energetic optimism,” Diggins said. “I’m kind of the cheerleader of the team, if you will, covered in glitter. My job is to make the team, get people excited about what we’re doing.”
Diggins does her job well. As an athlete ambassador for Fast and Female, once again aiding with the ‘dance and endurance’ station at this fall’s annual event in Park City, Utah, she acted as inspiration for more than 160 girls in attendance.
Her enthusiasm for the sport is also proactive. Before last season came to a close, she approached the Norwegian women’s head coach at the time, Egil Kristiansen, at the Ski Tour Canada, proposing the notion of her joining his Norwegian team for a summer training camp.
Three months after her conversation, Diggins received an email from Norway’s new women’s head coach, Roar Hjelmeset, listing training camps she could attend.
“If you want to be the best, why not go train with the best?” Diggins said of why she chose Norway.
With many of the Norwegian women a similar age as herself (to include some of Norway’s leading talent: Heidi Weng, Maiken Caspersen Falla and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg), and the potential of racing alongside these same athletes for the next few years, Diggins also saw an opportunity to create connections as more than just competitors.
“If you want to be the best, why not go train with the best?” — Jessie Diggins on spending a week training with the Norwegian national team
“Why not make good friends and have a coffee buddy in between races on the World Cup?” Diggins said. “I love making friends and learning more cultural things. It’s about more than just skiing, I guess, for me.”
Her time in Norway gave her more than just a few extra World Cup coffee buddies. She was also able to compare notes on Norway’s training strategies with those of the U.S. What she found was, surprisingly, there were no big secrets. Much of the training she did with the Norwegians mirrored work she’d done at camps on North American soil.
“The training we did over there in Norway was almost identical to what we did at our Bend camp,” Diggins said of the U.S. Ski Team’s annual spring camp. “We just need to believe in ourselves as a nation and know that eventually we will get there too.”
It wasn’t that her Norwegian counterparts were doing more intervals than what she was used to or even longer. What it did come down to, according to Diggins, was the complete conviction with which they approached their training plan, even if it meant doing less than others around them.
“They go into every workout with this awesome confidence, like what I’m doing today is the right thing for me and it’s going to make me faster and I’m going to kick ass,” Diggins said. “It’s just a really good mindset I really admire.
“It’s really hard because a lot of us are wired in that more, more, more, more is better,” she added. “It’s my job to train, so I’ll just train a ton. But it doesn’t always make you faster, unfortunately. Or else it be super easy and we’d all be winning World Cups.”
As she continues to become a regular podium contender and challenger of Norwegian names, Diggins proves that the trust she has placed in her training is not to be taken lightly. With another individual win added to her first one from last year, Diggins doesn’t doubt her ability do it for herself or her team.
“Last year was a big confidence boost,” she said. “Now [coming into this season], I know that I can do it, because I’ve done it before.”
***
We asked Diggins to give our ’17 Questions for 2017′ a go. Here are her responses:
1. Biggest change in your life in the last five or so months since the ski season ended?
Not a whole lot has changed! I’m still a ski bum living out of my suitcase, and the longest I’ve been in one place was 3 weeks in a row. I guess the biggest change is that I can now pack up my life in under an hour (yep, I clocked it).
2. Biggest change in your training?
I’m still slowly getting better at finding the line between training a lot and recovering from it before moving on, and paying a lot of attention to how I’m feeling day to day is something that’s helped me a lot over the past year.
3. Major areas of improvement you’ve seen so far?
Classic technique! I’ve been putting a lot of work into classic over the years and I’m finally feeling as comfortable striding as I am skating. I can’t believe I just wrote that.
4. Whom you’ve been working closest with this offseason (coaches or training partners)?
I work with a lot of people! Jason Cork has been my personal coach (and tech!) for a looooong time, and I also train and work with the USST coaches and athletes. I spend the summer bouncing between USST camps and living and training with my teammates at SMS and our SMS team coach, Pat. Basically, I love working with everyone. I even got a special trip to Norway to train with their National team girls, and I had such a great camp with them. I firmly believe that the more we can get together and help each other get better and faster, the better everyone will be!
5. Best trip in the last five months (and why)?
I have a serious thing for New Zealand. We had another amazing training camp there this August, and I love everything about that country! The training was amazing with 35km of groomed trails, the food was spectacular, the views were inspiring and the people were super friendly.
6. Favorite cross-training?
I like long adventure runs. Point to point, NOT out and back, please.
Jessie Diggins (r) with her boyfriend, Wade, during a trip to Winnipeg, Manitoba, this summer. (Courtesy photo)
7. Favorite non-athletic activity or pastime this summer?
Spending time with my boyfriend in Boston, and my family in Minnesota! There are a lot of pretty amazing people in my life, and I like being around them as often as I can.
8. Song that was your jam this summer?
“Handclap” by Fitz and the Tantrums got me through my own set of glacier skiing tantrums 🙂
9. All-time favorite race moment?
OH man. There are so many! Every relay I’ve ever been a part of is a great memory for me…even the times we really blew it 🙂 But it’s a tie between the moment I crossed the finish line and barreled right into Sophie, Sadie and Liz’s arms in Nove Mesto, and when Kikkan and I won the World Champs team sprint relay. Those were days when the whole team was jumping up and down!
10. First thing you pack in your bag when you leave for Europe?
Glitter. Aeropress coffee maker. Peanut butter/Almond butter and American Gum (I swear, it’s different. And very important!). But the first thing is always glitter for race days
11. Venue/event you’re most excited to visit this season?
I am really excited to see the new one in Ulricehamn, Sweden. It’ll be fun to see a new place!
12. Who will win the men’s and women’s World Cup titles this year?
Your guess is as good as mine!
13. Biggest sacrifice you feel you’ve made choosing this career path?
Being far away from the people I love in my life. I’m a cuddly, got-to-be-with-you-there-in-person kind of person, and it’s hard to be gone so much. Thank goodness for Skype, but it’s not the same when you really need a hug from home.
14. If you could change one thing about your sport, what would it be?
Have more World Cups in North America, and finally bring some back to the US! Our sport is growing and it would be incredible to bring all the exciting action back home to keep the next generation of skiers fired up.
15. What did you have for breakfast this morning?
Oatmeal with berries, nuts, yogurt and local honey made by my friends at home! Lucky me.
16. In 5 years, I’ll be ____?
Still racing the World Cups, of course!
17. In 50 years, I’ll be ____?
Embarrassing my grandkids by dressing up, glittering my cheeks and skiing the Slumberland American Birkie.
Katharine Ogden (SMS/USST) racing to an 11-second win in the women’s 5 k freestyle FIS race on Friday in West Yellowstone, Mont. (Photo: Ian Harvey/Toko)
The first official cross-country ski races of the season in the Lower 48 were held Friday in West Yellowstone, Mont., and for the first time in a long time, they weren’t U.S. SuperTour races.
But they were International Ski Federation (FIS) sanctioned and once again a big part of the West Yellowstone Ski Festival, which has been known to attract 3,500 skiers and has been an early season tradition for more than 30 years.
Paddy Caldwell, of the U.S. Ski Team’s D-team, Dartmouth College and the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) T2 Team, won the men’s 10-kilometer freestyle on Friday at the Rendezvous Ski Trails. He bested nearly 90 in the men’s race, putting down the fastest time in 20:32.4 minutes, which was 26.7 seconds ahead of runner-up Rogan Brown, of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF). Mads Strøm, a Norwegian-born University of Colorado-Boulder (CU) senior and two-time NCAA champion, placed third, 31.1 seconds behind Caldwell.
Just 0.2 seconds off the podium, Sun Valley’s Jack Hegman placed fourth (+31.3), and Ben Lustgarten, of theCraftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP), was close behind in fifth (+32.4), as was Silas Talbot, of the Bridger Ski Foundation (BSF) Elite Team, in fifth (+37.4).
Rounding out the top 10, Karsten Hokanson (Montana State University) placed seventh (+53.6), Patrick Johnson (Far West) was eighth (+56.7), and Norway’s Petter Reistad (CU) and Welly Ramsey (Farmington Ski Club) tied for ninth (+57.6). Oscar Ivars (University of Utah) took the next spot in 11th (+1:01.5).
In the women’s 5 k freestyle, Katharine Ogden, another U.S. Ski Team (USST) D-team member who trains with SMS, took the win. She beat out CU’s Petra Hyncicova, originally from the Czech Republic, by 11.8 seconds with a winning time of 11:45. One of Ogden’s training partners, Erika Flowers (SMST2) placed third (+13.3).
Craftsbury’s Liz Guiney took fourth (+19.4), Jennie Bender (BSF) was fifth (+22.4), Mary Rose (SVSEF) sixth (+27.0), Anne Hart (SMST2) seventh (+32.8), Christina Rolandsen (CU) eighth (+34.7), Kaitlynn Miller (CGRP) ninth (+36.5), and Hannah Halvorsen (Sugar Bowl Elite Team/USST D-team) 10th (+36.8) in a tighter women’s field, which included 76 finishers.
FIS racing continues at the Rendezvous Trails on Saturday, with 5/10 k classic races scheduled.
In related news, the first SuperTour races of the season — which were supposed to take place next weekend, Dec. 3-4 — were canceled. At the top of the Bridger Ski Foundation’s SuperTour event page, it now reads: “Bozeman SuperTour Cancelled: Due to lack of snowfall the races are not able to be run.” The SuperTour opener doubled as the first races of the Canadian NorAm season as well.
Just like in the U.S., Cross Country Canada (CCC) intended to use Bozeman as part of its selection races for 2017 World Championships and the Continental Cup leader (COC) World Cup spots. Now instead of considering an athlete’s best three results out of seven race days, CCC will consider three out of five.
