From the FasterSkier archive — posts syndicated from athletes’ and coaches’ own blogs between 2004 and 2012, kept online as published. Current coverage is at fasterskier.com.
The bad news? Devon is indisposed and isn’t here for the Olympic preview podcast. As a consolation: We have a great guest in Philip Gadd, a sports reporter with the Swedish tabloid Expressen.
Philip takes us through his new podcast about Frida Karlsson and Ebba Andersson’s rivalry, the feast and famine of Sweden’s women’s and men’s teams, and other Olympic predictions. You can read about his dystopian experience in an isolation hotel at the last Olympics here. (Spoiler alert: He eventually got out.)
Reach us at nat[at]fasterskier.com and devon[at]fasterskier.com. We’ll be back after tomorrow’s race.
Help Support Our Olympic Coverage!
FasterSkier will have our own Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics, which, to be honest, is a very big financial lift for us. If you value the thoughtful work and access FasterSkier provides at championships like this one, please consider becoming a Voluntary Subscriber. Your support directly fuels the work we do to cover the people, places, and moments that make our sport special.
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.
It was a good day at the office, a stunning office, for Ben Ogden (USA) in Goms, Switzerland. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
For the skiing stars of Norway, World Cup victories are commonplace—almost expected. For the skiers of most other nations, any World Cup podium appearance is a career-defining event. That said, some of the most interesting World Cup racing takes place on those days when the strength of the field is re-shuffled, when a few notables stay home, when a few teams re-arrange their rosters. Those are days when World Cup podiums will still be filled, and a greater number of teams know they can rise to that occasion. Still, it’s not a straightforward task, and many teams find themselves stumbling over the challenge rather than rising to the top. Today was a day that the USA saw this opportunity, and rise they did . . .
Norway may have won today’s Team Sprint (though with Harald Oestbeg Amundsen and Einar Hedegart are a team that’s unlikely to contend for this same win when the Olympics begin in Val di Fiemme), and Italy may have flown second across the finish on the wings of Federico Pellegrino (a performance he would hope to repeat in front of his countrymen in the Olympics), but it was the third-place effort of Team USA’s Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher that really drew attention. The circumstances of the day offered them an opportunity to ascend to a World podium; they grabbed that opportunity with both hands. It’s great to see American men on World Cup podiums, even greater to see them earn that position with such fortitude and skill.
“Today was a pretty full field,” said Ogden. “But there was no Klaebo today. There definitely will be Klaebo in Val di Fiemme. I’m sure that some teams will put up different athletes on their Team Sprint than they did today, but it’s really one of those things that’s not worth dwelling on until the time comes to actually seethe start list, to go out and get it done.”
The day started with Gus Schumacher (USA) having a great qualification for the Team Sprint in Goms, Switzerland. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
The Alpine municipality of Goms, Switzerland (population 1,160) was the venue for a staging of an event that will take place in the Olympic Games in Val di Fiemme—the Freestyle Team Sprint—but today’s race was not exactly a dress rehearsal for that Olympic race. Specifically, the cast of characters is likely to change in the Olympics even as the strategy employed by today’s winner, Team Norway, is likely to remain the same. They’ll set the pace, they’ll stay at the front (and out of trouble). They’ll accelerate in the penultimate leg. They’ll hope to give Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo a lead at the beginning of the anchor leg. They’ll rely on Klaebo to remain unbeatable in any Freestyle Sprint where he enters the finishing straightaway with a lead. We really do expect this Olympic event to follow that script. Even so, many questions remain. Who will team with Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo in what is likely to be the gold medal favorite team? And who will the USA field as its Team Relay pair? Will Schumacher team with Ogden? Or will coaches choose another combination of abilities? Will Pellegrino and Elia Barp continue to be factors in the finishing straightaway? And which other teams will arrive with hopes of a medal: Finland? Switzerland? Sweden?
“If history is any indicator, then Norway leading and everyone else following will likely (repeat as a strategy) at the Olympics,” said Ogden. “Val di Fiemme is definitely a harder course, so I anticipate it being something like that. Championship Team Sprints are definitely intense; it’ll have some similarities to today, and probably many differences.”
