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To state the obvious, team Norway does not need any help on the World Cup circuit. But as this weekend’s racing moved to Lillehammer, Norway—home of the 1994 winter Olympics— that’s exactly what they were going to get a big helping hand of. In today’s race—the 10 kilometer Freestyle Individual Start—not only would Norway have the home field advantage, but because of the host nation’s start quota, the Norwegian women would bring 12 racers to the start. The American women would also get a slight start advantage since one of the perks of Jessie Diggins’ (USA) Overall Championship is that the team receives an extra start bib and would therefore be able to field eight racers.
But when it comes to the Individual Start it’s not so much quantity as quality that counts. And among the highest caliber skiers that everyone would be keeping their eyes on, there would likely be a battle between Jessie Diggins, Frida Karlsson (SWE), Heidi Weng (NOR) and Therese Johaug (NOR) for the podium. In 2022 Diggins won this same race in Lillehammer, so she was hoping for a bit of history to repeat itself. She was also coming off an impressive victory in the 20 kilometer Freestyle last Sunday in Ruka, Finland. Diggins’ strength is Freestyle, she’s proven her abilities in Individual starts, so the stars were aligned for a compelling and taut race with high hopes for Diggins to stay on a roll.
The snow conditions were tricky with a mix of artificial and natural snow. “It was super interesting,” said Diggins. “We got this beautiful snow fall overnight, which really put me in the holiday spirit, and it was mixing down with the artificial snow. It was super tricky. I actually felt like my skis were feeling really good. That said, Norway clearly knocked it out of the park today. I think my skis compared to the rest of the field were really really good, and I’m super grateful for our techs, because every single day they’re working super hard … sometimes you have the best skis in the whole world, and sometimes you don’t. You just have to go out there and race as hard as you can.”
While the anticipation around Johaug’s return has been huge, so far, she has appeared mortal. In last weekend’s 10 kilometer Individual Start Classic in Ruka, Karlsson ground Johaug into the snow beating her by a walloping 46 seconds.
But there was no beating back Johaug today as she went out fast and kept a blistering tempo all race long to take the win beating Heidi Weng by 11 seconds. Astrid Oeyre Slind (NOR) rounded out the podium for a Norwegian sweep. It was a dominating performance by Johaug and by team Norway as Johaug put her stamp on the race from start to finish. After the race she commented that “I’m so happy. It was a tough week after Ruka. I’m so- so happy. Johaug then commented on negative statements about her in the Swedish press. “Today I showed them.” She certainly did, as today’s victory not only put her on the top of the podium, but also on top of the distance and overall standings.
Diggins ended up finishing fifth, 48.7 seconds behind Johaug and only five seconds off the podium. Other American finishers were Sophia Laukli in 15th, Rosie Brennan 31st, Julia Kern 34th, Alayna Sonnesyn 35th, Sydney Palmer-Leger 47th, Haley Brewster 55th, and Renae Anderson 68th.
The top Canadian was Katherine Stewart-Jones in 38th. Liliane Gagnon was 49th, and Sonjaa Schmidt was 56th.
It was a tough day for Rosie Brennan who revealed in a bit of a bombshell to FasterSkier after the race that, “I’m dealing with an unknown injury that significantly impacted my race today.” She continued that, “it’s stressful and at the moment right now, I don’t have any other information to share. I will be working with our medical staff to figure out a plan moving forward.”
The 10 Kilometer Freestyle Individual Start
When Johaug took to the course, she wasted no time establishing her frenetic tempo. Diggins went out six skiers after Johaug putting her in the perfect position to mark one of her key rivals. But it was Karlsson who went out last amongst the best skiers and would have the best view to gauge her competitors’ performances.
When Sophia Laukli (USA) came through the 3.5 kilometer time check she established a new lead at that point taking a six second advantage over Kristin Austgulen Fosnaes (NOR). “I think a longer race could suit me better but I still feel like I can perform well in 10kms, especially with courses like Lillehammer,” said Laukli. “But you have to be very dialed (in) with tactics and skis since there’s very little room for mistakes when it is a shorter race, but on a good day I think I can do very well in a 10km.” Laukli’s skating looks to be more finely tuned this winter. “I have worked a lot on my skate skiing this summer and learning to ski with a bit more power and efficiency. I’ve always been a skier with high frequency so focusing more on using my strength and engine together and a bit slower frequency to be more efficient has really helped me improve.”