“Bozeman was part of our NorAm COC series selection process; however now that Bozeman is cancelled it’s not in the picture,” CCC High Performance Director Thomas Holland wrote in an email to FasterSkier on Friday night.
“Are you ready for some more West Yellowstone fun? ‘Cuz we’re hosting the SuperTour next weekend December 3 & 4,” the post read. “Saturday Freestyle Sprints, Sunday 15k/10k Classic; 5k U16 Classic. Registration site is in progress but will be on ysfraces.athlete360.com. And can you volunteer? Send us a message at info@skirunbikemt.com to give us your info. Thanks!”
“The altitude at West Yellowstone is too high to use it as a selection race for the Canadian team – will not count for the FIS COC series,” Holland wrote.
We’ll post more information as it becomes available.
FasterSkier’s Collegiate Skiers of 2016: Mads Strøm and Linn Eriksen. (photo: Curtis Snyder of the CU Sports Information Dept. and Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos).
With the 2015/2016 season officially in the rearview, FasterSkier is excited to unveil its annual award winners for this past winter. Votes stem from the FS staff, scattered across the U.S. and Canada, and while not scientific, they are intended to reflect a broader sense of the season in review.
We kicked off the series Monday with Juniors of 2016: Katharine Ogden and Sean Doherty. This second set of honors goes to outstanding male and female skiers on the U.S. NCAA collegiate circuit.
***
Mads Strøm, University of Colorado-Boulder
Even after tallying four wins in a row and six victories this past season, the University of Colorado-Boulder (CU) junior Mads Ek Strøm was still nervous before his final competitions of the 2016 college race season.
Nerves, however, didn’t stand a chance with the 24-year-old Norwegian.
By the time he finished the men’s 10-kilometer freestyle — the first of two nordic races at the NCAA Skiing Championships event this year in Steamboat Springs, Colo. — Strøm had skied to his seventh win of the season and fifth win in a row, securing himself as the most distinguished CU skier of all time.
Prior to Strøm, the most season wins accomplished by a CU skier were six, set first in 1989 by Per Kare Jakobsen and then again in 1999 by Ove Erik Tronvoll.
“I was so nervous,” Strøm said of coming into the 10 k, according to CUBuffs.com. “I just had to find good skis, good pacing, and push it as hard as possible. It was definitely the best win of the year. Pulling it off when it matters the most is great.”
An Oslo native, Strøm began attending CU in 2014. He made his debut on the NCAA Championships podium during his freshman year, when he won the 2014 men’s 20 k freestyle race at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah.
One podium only warranted more. After his freshman year, Strøm continued to chase the top spots, garnering 25 career podium finishes and 13 individual titles by the time he won this year’s men’s 10 k event, according to CU’s Sport Information Specialist Curtis Snyder.
However, Strøm’s goal for this college season wasn’t to win just one of the NCAA Championships races. He wanted both.
“Obviously I wanted to win,” Strøm had told FasterSkier after he finished second in the men’s 15 k classic mass start Sun Valley SuperTour in December — before the college season started. “I haven’t gotten quite there yet because I have been training almost 100 hours every month since May. I’ve planned that in one month from now I’m going to be in better shape and my plan is to win both races at NCAA’s.”
Strøm’s plan to wait and win worked. When he crossed the finish line first in the men’s 20 k classic mass start, the second nordic race of NCAA Championships, Strøm accomplished his season goal and much more.
After winning eight out of 12 races in the collegiate race schedule, Strøm now holds the record for most season victories of any CU skier, alpine or nordic.
“He became the fifth CU skier to sweep the individual NCAA Championships in program history, joining John Skajem (alpine, 1987), Line Selnes (1988, Nordic), current Nordic assistant Jana Weinberger (2006, Nordic), Maria Grevsgaard (2008, Nordic) and Lucie Zikova (2008, alpine),” Snyder wrote in an email regarding Strøm’s NCAA podium sweep.
The Norwegian’s achievements this season don’t end with the collegiate race scene. Strøm also finished fourth and ninth at the SuperTour season opener in West Yellowstone, Mont., in the 15 k freestyle and sprint, respectively.
The following SuperTour in Sun Valley Idaho, also saw Strøm ski to second in the men’s 15 k classic mass start and 11th place in the classic sprint.
Strøm, who plans to major in business and would like to one day compete at the Olympics, will return to CU next year for his final nordic ski season as a senior.
Linn Eriksen, University of Denver
One out of two. For every two college races University of Denver (DU) sophomore Linn Eriksen raced this year, she won one. That includes the final nordic college race of the season at NCAA Championships: the women’s 15 k classic mass start.
Also from Oslo, Eriksen, 21, commanded this year’s NCAA Championships mass start, striding away to a 19.9-second victory over the University of New Mexico’s (UNM) Kati Roivas.
Though Eriksen has stood at the top of the podium before as Norway’s four-time Junior National Champion, her victory in this year’s 15 k was her first NCAA title, as well as her first NCAA podium appearance.
Her breakthrough at this year’s NCAA’s also helped the Denver Pioneers to their 23rd national championship.
“Moritz [Madlener] and Linn [Eriksen] have led the team all year and they did it again today,” DU head nordic coach David Stewart said according to a DU press release. “Linn skied a masterful race, leading from start to finish, breaking away on the last lap to ski to a solo win.”
Eriksen’s other notable accolades from the season include first-place finishes in women’s 5 k freestyle and 15 k classic at the Montana State University invite, victories in both races at the UNM invite, second place in the 5 k freestyle at the University of Utah invite, third place in the 15 k classic CU invite, second place in the 5 k freestyle at the DU Regional race, and her top-10 finish in the first race of NCAA Champioships, the 5 k freestyle where she placed eighth.
After finishing the season as an All-American in both NCAA Championships races, Eriksen’s name will not go unnoticed at the start of next year’s college race season, her junior year.
Note: FasterSkier is seeking photos from the nordic races at 2016 NCAA Skiing Championships. Please email info@fasterskier.com with photos of top finishers or for more info.
***
Two juniors, one from Montana State University (MSU) and the other from the host team, the University of Colorado-Boulder (CU), claimed the ultimate collegiate titles on Thursday at 2016 NCAA Skiing Championships in Steamboat Springs, Colo.
It was the first of two days of nordic racing at Howelsen Hill, and Anika Miller (MSU) and Mads Strøm (CU) emerged as the individual winners in the 5- and 10-kilometer freestyle races, respectively.
The women’s 5 k freestyle podium on the first day of nordic racing at 2016 NCAA Skiing Championships in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Anika Miller (MSU) placed first, Petra Hyncicova (CU) finished second and Utah’s Sloan Storey took third. (Photo: MSUBobcats.com)
Miller led four Bobcats in the top 10, winning the women’s 5 k freestyle individual start in 13:06.1. Her teammate, Cambria McDermott, placed fourth, 9.4 seconds back.
“When I finished, I had no idea how I’d done actually until my teammates jumped on me and were screaming,” Miller told NCAA.com. “I had no idea. I just started crying.”
A native of McCall, Idaho, Miller bested second-place finisher Petra Hyncicova (CU) by 7.9 seconds for the win, becoming the first MSU skier to win an individual title since 1978, when Dan Brelsford (now the director of skiing) won the slalom race, according to an MSU press release. She is also the first female skier to win an individual title for MSU.
Just one-tenth of a second behind Hyncicova, Sloan Storey (University of Utah) reached the final step of the podium in third.
An NCAA champion in 2014, Strøm achieved his second freestyle title in the men’s 10 k freestyle on Thursday in 22:06.8. His time proved to be 10.6 seconds faster than runner-up Ian Torchia of Northern Michigan University (NMU). Denver University’s Moritz Madlener placed third (+19.8).
For Strøm, the win was his fifth in a row and seventh total this season, according to a CU press release.
“It feels awesome, it feels amazing,” the 24-year-old Norwegian told CUBuffs.com. “For ten months this has been my goal and to accomplish my goal is amazing. I was so nervous. I knew there was going to be a mass crowd out. I just had to find good skis, good pacing, and push it as hard as possible. It was definitely the best win of the year. Pulling it off when it matters the most is great.”
Mads Strøm of the University of Colorado-Boulder celebrates his win in the men’s 10 k freestyle on Thursday at 2016 NCAA Championships in Steamboat Springs, Colol. (Photo: Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA via CUBuffs.com)
Strøm explained he had to “push it all the way to the end,” so hard that he was physically ill across the line.
“I was so tired in the end,” he added. “As soon as I crossed the finish line, I had to lie down.”
With his seventh win, Strøm is the winningest male nordic skier in CU history. He exceeded the amount of wins of Per Kare Jakobsen (who won six races in 1989) and Ove Erik Tronvoll (six in 1999). It was also the 89th individual win by a Buff, the most of any school in NCAA history, the CU release stated.
For women’s runner-up Hyncicova, a 21-year-old sophomore from the Czech Republic, second stood as her best result of the season and matched her career best.
“It was so hard, but it was really nice in the end. I didn’t hope for getting second, so it’s really nice,” Hyncicova told CUBuffs.com. “I really didn’t have any idea what I was hoping for. In each race you want to win, but I didn’t expect that I would win here because I was always around fifth [place] this season. I went to Romania a couple of weeks ago [for U23 World Championships], so I was really tired and didn’t feel that great.