Individual qualifying saw USA 1—comprised of likely Olympic teammates Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher—as the third fastest qualifier. They would be joined in the 15-team Final by USA 2’s JC Schoonmaker and Zanden McMullen (who would finish 11th on the day).
Home-team, Switzerland 1, was the top qualifier thanks to the efforts of seasoned Sprint competitors Janik Riebli and Valerio Grond (though packing a Team Sprint team with a pair of true sprinters is usually not considered to be the best way to excel in this event—Switzerland 1 would top all qualifiers, but would finish sixth on the day). Switzerland’s fast qualifying standard was followed by Norway 1’s Harald Oestberg Amundsen and Einar Hedegart, both of whom were recently named to the Norwegian Olympic team, but neither of whom are likely to appear in this event in Milano-Cortina. Fourth fastest qualifier was Italy 1’s Elia Baro and Federico Pellegrino who are likely to team up when the Olympic Team Sprint takes place in their homeland.
Ben Ogden (USA) also had an excellent qualification for the Team Sprint – together with Schumacher, they posted the third-fastest time. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
A Plan to Follow—Easier Said than Done
For some teams, Goms’ Team Sprint was an Olympic dress-rehearsal, for other teams, a consolation prize. Norway 1 had the potential to take a World Cup win, but they will certainly NOT be the Olympic duo that Norway fields in this event (that spot being reserved for Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo and (presumably) his gold medal partner from Beijing, Erik Valnes). Norway 2 was comprised of Ansgar Evensen and Even Northug, two of the world’s best sprinters who, nonetheless, found themselves overlooked when Norway selected its team of Olympians. While the skiers of Norway 2 may have hoped to prove that they belonged on the Olympic Team, their efforts fizzled in Goms. Norway 2 would place 15th, last among starters in the Team Sprint final.
Norway 1, on the other hand, performed as expected. Amundsen led out Leg 1, keeping the pace high and keeping himself out of trouble. He was followed by Riebli, Barp, and Ogden. Ogden tangled skis briefly with Barp as they entered the exchange, but both skiers shook it off masterfully. Norway 1 continued to lead.
Norway kept the pressure on to keep things stringed out. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
Ogden tagged Schumacher to begin Leg 2. Schumacher seems a logical choice to team with Ogden in the Olympic Team Sprint, a pairing suggested by the tactic of pairing a sprinter with a seasoned, fast-skiing all-rounder who can navigate in a tight pack and not get dropped. American Olympian, Jack Young, is a world-class freestyle sprinter, but even though it’s called the “Team Sprint,” there’s no use in fielding a team of two pure sprinters. The only sprint that matters is the one to the finish line at the end of the final leg. Before then, each teammate’s job is simply to steer clear of trouble, to hang on to the pace, and to not get dropped. More than perhaps any of his US Olympic teammates, Schumacher fits that bill.
“The first leg was pretty chill,” said Schumacher. “I found myself a little far back after our tag, but made a good move on the fast corner.”
“The second leg was pretty fast,” Schumacher continued. “But we still had a group, so it wasn’t too bad. We held the gap to Norway, which is good. Norway was definitely trying to string everyone out. They were really impressive, but we’re not far off. And I think. if the right person was in a good position, they probably could have held that. With Norway, that’s something to think about for the future.”
Schumacher knows his role, and in Goms’ Team Sprint he skied it brilliantly. Through Leg 2, he remained in contact, preserving energy as Norway 1’s Hedegart set the pace at the front followed by Switzerland’s Grond and Sweden’s Edvin Anger. Leg 3 began with no changes in leaders, and with Ogden remaining solidly in contact with the top five. Amundsen continued to set the pace for Norway followed by Riebli and Barp.
Einar Hedegart (NOR) clearly was racing with something to prove to the Norwegian team coaches about his place in the Olympic Team Sprint with Johannes Hosflot Klaebo. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
Leg 4 saw Hedegart stringing out the pace while Schumacher continued to mark the skiers at the front. The field began to string out, with Schumacher keeping USA 1 in contention.