There was some more good news for team USA as when Brennan crossed the timing mark she was in fifth place, but that would be the high point of the day for Brennan as she was clearly having trouble coping with her newly revealed injury. Both of the Americans were quickly displaced as the top skiers came through the time check. When H. Weng came through she established a new lead by over 21 seconds, and it looked like it might be enough for her to stay out front. But no one could withstand the onslaught of Johaug as she established yet another new mark putting in over seven seconds on H. Weng at 3.5 kilometers. After Diggins came through, she was in fourth, 16 seconds behind Johaug and nine seconds behind H. Weng. But Diggins would drop to fifth after Karlsson was able to use her start place strategically and came through half a second behind Weng in third place.
Johaug continued to press her advantage and when the skiers reached 4.8 kilometers, she had a six second lead over H. Weng, 14 seconds over Karlsson, and 19 over Diggins. Laukli had been pushed down to ninth place, 37 seconds back, and Brennan had quickly slipped into 18th place, 51 seconds off of the lead.
Johaug was relentless as she crossed the 5.6 kilometer mark and stretched her advantage over H. Weng to nine seconds. When Diggins crossed the mark, she was in third, 17 seconds behind H. Weng and 27 behind Johaug. But Karlsson would again displace Diggins and drop her into fourth with Astrid Oeyre Slind (NOR) nipping at her heels, only three seconds behind Diggins. At this point, just a little past the half waymark, Johaug had the race firmly in her grasp, with Diggins battling to hang on to a podium.
As the 8.3 kilometer timing mark approached H. Weng had tried to turn things up a notch and crossed in the lead, but it didn’t last long, as Johaug quickly eclipsed her time as she came through extending her lead to 13.9 seconds. Diggins was now 35 seconds behind H. Weng and 43 behind Johaug. But more importantly, shortly after Diggins went through the time check Astrid Oeyre Slind (NOR) came through and pushed Diggins into fourth by five seconds, then after Karlsson moved through, she found herself sitting in fifth.
It would take a huge effort by Diggins to reach the podium. But Diggins wasn’t keeping track of where she stood compared to her competition. “I pay almost no attention (to competitors’ split times), said Diggins. “This maybe is just a Jessie thing, but I actively try to ignore splits. I essentially try to approach every race like it’s a three second battle for the win amongst 38 people. I’m always just trying to race as hard as I can and cross that finish line with nothing left. It’s not like if I hear I’m winning by 20 seconds I back off. I don’t change my race approach based on the splits because you don’t know what’s going to happen. For me a lot of the satisfaction I get out of racing is knowing that I have dug deep and I’ve gone to the bottom of the well. That has nothing to do with other racers, or times, or the clock.”
Weng was the first of the contenders to cross the finish line and she came in with over a 51 second lead. But Johaug was still on course. As she went up the final climb, Johaug showed no signs of relenting as her tempo continued to be manic up the final hill. H. Weng could only look on helplessly as she saw her teammate blasting through the course. When Johaug crossed the line, she was 11 seconds up on H. Weng with Diggins and Karlsson still on the course.
When Diggins crossed the finish, she was third, 37 seconds behind H. Weng and 48 by Johaug. But with Slind and Karlsson lurking, the outcome was still to be determined, and it didn’t look like Diggins had put enough time into either skier to hold onto a podium finish. Slind crossed the finish five seconds ahead of Diggins who was moved off the podium into fourth place. It would now be up to Karlsson to break up a Norwegian podium sweep.
As Karlsson approached the final stretch, it was obvious that she wouldn’t be in the top two and was fighting for third. She put in a furious V-2 push in the last 100 yards, but it wasn’t enough as she couldn’t close the gap on Slind and finished three seconds off the podium. Karlsson’s finish forced Diggins into fifth, but she finished just a scant 5 seconds from the podium.
So as the World Cup returned to Norway, it was also a return to Norwegian dominance with the home team sweeping the podium in an impressive performance on friendly soil. Two Norwegian veterans, Johaug and H. Weng, looked like they did at their career best and the rest of team Norway looked ready to dominate as well. After the final racer finished, Norway had taken eight of the top 13 spots.
Lillehammer 10 kilometer Freestyle Individual Start Results.