“I was really nervous before the start,” she added. “But once I saw everyone here — the alpine’s and everyone who cheered for us — I was like, ‘Yes I have to do it. I have to do it for the team.’ ”
Team Standings (through 4 races):
Montana State: 282
Utah: 264
Denver: 263
Colorado: 214.5
Vermont: 154
New Mexico: 139.5
Dartmouth: 126
Alaska Anchorage: 124
Northern Michigan: 122
Middlebury: 81
“I feel somewhat relieved but happy,” CU Nordic coach Bruce Cranmer said. “Compared to racing, coaching is way more stressful. You are worried about everyone and getting the right wax. I am still trying to calm down. I get so fired up.
“Mads did great,” Cranmer added. “The guy that got second [Torchia] is one of the top U.S. [skiers] that went to World Juniors. [Mads] was on really good form before he got here, so I had high expectations without trying to get too caught up.
“As for Petra, we were hoping for a top five finish. That is we thought she was capable of. … For her to finish in second is awesome. … She does really well in skating.”
Late last month, Torchia led the U.S. junior men in Romania with his top individual result of the week in 15th in the 15 k freestyle. It was his second-best at Junior Worlds since placing 11th last year in the 20 k skiathlon.
Following Torchia in second, Northern Michigan had three in the top 10 with Adam Martin in fourth (+28.4) and Jake Brown in ninth (+56.1).
“We knew that if we had a good day, all three of those guys were capable of winning and we just didn’t know which one,” said NMU Head Coach Sten Fjeldheim told NCAA.com. “We weren’t shocked or surprised that they’re all in the top 10, but you never know at altitude.”
The base elevation of Steamboat Springs’ Howelsen Hill is about 6,700 feet.
Through four events (two cross-country and two alpine) at 2016 NCAA Championships, Montana State leads the team standings with 282 points and Utah is second with 264. Denver is a close third, with 263 points after two days of racing. With a win and second-place finish on Thursday, CU moved into fourth in the standings, with 214.5 points.
MSU’s previous team best was seventh, which it achieved last year with 259 points. The University has already exceeded that total at the halfway point of the championships. Racing wraps up Saturday with 15/20 k classic mass starts.
“The momentum definitely helps our mindset, but the bottom line is we’ve got to go out and race the same way that we race everyday. That’s the way to succeed,” MSU Head Coach Matthew Johnson told NCAA.com. “Trying to mix it up and change it for the championship isn’t going to go well. Coming in with too much excitement isn’t going to go well, but skiing like we’re in the lead and skiing like we’re champions is going to do well for us.”
Anne Hart of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) T2 Team (c) in first, teammate Erika Flowers in third (r) and APU runner-up Chelsea Holmes (l) during the podium ceremony for the women’s SuperTour 5 k freestyle on Feb. 6 in Craftsbury, Vt. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
Graduate from Dartmouth as a five-time NCAA All-American? Check. Crush Crossfit? Check. Become a professional nordic skier? Check. Stand at top of a SuperTour race podium? Check.
While American Anne Hart, the winner of the SuperTour women’s 5-kilometer freestyle individual start last Saturday in Craftsbury, Vt., has already notched plenty of athletic and academic achievements, her first SuperTour win was no different.
“It feels great! It was my first ever SuperTour win, so it’s nice to cross that off the list,” Hart, who races for Stratton Mountain School (SMS) T2 Team and won the event with a time of 11:36.2, wrote in an email after the race.
Anne Hart (SMST2) racing to first place in the women’s SuperTour 5 k individual start on Feb. 6 in Craftsbury, Vt. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
“I am a pretty strong V2er, and I love skiing that isn’t tempo based but instead relies on a good push and a long glide,” wrote Hart, a 23-year-old native of Stillwater, Minn.
“This kind of course rewarded big, relaxed, and powerful skiing. It challenged me because pacing has historically been my Achilles heel, and there were no opportunities to let off the gas and recover on a long downhill,” she added.
After assessing the profile of the 2 x 2.5 lap course— each loop found to be predominantly flat, with a few gradual uphills and downhills — Hart and her SMST2 coach, Patrick O’Brien, decided to Hart should ski the first lap at threshold and make her move with 1.5 k to go.
“For me the biggest take away from the race is pacing is a thing for a reason — it doesn’t mean go slowly the first lap, it just means save something in the tank so you can push all the way THROUGH the line instead of just struggling TO the line,” Hart wrote.
Crossing the line just 2.8 seconds off Hart’s time in second place was Alaska Pacific University (APU) racer, Chelsea Holmes.
While some might argue the fast, flat course was not well-suited for Holmes’ skiing style, the 29-year-old Alaskan’s performance refuted that.
“While I might not be a power skier suited for flat courses, I can free skate pretty well and that course was all about using your leg strength and skiing the transitions well,” Holmes wrote in an email.
She put her focus on the transitions and working the whole course — including, at one point, a chase back to the front.
Anne Hart (SMST2) (l) hugs teammate Erika Flowers after their first- and third-place finishes respectively in the SuperTour women’s 5 k freestyle on Feb. 6 in Craftsbury, Vt. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
“I actually fell on an icy patch on the last downhill from the upper stadium to the lower before you loop around to finish,” she wrote. “In retrospect I wish I had been a bit more careful as it cost me some valuable time in a tight race.”
Despite the short course and fast times, by the time she toed the finish line, Holmes had pushed her way back towards the top.
“It was a super fun race and I have to congratulate the girls on the podium, 5km is tough!” Holmes added after her second-consecutive SuperTour podium and placing third in the 10 k classic in Lake Placid the weekend before.
In her third skate distance race of the year, Erika Flowers (SMST2) snagged the final podium spot in third, 10.5 seconds back from teammate Hart.
“With no huge uphills or downhills, the course required constant output which played to my strengths,” Flowers wrote in an email. “I also love fast conditions where I can ski big with lots of glide. I’ve always liked racing in Craftsbury because the courses flow really well.”
Originally from Bozeman, Mont., Flowers’ four years as a ski racer for Dartmouth College on New England snow, as well as her current East Coast training at Stratton in southern Vermont, prepared her Craftsbury’s conditions during Saturday’s 5 k event.
“The biggest challenge for me was finding a balance between tempo and power knowing that you can waste a lot of energy skiing frantically in icy conditions but if you take your foot off the gas for a second you immediately start losing time,” she wrote. “I think I skied smoothly and was able to carry momentum throughout the course and pick off some places on the second lap.”
Flowers lunged for the line in the end, just barely edging APU’s Jessica Yeaton out of third place by 0.1 seconds.
“I also never forget to lunge!” Flowers added. “It was very tight between Jessica Yeaton and I for 3rd place so every second really does count.”
Caldwell Cranks to the Top of the Men’s Field
Paddy Caldwell (Dartmouth College/SMST2/USST) racing to a first-place finish during the SuperTour men’s 10 k freestyle on Feb. 6 in Craftsbury, Vt. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
There are times when ski racing is simply a grind. Then there are times when a skier puts the grind into their racing. Paddy Caldwell (Dartmouth College/SMST2/U.S. Ski Team), the winner of the SuperTour men’s 10 k freestyle individual start SuperTour race on Saturday in Craftsbury, Vt., proved he’s one for the latter.
“I felt great during the race. That was definitely the best I have felt all year and I am hoping to keep bringing good energy into the rest of the season,” Caldwell wrote in an email.
“The course was a total grind, not much rest but no major climbs. I was focused on hitting the transitions hard and trying to keep momentum everywhere on course,” he added.
Caldwell did keep his momentum — and then some. He won the 10 k freestyle in 20:42.9, leading the second-place finisher Tad Elliott (Ski and Snowboard Club Vail) by 37.9 seconds.
Tad Elliott (SSCV) races to second place in the SuperTour men’s 10 k freestyle individual start on Feb. 6 in Craftsbury, Vt. (Photo: NENSA/Amber Dodge)
“Paddy Caldwell crushed us,” Elliott, a former U.S. Ski Team member, wrote in an email. “It was a fantastic race from him. I don’t think I could have done anything different to go faster. For him to ski like that was just impressive and awesome. I look forward to seeing his races later this season.”
Though he spends his summers training at Stratton, Caldwell is currently studying and racing at Dartmouth College for the winter term, furthering his studies in geography and economics.
“I am planning on racing this weekend and next weekend for Dartmouth to compete in the carnivals before U23s!” he wrote.
Pumped for Caldwell, Elliott was also pleased by his own performance.
“My skate skiing has been feeling really good lately and I have felt fantastic on my feet skiing,” wrote Elliott, a national champion in this year’s 30 k freestyle mass start. I knew the course suited me well with all the gliding. I skied to win!” he wrote in an email.
Despite missing out on the victory, Elliott wrote, “I was really proud of how I skied.”
He finished 1.1 seconds ahead of Kris Freeman (Team Freebird), who placed third, 39 seconds behind Caldwell.
“The course had not that many big hills on it and was one of the flattest races I have done,” Freeman wrote in an email. “Ironically this made the race very hard. No uphills meant no downhills so I was working hard the entire time.”
While the course was made more difficult by the constant expenditure of energy, Freeman also noted the fast conditions made the 10 k go by quickly.
“The race felt like a 20-minute skate sprint qualifier,” he wrote, noting that, despite having higher result-based goals, his body “energy was better than it has been” on Saturday.
With limited snow in Stowe, Vt., organizers moved the SuperTour races from Trapp Family Lodge to the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, and most racers were grateful for the course challenge, as opposed to no course at all.
“I’m so impressed with the skiing at Craftsbury, big thanks to everyone here for making this weekend happen,” Caldwell wrote.
An excited Paddy Caldwell (Dartmouth College/SMST2/USST) (center) Tad Elliott (SSCV) (l), and Kris Freeman (Team Freebird) during the podium ceremony for the SuperTour men’s 10 k freestyle on Feb. 6 in Craftsbury, Vt. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)
It’s a name worth repeating, and it’s also fun to say. Jessie Diggins won Stage 6 of the Tour de Ski last Friday, Jan. 8, becoming the second U.S. woman to win a stage at the 2016 edition of the Tour. In winning the 5 k freestyle individual start, the 24-year-old Diggins was also the first U.S. woman to win a skate race longer than 3 k.