Leg 5 is where the field expects Norway to make a move; Amundsen did not disappoint, storming off the front even before the field had left the flat terrain around the exchange zone. By the time he reached the course’s first uphill, Amundsen enjoyed a lead of 30 meters. Rather than chase him in vain, the chase group—led by Barp—sat up a bit to preserve energy. Norway had earned a gap as Amundsen tagged Hedegart to begin the anchor leg. The rest of the field would fight for second and third.
The way the Americans set up today’s relay team—with the sprinter, Ogden, leading off and the all-rounder, Schumacher, finishing—showed that Team USA may realize that the Olympic version of this event will NOT come down to a finishing line sprint, but to a final-leg high-speed dash that sheds sprinters and leaves all-rounders leading the way to medals. This may be the scene in a few weeks—Schumacher dueling Pellegrino in the final leg. If so, then today was a bit of a dress rehearsal after all. On the first of the final leg’s two uphills, Schumacher tried desperately to cross the gap to Amundsen. It was a bold ploy, but one that a fast distance skier needed to try in order to shake Pellegrino. Pellegrino shadowed Schumacher, but seemed to struggle in doing so. Over the second uphill, and Pellegrino struggled again under Schumacher’s re-application of pressure . . . but in order to beat a sprinter you need to drop a sprinter.
Gus Schumacher (USA) kept the pressure on, leading the chase group behind Norway. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
Ahead of them, Hedegart show-boated playfully at the finish line, taking off his poles and sheathing them like a sword after a successful duel. Pellegrino undid Schumacher in the finishing straightaway—a cagey veteran having played his hand with seasoned mastery. Schumacher shrugged across the finish line in third, having done all he could to lengthen the sprint in an attempt to take the sting out of Pellegrino’s sprint.
“Pellegrino is a super strong sprinter,” said Schumacher.” Today, he basically made me pull through. I didn’t want to mess around with a big bunch sprint, and I’m glad I didn’t. I’m fine with him beating me in the end. But, yeah, we’ll see how it plays out in Val di Fiemme. I think I can beat him if I can get a good draft. We’ll see; you need drop him before the finish line. I guess you just have to go faster! But he’s also a great distance skier, so that’s a tough one.”
“Having Gus in the second leg felt good for me,” said Ogden. “He’s really good at positioning, and super strong and fit, and he’s going to have legs at the end when it matters . . . Today was just to try something and learn from it. I think that we thought it was a natural thing to try. We went with it today, and it worked out well.”
After all the strategizing, all the jockeying, all the surging, all the positioning, it’s a skier like Pellegrino—a world-class sprinter who can also contend in distance races—who is the ideal finisher for a Team Sprint. Approaching the Olympic Team Sprint in his home country—and hoping for a gold medal in front of his countrymen—Pellegrino still has one major obstacle to overcome: Klaebo is the one skier who has proven to be even faster, even more durable than Pellegrino. If the Italian wants to claim gold on home turf, he’ll need to beat the best of all time in order to do it . . . but that will be the same for any skier who hopes to claim gold in any event when the Olympic races are run in Val di Fiemme.
Gus Schumacher (USA) and Ben Ogden (USA), (l-r) proved they are true contenders for a medal in the Team Sprint at the Olympics. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
While the cast may be different when this event is staged at the Olympics of Milano-Cortina, the script is likely to be strikingly similar. If so, then Team USA will be there hoping. To recreate the tactics, the speed, the strength, and the brilliance that took them to a third place finish today in Goms. Ironically, today’s Norwegian winners are not likely to be offered the chance to pursue Olympic gold in this same event. When asked whether he thought this dominant performance ahead of numerous teams likely to contend in this event in Val di Fiemme could cause Team Norway to reconsider their starters in the Olympic Team Sprint, Hedegart was playful, yet again.
“Message sent,” grinned Hedegart. “I hope the message is received.”
Chance of Hedegart becoming the face of Team Norway in season’s to come? Quite high, it appears. Chance of Hedegart replacing Valnes (as Klaebo’s teammate) in Norway’s Olympic Team Sprint? Far less likely . . . but much could happen between the World Cup finish line in Goms and the Olympic starting line in Val di Fiemme.
