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The Tour de Ski operates on two parallel narrative arcs. Day-to-day, stage-to-stage, it highlights the singularity of great ski performances, while over the course of a week it points to the dynamism that makes great skiers great. On Stage 2 of this year’s Tour, those arcs were one and the same.
No one skis classic technique quite like Kerttu Niskanen (FIN). And no one can close a race like Jessie Diggins (USA). Through the undulating ups and downs of the Toblach course, those two declarative statements were translated to the result sheet with only Victoria Carl (GER) skiing into second place to split Niskanen and Diggins. Niskanen won her sixth career World Cup race, taking a seven second victory over the resurgent Carl. Diggins, meanwhile, closed a five-second gap on teammate Rosie Brennan in the final two kilometers to take her second career individual classic podium. In doing so, Diggins took control in this year’s Tour de Ski.
Brennan would finish fourth, only 15 seconds behind the winner, a performance that moved Brennan from 26th place in the Tour de Ski standings to sixth place.
Other American finishers included Novie McCabe 29th, Sophia Laukli 39th, Sammy Smith 52nd, Julia Kern 59th. Canada’s Katherine Stewart-Jones did not start Stage 2, leaving Canada absent from this year’s Tour de Ski Women’s Overall standings.
Niskanen not only stood atop the field today, but also stood out as the veteran among veterans who competed for the win. The Finnish skier, Now age 35, the Finn expressed her satisfaction in post-race interviews. “I’m really happy . . . I’m back,” she beamed. “The beginning of the season has been difficult for me, so to see it come together was nice.” Niskanen’s six career World Cup wins have all come in the 10 k Classic (including one victory during the peak of Therese Johaug’s (NOR) great career).
Meanwhile, Diggins continues to tread relatively new tracks in her own storied career: This was her second-ever outright distance classic podium (after placing third place on Stage 2 of the 2021 Tour de Ski in Val Mustair). After taking third in Stage 2 of 2021’s Tour de Ski, Diggins went on to wear the Yellow Bib at the top of the Alpe Cermis as the Tour champion. After today, she again wears the Yellow Bib. After that 2021 podium, Diggins spoke to FasterSkier:“My goals for today were to ski smooth and really work the downhills,” she said then. “When I felt good on the last half of the last lap I just decided to push it!” She compared that earlier success in Toblach with her efforts today: “I tried to make sure I was racing the downhills and the flats just as hard as the uphills.” Two years after her first success in Toblach, not only was the result the same, but the way in which Diggins achieved the result was the same, too.
10 k Classic Individual Start
The dynamics of this Tour de Ski 10 k Classic Individual Start were just slightly different than what the World Cup is used to, as the method for determining the start list turned not towards the Overall World Cup Standings, but to the Tour de Ski standings after a sprint race on Stage 1. With the perennial Distance contenders spread throughout yesterday’s results, they would be spread throughout the field today. Serendipity did set up some structure, though; a pack of top distance racers including Brennan (bib 28) starting back-to-back starting with bib 20, Lotta Udnes Weng (NOR), and stretching to bib 29, Niskanen, and bib 30 Ebba Andersson (SWE). A second, looser pack of top racers started later on based on their strong sprints yesterday, with Diggins in bib 42 and Carl in bib 48.
The back-to-back pair of Brennan and Niskanen would set the leading times throughout the course. In the first half of the race, they were splitting seconds with Brennan ahead of Niskanen by 1.8 seconds through the 5 k mark, and Niskanen ahead of Brennan by the same margin a kilometer later at the 6.7 k mark. On a course that followed a rolling, punchy set of downhills, Niskanen was able to put in a finishing burst. Brennan crossed the line in first—but for only a few moments before the full extent of Niskanen’s closing speed became evident at the finish line. The Finn crossed the line 15 seconds ahead of Brennan in what would turn out to be the definitive result of the day.
“Today was better than [yesterday’s sprint race],” Brennan said. “I can’t say I felt ‘bad,’ per se. Yesterday, I just felt like I wasn’t skiing tactically that well. This distance course was definitely better than me, and while I wouldn’t say I felt great today, I was happy I made it work.”