If you couldn’t get enough of her win, check out more photos from the day below, provided by Salomon.
Jessie Diggins realizing she won the 5 k freestyle at the sixth stage of the Tour de Ski on Jan. 8 in Toblach, Italy. (Photo: Salomon/NordicFocus)
Jessie Diggins realizing she won the 5 k freestyle at the sixth stage of the Tour de Ski on Jan. 8 in Toblach, Italy. (Photo: Salomon/NordicFocus)
Jessie Diggins after winning her first individual World Cup race in the 5 k freestyle at the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. (Photo: Salomon/NordicFocus)
Jessie Diggins talks to FIS media coordinator Jeff Ellis (Kikkan Randall’s husband) after the 5 k freestyle at the sixth stage of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. (Photo: Salomon/NordicFocus)
Jessie Diggins (r) with Norwegian runner-up Heidi Weng after Diggins won the 5 k freestyle at the sixth stage of the Tour de Ski on Jan. 8 in Toblach, Italy. Weng finished 0.9 seconds back in second. (Photo: Salomon/NordicFocus)
Jessie Diggins (c) of the U.S. Ski Team after capturing the second U.S. women’s win of the week at the Tour de Ski on Jan. 8. Diggins won the 5 k freestyle by 0.9 seconds over Norway’s Heidi Weng (l) and another Norwegian Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (r) placed third. (Photo: Salomon/NordicFocus)
Jessie Diggins (c) of the U.S. Ski Team after capturing the second U.S. women’s win of the week at the Tour de Ski. Diggins won Friday’s 5 k freestyle by 0.9 seconds over Norway’s Heidi Weng (l) and another Norwegian Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (r) placed third. (Photo: JoJo Baldus)
Jessie Diggins (c) of the U.S. Ski Team after capturing the second U.S. women’s win of the week at the Tour de Ski on Jan. 8. Diggins won the 5 k freestyle by 0.9 seconds over Norway’s Heidi Weng (l) and another Norwegian Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (r) placed third. (Photo: Salomon/NordicFocus)
Jessie Diggins (c) of the U.S. Ski Team after capturing the second U.S. women’s win of the week at the Tour de Ski on Jan. 8. Diggins won the 5 k freestyle by 0.9 seconds over Norway’s Heidi Weng (l) and another Norwegian Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (r) placed third. (Photo: Salomon/NordicFocus)
Jessie Diggins (U.S. Ski Team) being presented with her prizes after winning the 5 k freestyle at the sixth stage of the Tour de Ski on Jan. 8 in Toblach, Italy. (Photo: Salomon/NordicFocus)
Jessie Diggins (U.S. Ski Team) after winning her first individual World Cup, the 5 k freestyle on Jan. 8 at the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. (Photo: Salomon/NordicFocus)
Jessie Diggins after winning her first individual World Cup, the 5 k freestyle at the sixth stage of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. (Photo: Salomon/NordicFocus)
American Jessie Diggins after winning her first individual World Cup on Friday in the women’s 5 k freestyle at Stage 6 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. For the U.S. Ski Team, it was their second victory in the last three stages. (Photo: JoJo Baldus)
TOBLACH, Italy – With many smiles, shrieks and leaps of joy, Jessie Diggins won Stage 6 of the Tour: a 5-kilometer freestyle individual start. It was the second of two huge wins for the U.S. women, following Sophie Caldwell’s Stage 4 classic-sprint victory on Tuesday in Oberstdorf, Germany.
Interestingly, the podium remained exactly the same between both races — with Heidi Weng in second and Ingvild Flugstad Østberg in third — except Diggins replaced Caldwell on the top step.
“What’s so cool about this team is we ride on each other’s successes,” Jessie exclaimed in an in-person interview after Friday’s race. “Seeing Sophie do it, we all train together, and we can do this! It really shows the strength of the team that we push each other and train so hard to get to this point where we can start putting together really good races. So this is a pretty sweet victory for the team.”
Diggins is now the fourth U.S. woman to win a World Cup race, and the first to do so in a modern distance race. (Kikkan Randall has won numerous freestyle sprints and a 3 k prologue, but nothing longer.)
A 24-year-old member of the U.S. Ski Team, Diggins was a 2015 World Championships silver medalist in the 10 k freestyle and won gold in the freestyle team sprint at 2013 World Championships with Randall. She also won the preceding World Cup freestyle team sprint with Randall in December 2012, but had yet to achieve an individual World Cup podium before Friday.
Her post-race demeanor was true to herself — bursting with enthusiasm, belief, positivity, and especially a team-focused mentality — times 100.
“I didn’t believe it,” Diggins said when asked about seeing her name in first place. “I mean, to come out on top in this field with those incredible women feels like doing the impossible. So that really speaks to how hard the [wax] techs have worked, how fast the skis were, the incredible cheering…”
Racing to First
Jessie Diggins (U.S. Ski Team) racing to her first individual World Cup victory in the 5 k freestyle at Stage 6 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. She won by 0.9 seconds, beating out four Norwegians in the top five. (Photo: JoJo Baldus)
Depending on how racers show up on a given day, the individual-start format can be anything from interesting to anti-climactic, and even nerve-racking.
Forty-six women started on Friday, heading out at 30-second intervals. After racing the clock and crossing the finish line, athletes are left waiting to see how their time stacks up against the rest of the field.
Early starters don’t have much to work with in terms of splits. The race consisted of a single 5 k loop, with gradual climbing out of the start and official timing points at 1.7 and 2.1 k.
Diggins started 24th and reached the first timing point in 4:28.9, which turned out to be the fourth-fastest time of the day. Then at the 2.1 k, her time ranked third, indicating she was accelerating.
“When the split at 2.1 came in that Jessie was 8 seconds out of the lead with everyone by, we knew that meant she could win,” U.S. Ski Team Women’s Coach Matt Whitcomb told FasterSkier afterward. “Nobody finishes this course more successfully than Jessie.”
What made her the best woman out there today? The answer lies largely in the subtle downhill profile of the latter part of the course.
“You are always working and you have to really work those downhills,” Diggins said of the Toblach course. “It is a great course for me because I love to V2 and I love those downhills where you just get in your little tuck and you just skate.”
From Afton, Minn., Diggins won Minnesota state championships three times, which is held at Giant’s Ridge. The end of the course is characterized by a similar, long downhill segment for the last kilometer or two leading out of the woods and right into the stadium.
Several coaches and race organizers on the Minnesota high-school scene remember the way Diggins would come flying down this hill in a bullet-like tuck, practically sitting on the back of her skis. From high-school meets all the way to the top podium spot in the World Cup, Jessie Diggins can truly work the downhills.
“She can lay down the fastest time day after day after day through terrain like this; she is a glider and she is a finisher,” Whitcomb explained. “[The course] suites Jessie’s strengths very well.”
“There are very few skiers in the world that can close down the final kilometer of a course like Jessie,” U.S. Ski Team Head Coach Chris Grover said in a team press release. “She was fierce and unrelenting on the downhills and flats leading back to the stadium; pushing extremely hard on her skis. We’ve been wowed by this ability of hers many times, most notably in the recent Lillehammer 4×5 k women’s relay.”
Diggins crossed the line in 13:15.5, “A new best time!” as stadium commentators exclaimed over the sound system, 15.7 seconds ahead of the previous leader; Germany’s Denise Herrmann, who started 11th. But half the field was still racing, including most of the seeded competitors, who stood the biggest chance at challenging Diggins’ time.
Diggins with fellow U.S. Ski Team member Caitlin Gregg. The two shared the podium at 2015 World Championships in the 10 k freestyle, where Diggins placed second and Gregg was third. (Photo: JoJo Baldus)
The waiting began — a system of delayed gratification. She didn’t know how well her time was going to hold up, and so she collected her skis and left the finishing pen, walking past broadcast reporters who didn’t bother to interview her yet while fielding a multitude of polite congratulatory remarks.
Slowly, but surely, her time weathered more and more finishers, keeping that top spot. She had enough time to go change clothes — little did Diggins know she was changing in preparation for the podium ceremony.
Then came a moment of great excitement. Some of the remaining favorites were entering the stadium and finishing in rapid succession. Where would they stack up?
Norway’s Ragnhild Haga: not quite, as she was 8.4 seconds short for second initially, and fourth at the end of the day.
Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla: 12.3 seconds behind Diggins at the line would eventually be enough for seventh.
One by one, as each of these top athletes crossed the line, Diggins’ eyes and smile grew bigger and bigger. She could not believe it. “I thought, well, this is obviously a really good race, and… maybe, maybe I will be on the podium,” she recalled.
But they kept coming, unable to touch Diggins.
Jessie Diggins (c) of the U.S. Ski Team after capturing the second U.S. women’s win of the week at the Tour de Ski. Diggins won Friday’s 5 k freestyle in Toblach, Italy, by 0.9 seconds over Norway’s Heidi Weng (l) and another Norwegian Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (r) was 1.5 seconds behind in third. (Photo: JoJo Baldus)
As Østberg — the clear leader at both timing points — cruised down into the stadium, the announcer bellowed, “Her pace is matching Diggins’ with a few hundred meters remaining,” and repeated the observation in several different languages.
“No, she is 1.5 seconds back from Diggins’ time,” he continued.
That put the overall Tour leader in second.
Therese Johaug, second to Østberg at the 2.1 k checkpoint, was ultimately unable to match Diggins nor Østberg and finished fifth, 9.6 seconds back.