Goms World Cup Men’s Freestyle Team Sprint QUALIFYING
Goms World Cup Men’s Freestyle Team Sprint RESULTS
Help Support Our Olympic Coverage!
FasterSkier will have our own Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics, which, to be honest, is a very big financial lift for us. If you value the thoughtful work and access FasterSkier provides at championships like this one, please consider becoming a Voluntary Subscriber. Your support directly fuels the work we do to cover the people, places, and moments that make our sport special.
Federico Pellegrino (ITA), Elia Barp (ITA), Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), Einar Hedegart (NOR), Gus Schumacher (USA), Ben Ogden (USA), (l-r) share the Team Sprint podium in Goms, Switzerland. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.
The lights come on early in Davos, not because they are needed, but because Davos wants them on. By mid-afternoon, the valley is already sliding toward dusk, the alpine light thinning and flattening, and the sprint venue leans into the moment the way it always has: music turned up, cowbells ringing with a little extra insistence, flames licking the edges of the course like stage cues. The effect is deliberate. This is not cross-country skiing as a quiet endurance ritual in the woods; this is cross-country skiing as spectacle.
“Davos deliberately designs this event to feel like a rock concert,” U.S. head coach Matt Whitcomb said afterward. “They race at night, they bring in fire and lighting and music, and because it’s a two-lap course, you see the athletes twice as much. They invest in the experience, and it pays off.”
Jack Young (USA) on his way to a fast qualification in Davos (SUI). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
On Saturday night, it paid off in a men’s freestyle sprint that delivered one of the most compelling American performances in years. Jack Young finished fourth, Ben Ogden fifth — the first time two American men had made a World Cup sprint final together in Davos — on a night when the script cracked open early and never fully resealed. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo was gone before the semifinals. A notoriously slick downhill corner became the day’s silent antagonist. And by the time Lucas Chanavat lunged across the line to win by three hundredths of a second, the story had already shifted: the U.S. men were no longer visitors to the sprint final. They were participants, with opinions about how it might have ended differently.
For Young, the fourth-place finish marked his first World Cup sprint final — a breakthrough that felt less like a surprise than a confirmation. “This result means so, so much,” he said. “It really feels like proof that I can make it to the top in this sport. If I’d told myself three years ago that I’d finish fourth in a World Cup sprint, I would have thought I was insane.”
Ben Ogden (USA) during qualification in Davos (SUI). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
A course that punishes impatience
Davos is not a long sprint, but it is not a forgiving one. Two laps of just under 600 meters pack in a decisive climb, sustained skating tempo, and — this year especially — a downhill corner that demanded respect. The snow was entirely man-made, hard and fast, and as the temperature dropped through the evening, it glazed into ice. Athletes began to talk about the corner not as a feature, but as a test.
“That bottom corner was particularly dicey this year,” Whitcomb said. “Man-made snow turns to ice quickly, and that corner claimed a lot of people over the last couple of days.”
Ben Ogden felt it more than once. “That last corner was really the focus,” he said. “I fell there yesterday, JC fell there in practice, and I stumbled twice in the final and ended up against the boards. It was unfortunate, but every year you learn a little more about how the ice forms there.”
The corner changed the race’s outcome. The first time through, athletes skied it conservatively, prioritizing stability over speed. The second time, with fatigue setting in and the finish looming, choices became riskier — and more consequential.
Janik Riebli (SUI), Jack Young (USA), and Lars Heggen (NOR), (l-r) during the heats in Davos (SUI). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
Qualifying hints, early shocks
The qualifying round suggested a familiar hierarchy, but with enough irregularities to hint that Davos might misbehave. Lucas Chanavat of France was fastest, Ben Ogden second, Klæbo third. Jack Young qualified sixth — an excellent position that put him squarely in control of his bracket.
“That’s one of the best qualifying results we’ve ever had on the U.S. team,” Whitcomb said. “Qualifying in the top ten gives you options. It lets you race offensively instead of defensively.”
Klæbo’s day began to unravel in the quarterfinals. Boxed in and forced wide through the downhill, he finished fourth in his heat and failed to advance. His 16-race sprint win streak ended not with drama, but with traffic — a reminder that sprinting, for all its stars, is still governed by physics and positioning.
Ogden and Young both advanced cleanly. Ogden won his quarterfinal with authority. Young skied his with the composure of someone who knew exactly what he needed to do — no more, no less.
Ben Ogden (USA) and the US Ski Team had a lot to celebrate in Davos (SUI). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
Semifinals: the Americans arrive together
By the semifinals, the noise in Davos had sharpened. Chanavat advanced. Ogden advanced. And then Young did, stepping into his first World Cup sprint final with the kind of quiet efficiency that suggested the moment had not surprised him.
“To be honest, the first thing that went through my mind standing on the start line was how tired I was,” Young said. “But I reminded myself that anything can happen in a sprint final. I don’t train just for qualifiers and quarters — I train for the full day. It was time to execute.”
For Ogden, the significance of sharing the moment wasn’t lost. “Racing with Jack today was awesome,” he said. “He has this infectious confidence, especially here in Davos. Last year we were in the semifinals together, and this year we were in the final together. That’s a big step.”
Whitcomb saw it as more than a statistical milestone. “To put two guys into the men’s final is a dream,” he said. “When athletes finish a race seeing the podium and knowing they can be on it, that’s when things start to get dangerous — in a good way.”
Jack Young (USA) had every right to be celebrated after his breakout race today in Davos (SUI). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
The final: margins measured in inches
The men’s final unfolded at full speed. Chanavat and Federico Pellegrino established themselves early, both reading the race the way veterans do — not forcing it, but shaping it. Oskar Opstad Vike of Norway positioned himself patiently, waiting for the moment when commitment would matter.
Ogden and Young stayed connected. Coming into the final corner, Ogden had position. Young had momentum.
“I was really gunning for that podium,” Ogden said. “I felt like I was pretty close. With fewer stumbles and maybe a little better positioning, I think I could have made it happen.”
The corner had other plans. Ogden’s line took him over the ice and was forced wide, momentarily pinned against the boards. Young exited cleaner, carrying speed into the finishing straight.
Chanavat and Pellegrino lunged together at the line, Chanavat winning by three hundredths of a second. Vike took third. Young crossed fourth, Ogden fifth — separated from the podium by seconds, but not by belief.
“I finally feel like I can truly compete at the top,” Young said. “That’s a special feeling.”
Results — Men’s Sprint Freestyle, Davos
Lucas Chanavat (France)
Federico Pellegrino (Italy)
Oskar Opstad Vike (Norway)
Jack Young (USA)
Ben Ogden (USA)
Edvin Anger (Sweden)
Notables: Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (Norway), 17th, and JC Schoonmaker (USA), 27th.
It has been a tough trail back to the top step on the podium for Lucas Chanavat (FRA) so he was extremely excited to be standing on it today in Davos (SUI). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
What Davos leaves behind
Davos has always been good at revealing things. It reveals how athletes handle altitude, manage nerves, and respond when a race refuses to go according to plan. On Saturday night, it revealed something else: American depth at the sharp end of a sprint final.
Young talked about the atmosphere as something that lifts him. “With all the energy, it’s easy to trick yourself into thinking you’re walking into a big arena,” he said. Ogden talked about validation — not just from results, but from proximity. “My target in these races is the podium,” he said. “It feels good to know I’m getting closer.”
Whitcomb, standing back from it all, saw the longer arc. “We’re in a really good place with these guys,” he said. “There’s a lot more to come.”
The flames went out eventually. The music faded. Davos returned to being a quiet alpine town under an early winter night. But for the American men — and for two Vermonters who now know exactly what a World Cup sprint final feels like in tandem — something lingered.
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The night sprint in Davos has a way of making the sport feel louder than it usually allows itself to be. The course is short, the laps repeat, the crowd sees the same faces twice, and the organizers lean into the spectacle—music, lights, flames—until the whole thing starts to resemble a winter street festival that happens to include the fastest skiers in the world. “They deliberately design this event to feel like a rock concert,” U.S. head coach Matt Whitcomb said, pointing to the night racing, the lighting, and the two-lap format that keeps the athletes close and visible.