Then came Weng, another Norwegian threat. “She could do it!” the announcer said.
Spectators watched the seconds tick by on the Jumbotron.
“She is into the final sprint, and ladies and gentlemen, this will be a fight to the end…”
As Weng lunged across the line: “No, Weng cannot beat Diggins. Jessie Diggins has kept the top time. Weng takes second, just nine-tenths of a second behind!”
Diggins melted to the ground in overwhelming excitement and disbelief. Weng and Østberg shared a hug of utter exhaustion just across the finish line before sincerely congratulating Diggins. Just 1.5 seconds separated the top three. “A day of very small margins,” as coach Whitcomb put it.
***
A smiling Jessie Diggins before the post-race press conference after winning her first individual World Cup, the sixth stage of the Tour de Ski (a 5 k freestyle individual start). (Photo: JoJo Baldus)
Diggins emphasized that, despite feeling good about the race, she certainly did not expect to win.
“I’m still in shock!” Diggins said as she awaited the awards ceremony. “I never thought that I would win it.”
Diggins and Weng accelerated through the end of the course into first and second, respectively. Just under seven seconds off the podium in fourth, Haga also had faster second-half splits, but not quite enough to reach Diggins or Weng. Østberg and Johaug both lost time and ranking on the second half of the race.
“I tried to open a bit slowly and get faster in the downhills,” Weng explained in a post-race press conference. “I think that was a very good tactic for me. … It’s a very hard race because you can overpower and it can go very good or it can go [bad] and you can [lose] many seconds in the end. It’s very hard to go five kilometres.”
Østberg in third ended up besting her teammate and biggest Tour rival, Johaug, by 8.1 seconds. She will continue to wear the red Tour leader’s bib heading into the last two stages in Val de Fiemme, Italy, after extending her overall lead to 25.3 seconds ahead of Johaug.
“It was a tight and hard race, and maybe I had a little [too] hard opening, different from the other racers, I guess,” Østberg said in the press conference. “In the last uphill my mother cheered for me, but my legs were just so tired I didn’t think I was gonna come to the finish. Another podium for me, and it’s so amazing that I’m still in the lead of the Tour de Ski. It’s unbelievable, for sure I didn’t believe it was possible. And 1.5 seconds from the win that’s amazing.”
After the stage win, Diggins improved to 10th overall, 6:50.2 behind Østberg.
A Proud U.S. Ski Team
Diggins’ win, piggybacking on Caldwell’s sprint victory just two days prior, provides a very notable marker for the overall success of the U.S. Ski Team.
“You need to have kind of everything perfect to have such a good race,” Diggins said in the press conference. “You have to have really good skis and your head has to be in the right place and then your body has to feel good, so it’s really exciting for us that it all worked out so many times this year.”
“It is totally surreal,” Whitcomb remarked. “It is totally surreal because we have never had such success in a small amount of time with two different athletes. [There are] so many guns on this team.”
Never before had the U.S. team racked up two stage wins by different athletes in the same Tour de Ski, which is in its 10th year. Randall won a prologue and a sprint stage in 2012/2013.
According to FIS, the U.S. joins Norway and Finland as the only nations with a history of two stage wins by different athletes in the same Tour. Aino-Kaisa Saarinen and Virpi Kuitunen won stages in 2007/2008.
“One thing is for sure, the Americans have proved they can for sure play with those Norwegians!!” teammate Sadie Bjornsen wrote in an email. She placed 13th on the day, 25.7 seconds behind Diggins.
The wax team and support staff can revel in the team’s recent successes as well.
“It speaks volumes to the work [head of service Oleg Ragilo] has put forward, the leadership that he has created out there…,” Whitcomb said. “When those guys can be rewarded with good results like this it makes us really happy for them.”
Bjornsen Up to 13th Overall
Sadie Bjornsen (U.S. Ski Team) racing to 13th in the 5 k freestyle at Stage 6 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)
The 20th starter, heading out two minutes ahead of Diggins, Bjornsen initially finished fourth.
“I went out there today racing for the podium,” Bjornsen recalled after starting the day ranked 14th in the Tour. “I decided to go with no fear and see how long I could hold on for…. And that lasted about 2.5k… At which point I realized I was going to have to dig seriously deep to make it home.”
Her 1.7 k time held up as 10th fastest, 9.8 seconds behind Østberg, and at 2.1 k, Bjornsen sat in eighth, 5.8 seconds behind Diggins in third.
“I am proud for taking a chance… Because at some point it will work,” Bjornsen continued.
She improved one spot to 13th in the Tour, 7:58.8 out of the lead.
U.S. teammates Liz Stephen placed 26th on Friday (+41.5) to move up three places into 25th overall, just over 10 minutes back, Rosie Brennan finished 33rd (+54.4) for 34th overall, and Caitlin Gregg was 39th (+1:05.7) for 39th overall.
“I’m starting to feel more like myself everyday,” Brennan said during an in-person interview after the race. In the sixth stage of her first Tour de Ski, she started 41st on Friday, 30 seconds ahead of Weng.
“I was coming down the hill and Heidi had passed me, and I’m like, Well, I really hope she’s having a good one,” Brennan recalled. “I just saw out of the corner [of my eye], the screen and I saw Jessie’s name, and I’m like, God damn that’s awesome!”
Brennan plans to complete the Tour, ending with the final climb on Sunday.
“I don’t have a particular one event that’s way better than the other, so I think this type of tour really suits me,” she said. “I’m looking forward to chalking this one up to experience and coming back for more later.”
Also in her first-ever, eight-stage Tour, Gregg started 13th, one position ahead of Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk, on Friday. While Kowalczyk went on to finish 18th (+34), Gregg explained being caught by her was a good thing.
“I got caught by Kowalczyk at like 2 k, but then we actually skied together and that was awesome. It kind of lifted my momentum and I felt like my skis were really good,” Gregg said.
“I think I entered [the Tour] just not really knowing how it would go and maybe I’m a little off — I have been since I got over here,” Gregg added. “Every race … I don’t get those good race sensations when I’m racing. I’m actually going home on Monday and I’m pretty stoked to reset and recharge.”
The Tour continues in Val di Fiemme on Saturday with the women’s 10 k classic mass start and concludes with the 9 k freestyle climb up Alpe Cermis on Sunday.
— Alex Kochon and Harald Zimmer contributed reporting
About the Author: JoJo Baldus is a nordic skier from snowy Minneapolis, Minn. Currently living the dream as a volunteer journalist and photographer for FasterSkier while enjoying a gap year before starting at Macalester College in St. Paul. He could not be more excited to attempt to stagger across the finish line of 8 different WorldLoppet ski races this winter!
Jessie Diggins (c) of the U.S. Ski Team after capturing the second U.S. women’s win of the week at the Tour de Ski. Diggins won Friday’s 5 k freestyle by 0.9 seconds over Norway’s Heidi Weng (l) and another Norwegian Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (r) placed third. (Photo: JoJo Baldus)
TOBLACH, Italy — It’s that moment, that realization, when you’ve beaten the Norwegians — your most immediate threats.
That’s a memory that will likely stick with American Jessie Diggins, a three-time Minnesota state champion, who, at the age of 24 won her first World Cup on Friday at the sixth stage of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. She became the second American woman to do so in the last three races on the Tour (after teammate Sophie Caldwell won the Stage 4 classic sprint), and the first U.S. female to do so in a modern World Cup race longer than 3 kilometers.
Jessie Diggins (c) of the U.S. Ski Team after winning her first-career World Cup in Friday’s 5 k freestyle at Stage 6 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. (Photo: JoJo Baldus)
“I’m still in shock!” Diggins said in an in-person interview with FasterSkier after winning the women’s 5-kilometer freestyle individual start by 0.9 seconds in 13:15.5, holding off later-starting Norwegians Heidi Weng, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, Ragnhild Haga, Therese Johaug, respectively.
The victory also stood as her first individual World Cup podium, although Diggins has been on the World Championships podium twice before: first with Kikkan Randall in the 2013 freestyle team sprint (which they won) and then individually last season at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden, where she placed second in the 10 k freestyle. In December 2012, before World Championships that season, Diggins and Randall teamed up to win a World Cup freestyle team sprint in Quebec City.
“What’s so cool about this team is we ride on each other’s successes. Seeing Sophie do it [on Tuesday], we all train together, and we can do this!” Diggins said. “We just kept it going and yeah, I mean obviously I had some pretty incredible skis out there and it really shows the strength of the team that we push each other so hard to get to this point where we can start putting together really good races like this.”
Diggins went out in bib 24 and ousted Germany’s Denise Herrmann from the lead at the finish by 15.7 seconds. Smiling and shaking her head as she sat on the ground, Diggins looked like she knew she had a good race. But a World-Cup-winning kind of day?
Jessie Diggins (U.S. Ski Team) racing to her first World Cup victory in the 5 k freestyle at Stage 6 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. She won by 0.6 seconds, beating out four Norwegians in the top five. (Photo: JoJo Baldus)
“This was a big surprise for everyone, most especially me; I couldn’t believe it. I really couldn’t believe it,” Diggins said in a televised interview with FIS.
Her splits at just two timing points on the course ranked fourth at 1.7 k and third at 2.1 k. Just before the halfway point at 2.1 k, her time trailed Østberg’s by 8 seconds.
But Diggins proved fastest over the second half of the course, holding off Weng in bib 42 as her closest challenger, 0.9 seconds back. The overall World Cup leader, Østberg ended up third (+1.5), Haga fourth (+8.4), and Johaug fifth (+9.6).