But the women’s sprint on Saturday didn’t need help finding drama. It had its own: a final that turned into a study in timing and patience, a surprise runner-up, a home-country podium that felt like the whole point of staging a race like this in the first place, and an American women’s team day that—depending on where you stood—looked either like incremental progress or a reminder of how narrow the margins are when you’re trying to turn good skiing into the kind of skiing that survives the heats.
At the front, Jonna Sundling (Sweden) won the women’s sprint free in 2:31.86, edging Mathilde Myhrvold (Norway) by 0.08 seconds (2:31.94). Nadine Fähndrich (Switzerland) rounded out the podium in third at +2.60, a result made sweeter by the route she took to get there: she advanced into the final as a lucky loser and still skied her way onto the podium when it mattered most.
Behind them, the final was saturated with familiar sprint power: Maja Dahlqvist (Sweden) finished fourth, Linn Svahn (Sweden) fifth, and Laura Gimmler (Germany) sixth—three Swedes in a Davos final, again, in a venue that has long amplified Sweden’s particular talent for fast, hard, repeated efforts under bright lights.
Kristine Stavaas Skistad (NOR), Laura Gimmler (GER), Jonna Sundling (SWE), Nadine Faehndrich (SUI), (l-r) during the sprint heats in Davos (SUI). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
A course that asks for control more than courage
Davos is not a long sprint, but it’s demanding in the way short races can be demanding: there’s nowhere to hide, and every mistake is immediate. The compact two-lap circuit rewards rhythm and positioning—especially on the downhill into the technical corner that has been a recurring storyline in Davos when the surface hardens.
Whitcomb, talking about the venue more broadly, framed Davos as a place where experience matters —not only experience racing hard, but racing smart: managing altitude, managing risk, and understanding that “good” in Davos can disappear fast if you’re constantly reacting rather than shaping.
That’s why Sundling’s win felt so Sundling: not flamboyant, not chaotic, but efficient—an athlete with enough power to force the pace and enough composure to let the final come to her.
Mathilde Myhrvold (NOR) and Jonna Sundling (SWE), (l-r) lunge for the sprint final finish line in Davos (SUI). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
The final: Sundling’s patience, Myhrvold’s moment, Fähndrich’s home lift
If you didn’t know the result, you might have expected a Swedish one-two. Sundling and Dahlqvist were both in the final, and Sweden brought three athletes onto the start line. But sprint finals aren’t always about the most decorated name; they’re about who can keep their speed intact after a day of qualifiers, quarters, and semis—after the accumulation of small sprints that feel, by the end, like one long race done in pieces.
Sundling and Myhrvold made the final feel like a contest of timing. Sundling’s skiing had the taut confidence of someone who knows exactly what she wants from the last 200 meters; Myhrvold skied like someone who believed she could take it from her. They hit the line separated by less than a tenth of a second.
And then there was Fähndrich—third, at home, on a night designed for the crowd to matter. If Sundling’s win was clinical, Fähndrich’s podium was emotional in a quieter Swiss way: the sense that the event’s atmosphere wasn’t just decoration; it was fuel.
Julia Kern (USA) and Nicole Monsorno (ITA), (l-r) in the quarterfinals in Davos (SUI). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
The U.S. women: progress, frustration, and the line between them
For the U.S. women, Davos was not the same kind of headline day the men had produced a few hours earlier. But it also wasn’t empty. It was the kind of day coaches talk about carefully: pieces moving in the right direction, while also acknowledging that “right direction” still has to show up in a bracket.
Whitcomb didn’t sugarcoat the overall result. “Honestly, a little lackluster on the women’s side today,” he said, adding that the athletes themselves would agree with that assessment. At the same time, he pointed to specific positives—the kind that matter in the arc of a season.
He said Jessie Diggins “skied competitively” and “narrowly missed advancing,” and he emphasized that the difference between making semifinals and missing them is often a single decision in a single corner. He also singled out Julia Kern as an athlete whose level is rising: “Julia is definitely skiing on another level than she has been for the first couple of weekends,” Whitcomb said, framing it less as a sudden leap and more as a build—more weekends of consistent racing, more reps in heats, more time at speed until the pieces become routine.
Kern’s own description of her day fit that exact narrative: detailed plan, sharper qualifier, more of a feeling of normalcy returning—plus the kind of bad luck sprinting specializes in.
“I’m proud of making a detailed race plan and starting faster in the qualifier today,” Kern said. “I felt much more like myself out there and was able to play the tactical game with some good moves, even though it ended with an obstruction by another athlete. I’m excited to take this fresher energy into tomorrow and build on the endurance base I feel like I have going into the distance race.”
It’s a very Kern quote: pragmatic, technical, forward-looking. Not a lament—more a calibration.
The deeper truth of sprinting is that it doesn’t always reward “feeling better” immediately. Sometimes it rewards it tomorrow, or next week, or in the next venue where a better qualifier and a cleaner first heat finally align. That’s why Whitcomb’s view was pointed but not pessimistic: he sees the level rising, and he sees that the team standard is higher than the day’s outcome.
“We should be putting multiple women in the semifinals,” he said. “And it’s time to start doing that.”
Jessie Diggins (USA) during qualification in Davos (SUI). (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
Why Davos matters beyond the podium
Davos is always a little odd in the calendar. It arrives after the first wave of races has introduced the season’s storylines, but before the season has fully decided what it wants to be. It’s high enough to punish sloppy energy management, tight enough to punish poor positioning, and loud enough to make athletes feel—at least for one night—that they’re racing in an arena rather than on a trail.
That can be destabilizing, in a good way. It can pull surprise finalists into the light. It can elevate a lucky-loser path into a podium. It can turn a planned, steady day into a messy one. And it can expose the difference between skiing fast and getting through rounds—a difference that isn’t always about fitness.
For Sweden, Davos once again looked like a venue built for their sprint depth: three in the final, the winner on top. For Norway, Myhrvold’s second place was a reminder that the sport is always producing new sprint threats, even in an era dominated by familiar names. For Switzerland, Fähndrich’s third place felt like the perfect use of home advantage and crowd energy.
And for the U.S. women, it was a day that asked a familiar question: how close is “close,” really?
Kern’s answer—embedded in her quote—was that she’s trending toward the skier she knows she is, and she’s carrying that energy forward into the distance race. Whitcomb’s answer was both sharper and more structural: good signs are not the same as results, but good signs are still worth something if they’re backed by consistent racing.
Recap: Women’s Sprint Free, Davos
Jonna Sundling (SWE) — 2:31.86
Mathilde Myhrvold (NOR) — +0.08
Nadine Fähndrich (SUI) — +2.60
Maja Dahlqvist (SWE)
Linn Svahn (SWE)
Laura Gimmler (GER)
Mathilde Myhrvold (NOR), Jonna Sundling (SWE), and Nadine Faehndrich (SUI), (l-r) share the sprint podium in Davos (SUI). (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
The quieter ending Davos can leave you with
By the time the final ends, the flames are still there, the music is still there, and the crowd is still leaning over the fencing as if the night could produce one more surprise. But the athletes are already drifting toward tomorrow—toward the distance race, toward the next chance to turn “better” into “through,” toward the next bracket that won’t care how good your plan was unless it shows up as a place on the right side of the line.
That’s the strange promise of Davos: it amplifies everything. It amplifies winners. It amplifies near-misses. It amplifies the feeling that a season can pivot in a single night sprint—sometimes in front of flames and floodlights, sometimes in a quiet tactical mistake that only the skier can feel.
Sundling won because she was the best sprinter on the night and skied like she knew it. Myhrvold took second because she refused to concede the finish until the last step. Fähndrich climbed onto the podium because sprinting still leaves room for the athlete who keeps the door open long enough to walk through it.
And the U.S. women left Davos with a different kind of narrative—less celebratory, more unfinished. Kern put it plainly: she felt more like herself, she played the tactical game, and she’s taking that energy into tomorrow. In a season built out of weekends, that’s how momentum often begins: not with a single clean headline, but with the gradual return of a feeling an athlete recognizes—and a plan that, sooner or later, stops being interrupted.
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