She now ranks 10th after six of eight stages in the Tour, 6:50.2 behind Østberg, who extended her lead over Johaug by 25.3 seconds. Teammate Sadie Bjornsen ranks 13th overall (+7:58.8) after placing 13th on Friday, 25.7 second after Diggins.
Also for the U.S., Liz Stephen placed 26th (+41.5) and ranks 25th overall, Rosie Brennan finished 33rd (+54.4) for 34th in the Tour and Caitlin Gregg was 39th (+1:05.7) for 39th overall.
Stay tuned for more details and a complete report.
Jessie Diggins finishing the women’s 5 k freestyle individual start at Stage 6 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy.
Jessie Diggins (U.S. Ski Team) shortly after finishing the women’s 5 k freestyle individual start at Stage 6 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy.
Jessie Diggins talks to FIS media coordinator Jeff Ellis during a televised interview after winning the women’s 5 k freestyle individual start at Stage 6 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy.
Sadie Bjornsen racing to 14th in the women’s 5 k freestyle at Saturday’s World Cup in Kuusamo, Finland. Her finish put her in 11th overall heading into the final day of the Ruka Triple mini tour. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)
It was a fight for every second in the women’s 5-kilometer freestyle on a damp morning during the second day of World Cup racing in Kuusamo, Finland.
Sadie Bjornsen led the American women in 14th on Saturday, 41.8 seconds behind Norway’s Therese Johaug, who won in 11:23.8. Less than two seconds behind Bjornsen, another U.S. Ski Team member Jessie Diggins tied for 16th with Russia’s Alevtina Tanygina — 43.6 seconds behind Johaug.
In the 500-meter race, 55 seconds separated the top 30 women, making every second count in the results.
“Everything is so tight, a half second will move you up or down a place,” Diggins said in a phone interview after the race. “So it’s really important to look for places to get every second you possibly can, figure out what spots you are good at and where you can make up time.”
All 85 female finishers posted times within 2 minutes and 13 seconds of one another, and 59 of the racers took between 12 and 13 minutes to complete the one-lap course. Johaug’s 17.8-second win over Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla stood as the largest time gap between any two finishers.
“The difference between a good race and your best race ever here can be ten seconds,” U.S. women’s coach Matt Whitcomb explained in a post-race phone interview.
Caitlin Gregg of the U.S. Ski Team racing in Saturday’s World Cup 5 k freestyle in Kuusamo, Finland. While she had the eighth-fastest split at 1.2 k, she ended up 48th. (Photo: Madshus/NordicFocus)
This was illustrated by the rest of the American women as they posted competitive times, but ended up farther down the results than most of them had hoped for. Rosie Brennan took 35th (+59.5), Liz Stephan was 43rd (+1:06.4), Caitlin Gregg 48th (+1:11.8), Sophie Caldwell 56th (+1:22), and Ida Sargent 68th (+1:36.4).
“The girls put in a great effort, just a bit shy of where they wanted to be in some cases, but it was a good process and a good team effort,” Whitcomb said. “Two in the top 20 is a decent day for us and Rosie was close to skiing in the points [top 30].”
“I’m happy, but I wanted more, which is great because I know I have a lot of fire for the rest of the season,” Diggins said. “I know the fitness is there, right where I wanted it to be at the beginning of the season.”
This sentiment was shared by several team members. “I was happy with how I skied and hope to be pushing for that next gear,” Brennan wrote in an email.
“Today didn’t feel as good as last weekend, but I am still psyched about where my fitness and preparation are,” Gregg wrote, referring to the U.S. team’s season-opening FIS races in Gällivare, Sweden, where she placed third in the 10 k freestyle. Diggins won that race; her second-straight last weekend.
According to Whitcomb, the team’s universal goal was to “ski with 11 or 12 minutes of pure focus,” in Saturday’s 5 k. “This is the kind of course that if you start to space out for a moment or two, the race can leave your control.”
An 11-12 minute race also left little room to race conservatively. Diggins said her plan in the short-distance race was to “charge from the start.” This was also Gregg’s game plan as she posted the eighth-fastest time through the first time check at 1.2 k.
“I knew that if I wanted to be anywhere in the mix of the top girls I would have to start hard!” she wrote. “Unfortunately I felt like I wasn’t quite myself and although the pace felt good and my skis were fast, I wasn’t as powerful and high energy as I usually am during skate races.”
Gregg faded in the second half to finish 48th, but Whitcomb commended her effort.
“It’s is a great way to blow up, but also a great way to win races,” he said of her go-hard-from-the-gun tactic. “You can ski conservatively and go for 30th or take it out hard and shoot for the podium.”
Hoffman getting a hard cast on his leg before traveling back to the U.S. after breaking his fibula last year in the season-opening distance race in Kuusamo, Finland. He placed 58th in Saturday’s 15 k freestyle, behind U.S. teammates Simi Hamilton in 49th and Erik Bjornsen in 54th. (Photo: NoahHoffman.com)
The humidity and rain the night before and the morning of took a toll on the course, creating soft conditions and some harrowing downhills. The most challenging part of the course is a sketchy downhill corner, nicknamed “Noah’s corner” after Noah Hoffman’s crash and broken fibula at last year’s Kuusamo 15 k classic.
“It comes right after a tough uphill so your legs are just flooded,” Bjornsen said of the hairpin corner. “It is tough on everyone.”
While all of the American women stayed on their feet, Diggins pointed out that descent as a spot she lost seconds. “I know I am better at downhills than that, I just got a bit freaked out,” she said.
Despite the challenging conditions, the team commended the wax techs for preparing fast skis.
“It always amazes me they can put together awesome skis in challenging conditions with such a small team,” Bjornsen said.
After placing seventh in Friday’s classic sprint and 14th on Saturday, Bjornsen is currently 11th in the overall standings heading into the 10 k classic pursuit on Sunday.
“A couple of years ago I was in a similar position, but now I feel more confident in my overall fitness. I’m excited for tomorrow,” Bjornsen said.
Diggins in 19th overall is also poised to move up in the overall standings.
“Both Sadie and Jessie have a chance to ski into the top ten with a good classic race tomorrow,” Whitcomb said. “We are very much looking forward to that. The rest of the girls are within striking distance of the top 30 so it is going to be a fun day.”
Sunday’s classic pursuit features an especially challenging course with significant climbing. Bjornsen described it as “basically skiing up a wall.” Diggins said the course poses unique challenges because the hills are so steep; you are basically running on skis. “A big goal is just keeping my technique together on the long climbs,” she said.
With Johaug heading out first, the pursuit will feature 27 women starting within a minute of her, with Bjornsen 35 seconds back and Diggins heading out 17 seconds later.
“It will almost be like a mass start because we are all packed in there so tight,” Bjornsen said.
The pursuit format creates an exciting culmination of a mini tour and a chance to considerably shake up the overall standings.
“I really like pursuit starts because you get to start with people of similar speeds and really focus on picking people off,” Brennan wrote. She’ll start 34th, 1:09 back. “I love classic skiing so I am excited to see if I can find my rhythm tomorrow.”
“There was a lot of good that came out of today,” Whitcomb said. “Whether the athletes are disappointed or excited after today, we are all fired up for tomorrow.”
The second day of 2015 U.S. Junior Nationals featured the 5- and 10-kilometer freestyle individual starts, with the U16 men and women skiing two laps of a 2.5 k course, and the U18 and U20 men and women racing four laps.
Racing resumes again on Friday with the 5/10/15 k classic mass starts. Race schedule
Below are some podium shots from Wednesday at Auburn Ski Club in Soda Springs, Calif., courtesy of Mark Nadell/MacBeth Graphics. View his complete gallery here.
The U16 women’s podium from Wednesday’s 5 k freestyle at 2015 U.S. Junior Nationals at Auburn Ski Club in Soda Springs, Calif. (Photo: Mark Nadell/MacBeth Graphics)
The U16 men’s podium from Wednesday’s 5 k freestyle at 2015 U.S. Junior Nationals at Auburn Ski Club in Soda Springs, Calif. (Photo: Mark Nadell/MacBeth Graphics)
The U18 women’s podium from Wednesday’s 10 k freestyle at 2015 U.S. Junior Nationals at Auburn Ski Club in Soda Springs, Calif. (Photo: Mark Nadell/MacBeth Graphics)
New England’s Katharine Ogden (Stratton Mountain School) racing to a 26.8-second win at the 2015 U.S. Junior Nationals in Wednesday’s 10 k freestyle at Auburn Ski Club in Soda Springs, Calif. (Photo: Mark Nadell/MacBeth Graphics)
The U18 men’s podium from Wednesday’s 10 k freestyle at 2015 U.S. Junior Nationals at Auburn Ski Club in Soda Springs, Calif. (Photo: Mark Nadell/MacBeth Graphics)
Mid-Atlantic’s Karl Schulz (New England Ski Educational Foundation) racing to a 5.3-second win at 2015 U.S. Junior Nationals in Wednesday’s 10 k freestyle at Auburn Ski Club in Soda Springs, Calif. (Photo: Mark Nadell/MacBeth Graphics)
The U20 women’s podium from Wednesday’s 10 k freestyle at 2015 U.S. Junior Nationals at Auburn Ski Club in Soda Springs, Calif. (Photo: Mark Nadell/MacBeth Graphics)
The U20 men’s podium from Wednesday’s 10 k freestyle at 2015 U.S. Junior Nationals at Auburn Ski Club in Soda Springs, Calif. (Photo: Mark Nadell/MacBeth Graphics)
Canada’s Ivan Babikov (14) pushing in the 50 k freestyle mass start at the 2014 Olympics despite cramping legs to end up 20th for his best individual result at the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
Ivan Babikov heard a lot of chatter at the finish of Saturday’s 10-kilometer freestyle in Lillehammer, Norway, about how tired his competitors were, how much their legs hurt from the relentless hills on the 5 k loop, yadda yadda yadda.
His fellow Canadian World Cup teammate, Alex Harvey said his leg cramped up, too, but not for the same reason. Harvey had a reoccurring issue that cropped up in V1-heavy skate races. Babikov had a problem not feeling any of these things.
“I went as hard as I could, but was still not tired at the finish line,” Babikov said on the phone after placing 43rd, 1 minute, 5 seconds back from Norwegian winner Martin Johnsrud Sundby. “Legs were fine, guys were saying because of the big steep uphill [they were tired] … and I just felt nothing. I couldn’t go any harder than I went.”
That’s a strange feeling for Babikov, who’s gotten used to decent early season results in the last couple years. At the 2012 World Cup opening mini tour in Kuusamo, Finland, he placed 25th overall. That same December at home in Canmore, Alberta, he was 12th in the World Cup skiathlon and 20th in the 15 k classic mass start.
But before that, he was typically a slow starter, he said.
“Usually I need, like, one mass-start race to kind of feel the pace again and get the speed back,” he said. “I don’t know why I’m missing that top speed; it’s hard to tell right now. The season is long, it’s just the first two weekends, and my main goal is Tour de Ski and World Champs in Falun [Sweden]. There’s lots of time to work on it and get the speed back.”
Babikov noted that the speediness of Saturday’s skate course didn’t help him.
“That’s why you can see lots of sprinters and quick guys up there in the top 10 and top 20,” he said. “Still, it’s a really, really hard course. Any other day with fresh snow or just a bit softer [conditions], it would’ve been totally different. It would’ve been so much slower and harder.
“But it was interesting. Really fast. Too fast for my legs,” he added with a laugh.
After finishing 110th in Friday’s skate sprint — a result he said he tried not to dwell on — Babikov went from 110th and 51 seconds behind Lillehammer’s mini-tour leader, to 56th and 1:49 minutes back before Sunday’s 15 k classic pursuit.
“It’s gonna pretty much be a mass start, but with a fast couple kilometers because every single person will try to catch the person ahead of him,” he predicted. “But it’s 15 k and a pretty hard course, [and] there’s some big uphills.
“Hopefully by the third lap, it’s gonna calm down and people are gonna start dying,” Babikov added. “I’ll try to ski my way back into the top 30, but it will be hard.”
“Hopefully by the third lap, it’s gonna calm down and people are gonna start dying.” — Ivan Babikov, Canadian World Cup Team member after placing 43rd in Saturday’s 10 k skate
Canada’s Alex Harvey (r) congratulating Friday’s skate-sprint winner, Norway’s Pål Golberg after the sprint final, in which Harvey placed fifth for a season best. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)
Harvey expected to feel a little tired after Friday’s sprint, in which he made the finals and placed fifth. But he felt good waking up, during his morning jog and also while warming up for the 10 k.
Sixth in the mini tour to start the day, 11.8 seconds off the lead, Harvey planned to start hard and see what happened on the fast course. Upon hearing his first split around 1.5 k, he knew it wasn’t going so well.
“I was already quite far off, like in 40th or something, so then I didn’t really know what to think so I kept pushing,” Harvey said on the phone.
Heading to the high point of the course, climbing from around 3 to 3.5 k, Harvey started feel a familiar pang in his left leg, caused by a blood-flow issue with his iliac artery that affects him primarily in skate races. All the steep climbing was making his leg tense up.
“I was just fighting against it already and I couldn’t push after that,” Harvey said. “I couldn’t use my leg much, and the downhills were so icy that it was kind of hard to relax and recover so I was always contracting the legs. It was just a really bad day for my leg, I guess.”
Thirty-sixth at 2.2 k, he improved to 25th at the halfway point, but in the middle of his final lap, Harvey was back down to 32nd. He ultimately finished 33rd, 54.6 seconds behind Sundby and 11th in the mini tour after the second day of racing.
Harvey wasn’t surprised his leg plagued him in his first skate race of the season, but said in the past he’s sometimes worked through it.
Harvey on his way to winning the skiathlon last March at 2014 World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)
“That’s happened to me in races where I’ve had good races,” he said. “Even in Falun, there’s a big hill so by the last third of the hill, I feel it in skating but usually it recovers in the downhill. But here today, the downhills were just so icy and so fast … it was just so unstable that you couldn’t really relax the muscles. I was like, ‘OK, it’s happening a bit early, but it’s gonna go away,’ but it just didn’t today.”
Harvey will start the pursuit 59 seconds behind mini-tour leader Finn Hågen Krogh, and 39 seconds behind Sundby in second. Great Britain’s Andrew Musgrave, who placed 13th on Saturday to improve to 10th in the standings, will start at the same time as Harvey, along with Switzerland’s Dario Cologna, who placed ninth in the 10 k for 12th overall.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow … I’m surrounded by really fast skiers,” Harvey said. “Dario seems to have finally found his way into decent speed at least. Today he was back in the top 10 and there’s gonna be other guys just ahead of me that are good classic skiers, and I think it’s gonna be a good group and I’m expecting a hard battle.”
After Saturday’s race, Canada’s massage therapist worked on his left side — mostly his hip and glutes — to loosen it up. Harvey said he went for a run afterward and felt normal that night.
“Right now it feels a bit tired from a race, but the energy’s good,” he said.
Last year in Lillehammer, he placed 16th in the 15 k classic for his best result of the season at the time.
“The hills are the exact same as we skied today, but it’s always much easier in classic than in skating,” he said. “It’s less muscular and you can use your upper body and you can kind of feather it up the hill.”
Come Sunday morning, during ski testing, Harvey planned to make sure he had plenty of kick.
“You have to make sure you relax anywhere you can on that course because the hills are really long and you gotta hit your stride well,” he said. “The downhills are a bit icy, like today, so speed in the downhill is not gonna be an issue for anybody and there’s no flats.”
He aims to work his way up to Norway’s Niklas Dyrhaug, starting 16 seconds ahead of him in sixth.
“I’ll try to get into a good rhythm the first couple k’s and see who’s pushing hard from the beginning, who wants to try to make seconds to the group ahead of us,” Harvey said. “I’m not planning to lead on the first couple k’s, but if I feel good I’m just gonna try to go up to Dyrhaug and then maybe we’ll see the other guys ahead.
“It’s hard to plan much when it’s a pursuit start like that,” he added. “The real race will start the last five kilometers, that’s where people are really gonna come undone. We see it every year in Kuusamo: the last two laps are where the gaps are made so you just gotta be ready to push hard and suffer.”
Teammate Lenny Valjas, who was 45th in Friday’s sprint, finished 57th on Saturday for 62nd overall.
Devon Kershaw placed 58th, 0.3 seconds behind Valjas and 1:24.6 behind the winner. He’ll start Sunday 66th, 1:58 seconds out of first with Cologna’s younger brother Gianluca Cologna, and 3 seconds behind Valjas.
“Simply put, technically speaking — I skied like total sh*t,” Kershaw wrote in an email. “That was frustrating. I was just not stable at all and my offset [V1] was atrocious — not good when you are racing an offset heavy course.”
Expecting a difficult course, Kershaw said he felt like a character from the “Mortal Combat” Super Nintendo game at the top of the three-minute climb. And he didn’t feel like he was on the winning end of the battle, either.
“I felt like a dude … when he’s about to get destroyed by his opponent (standing there helpless and wavering from side to side about to meet his fate). If I wasn’t so messed up, I bet I could have heard that voice say ‘finish him,’ ” he wrote. “I felt horrible today. Technically skiing very poorly. Bad body, bad legs. It was horrendous.”
“I felt like a dude in the Super Nintendo classic ‘Mortal Combat’ when he’s about to get destroyed by his opponent. … If I wasn’t so messed up, I bet I could have heard that voice say ‘finish him.’ “ — Canadian World Cup Team member Devon Kershaw, after placing 58th in Saturday’s 10 k skate in Lillehammer, Norway
On Sunday, he’ll be looking for redemption.
“Of course, redemption won’t be on the results page since I am in the 60s starting tomorrow. More looking for personal redemption,” Kershaw wrote. “I’m pretty disappointed but actually a bit pissed off to be honest. … I am thankful it’s a classic race tomorrow, and even though I’m back in the field a fair ways, I want to ski aggressive and try and move up as best I can. … Unlike today, I want to hit the technique well, pace it well and have a great last 5km to finish off this Lillehammer mini-tour.”
Canadian development B-team skiers Jesse Cockney and Graeme Killick placed 77th and 94th, respectively, for 76th and 94th overall. Notably, Cockney’s 2.2 k time held up as the fifth-fastest out of 110 finishers.
By 5 k, however, he ranked 46th and was down to 59th at 7.2 k.
In the women’s 5 k earlier in the day, Emily Nishikawa (Development Team) placed 67th for 68th overall, while Perianne Jones (Development B-team) finished 71st for 67th in the standings. Both women were listed to start Sunday’s 10 k classic pursuit, as were Cockney and Killick. Jones will start 1.5 seconds ahead of Nishikawa and 2:11.5 after Norwegian leader Marit Bjørgen.
![](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/11/kalla.jpg")
![](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/11/Screen-Shot-2017-11-15-at-9.43.51-PM.png")
![](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/11/20171107_132021.jpg")
![Katharine Ogden (Stratton Mountain School/U.S. Ski Team D-team) racing to fifth in the women's 5 k freestyle at 2017 Junior Worlds on Wednesday for her best result in her third Junior Worlds. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/02/SMF0139.jpg")
![Katharine Ogden (Stratton Mountain School/U.S. Ski Team D-team) racing to fifth in the women's 5 k freestyle at 2017 Junior Worlds on Wednesday for her best result in her third Junior Worlds. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/02/SMF0090.jpg")
![The women's 5 k freestyle podium on Wednesday at 2017 Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah, with Sweden’s Ebba Andersson (c) in first, Norway’s Marte Mæhlum Johansen (l) in second and Russia's Mariya Istomina (r) in third. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/02/SMF7465.jpg")
![The all-Russian 10 k freestyle men's podium on Wednesday at 2017 Junior World Championships at Soldier Hollow, with winner Vladislav Vechkanov (c), Egor Kazarinov (l) in second, and Yaroslav Rybochkin (r) in third. (Photo: FlyingPointRoad.com)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/02/SMF7891.jpg")
![American Hunter Wonders (APU) racing to 16th in the men's 10 k freestyle at 2017 Junior World Championships on Wednesday at Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. (Photo: U.S. Ski Team/Steven Earl)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/02/unnamed-2.jpg")
![The women's podium at the 5 k freestyle on Friday at Stage 5 of the 2017 Tour de Ski, with two Americans: Jessie Diggins (c) in first and Sadie Bjornsen (r) in third, and Finland's Krista Parmakoski in second. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/Podium6117fm0050.jpg")
![Jessie Diggins (U.S. Ski Team) racing to first for her third-straight 5 k freestyle victory on Friday at Stage 5 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. Diggins won her first World Cup race in the Toblach 5 k one year ago. (Photo: Salomon/NordicFocus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/Diggins6117fm0066.jpg")
![Sadie Bjornsen (U.S. Ski Team) after placing third for her first career World Cup podium on Friday in the 5 k freestyle at Stage 5 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. She is now ninth in the Tour standings. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/Bjornsen6117fm0060.jpg")
![Jessie Diggins celebrating her third career win (in three-consecutive 5 k freestyle races) on Friday at Stage 5 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. (Photo: Salomon/Nordic Focus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/Diggins6117fm0051.jpg")
![Sadie Bjornsen (U.S. Ski Team) racing to her first career World Cup podium on Friday at Stage 5 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. She placed third in the 5 k freestyle. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/Bjornsen6117fm0070.jpg")
![The women's podium at the 5 k freestyle on Friday at Stage 5 of the 2017 Tour de Ski, with two Americans: Jessie Diggins (c) in first and Sadie Bjornsen (r) in third, and Finland's Krista Parmakoski in second. (Photo: Salomon/Nordic Focus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/Podium6117fm0061.jpg")
![U.S. Ski Team member Rosie Brennan (c) racing to a season-best World Cup result of 22nd in the 10 k freestyle mass start on Dec. 17 in La Clusaz, France. (Photo: Toko/NordicFocus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/12/ab199561-87c3-4aa7-b3ab-47726af054b8.jpg")
![Liz Stephen (U.S. Ski Team) racing in a World Cup earlier this season. (Photo: Toko/NordicFocus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/12/e6fa9e0f-0777-4df2-842e-c929d0e95e62.jpg")
![Kikkan Randall finishing the women's 5 k freestyle at Stage 5 of the Tour de Ski in 40th, which put her 22nd overall. The night before, Randall planned to withdraw from the Tour after Friday's stage in Toblach, Italy. (Photo: Fischer/Nordic Focus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/Randall6117fm0150.jpg")
![Jessie Diggins (U.S. Ski Team) loving on her Salomon boards after placing second in Tuesday's 10 k skiathlon at Stage 3 of the Tour de Ski in Oberstdorf, Germany. (Photo: Salomon/NordicFocus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/Diggins3117fm117.jpg")
![The U.S. women (l-r Kikkan Randall, Holly Brooks, Jessie Diggins, and Liz Stephen) after their first ever World Cup relay podium in November 2012 - the team is confident they can get back. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/11/USA-women-relay.jpg")
![Left to right: American Jessie Diggins along with Norway's Kari Øyre Slind and Ragnhild Haga after a strength training session with the Norwegian Ski Federation this summer. (Photo: Roar Hjelmeset)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/IMG_3034-475x475.jpg")
![U.S. Ski Team A-team member Jessie Diggins (r) with her boyfriend, Wade, during a trip to Winnipeg, Canada this summer. (Photo: Jessie Diggins)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/01/IMG_3576-475x356.jpg")
![Katharine Ogden (SMS/USST) racing to an 11-second win in the women's 5 k freestyle FIS race on Friday in West Yellowstone, Mont. (Photo: Ian Harvey/Toko)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/11/Ogden_1.jpg")
![FasterSkier's Collegiate Skiers of 2016: Mads Strøm and Linn Eriksen. (photo: Curtis Snyder of the CU Sports Information Dept. and Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos).](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/04/FS-Awards-College.jpg")
![The women's 5 k freestyle podium on the first day of nordic racing at 2016 NCAA Skiing Championships in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Anika Miller (MSU) placed first, Petra Hyncicova (CU) finished second and Utah's Sloan Storey took third. (Photo: MSUBobcats.com)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/03/image_handler.aspx_.jpeg")
![Mads Strøm of the University of Colorado-Boulder celebrates his win in the men's 10 k freestyle on Thursday at 2016 NCAA Championships in Steamboat Springs, Colol. (Photo: Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA via CUBuffs.com)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/03/KYKGOXKFXMXCNRA.20160310210549.jpg")
![Anne Hart (SMST2) (center) in first, teammate Erika Flowers in third (r) and Chelsea Holmes (APU) during the podium ceremony for the women's 5 k freestyle individual start SuperTour event on Saturday in Craftsbury, Vermont. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/02/DSC_1675copyW2.jpg")
![Anne Hart (SMST2) racing to a first place finish during the women's SuperTour 5 k individual start race on Saturday in Craftsbury, Vermont. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/02/unnamed1.jpg")
![Anne Hart (SMST2) (l) hugs teammate Erika Flowers after their first and third place finishes respectively in the women's 5 k freestyle individual start SuperTour event on Saturday in Craftsbury, Vermont. Anne Hart (SMST2) (center) in first, teammate Erika Flowers in third (r) and Chelsea Holmes (APU) during the podium ceremony for the women's 5 k freestyle individual start SuperTour event on Saturday in Craftsbury, Vermont. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/02/DSC_1669W.jpg")
![Paddy Caldwell (Dartmouth College/SMST2/USST) racing to a first place finish during the men's 10 k freestyle individual start SuperTour even on Saturday in Craftsbury, Vermont. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/02/DSC_1837copyW.jpg")
![Tad Elliot (SSCV) races to a second place finish in the men's 10 k freestyle individual start SuperTour event on Saturday in Craftsbury, Vermont. (Photo: NENSA/Amber Dodge)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/02/image1-e1454920177867.jpg")
![An excited Paddy Caldwell (Dartmouth College/SMST2/USST) (center) standing in first next to second place finisher, Tad Elliot (SSCV) (l) and third place finisher, Kris Freeman (Team Freebird) during the podium ceremony for the men's 10 k freestyle individual start SuperTour even on Saturday in Craftsbury, Vermont. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/02/DSC_2711copyW.jpg")
![Jessie Diggins (c) of the U.S. Ski Team after winning her first-career World Cup in Friday's 5 k freestyle at Stage 6 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. (Photo: JoJo Baldus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/01/unnamed-18.jpg")
![Jessie Diggins (U.S. Ski Team) racing to her first World Cup victory in the 5 k freestyle at Stage 6 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. She won by 0.6 seconds, beating out four Norwegians in the top five. (Photo: JoJo Baldus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/01/unnamed3.jpg")
![Diggins with fellow U.S. Ski Team member Caitlin Gregg. The two shared the podium at 2015 World Championships in the 10 k freestyle, where Diggins placed second and Gregg was third. (Photo: JoJo Baldus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/01/unnamed-111.jpg")
![Jessie Diggins (c) of the U.S. Ski Team after capturing the second U.S. women's win of the week at the Tour de Ski. Diggins won Friday's 5 k freestyle by 0.9 seconds over Norway's Heidi Weng (l) and another Norwegian Ingvild Flugstad Østberg (r) placed third. (Photo: JoJo Baldus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/01/unnamed-22.jpg")
![Diggins at the post-race press conference after winning her first individual World Cup, the sixth stage of the Tour de Ski (a 5 k freestyle individual start). (Photo: JoJo Baldus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/01/unnamed-131.jpg")
![Sadie Bjornsen (U.S. Ski Team) racing to 13th in the 5 k freestyle at Stage 6 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/01/unnamed-102.jpg")
![Sadie Bjornsen racing to 14th in the women's 5 k freestyle at Saturday's World Cup in Kuusamo, Finland. Her finish put her in 11th overall heading into the final day of the Ruka Triple mini tour. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/11/unnamed-10.jpg")
![Caitlin Gregg of the U.S. Ski Team racing in Saturday's World Cup 5 k freestyle in Kuusamo, Finland. While she had the eighth-fastest split at 1.2 k, she ended up 48th. (Photo: Madshus/NordicFocus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/11/unnamed-52.jpg")
![Hoffman getting a hard cast on his left leg for travel. (Photo: NoahHoffman.com)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/12/WP_20141130_16_09_15_Pro-576x1024.jpg")
![Ivan Babikov pushed through a tough race despite cramping legs.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/02/50k-ivan-babikov.jpg")
![Canada's Alex Harvey (r) congratulates Norwegian winner Pål Golberg at the finish of Friday's 1.5 k freestyle sprint final. Harvey placed fifth for a season best. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/12/unnamed-31.jpg")
![Harvey on his way to winning the skiathlon last March at 2014 World Cup Finals in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/03/Harvey140314mf043.jpg")