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Davos, Switzerland, is known as a luxury resort and playground for the rich and famous. Less known among most of the world is that it’s also a favorite venue for the Stifel U.S. Cross-Country Ski Team. For reasons hard to quantify, the U.S. squad generally performs well there. Over the last two years, Jessie Diggins (USA) has stood on the podium three times in Davos. In the last three years, Rosie Brennan (USA), has had two outright victories, and four top five finishes. As the Tour de Ski (TDS) moves to Davos and starts with the Freestyle Sprints, Team USA was hoping that its past good fortune in Davos would continue.
Today’s event is the Sprint Freestyle—the second Freestyle Sprint of the 2024 Tour (that includes no Classic sprinting). For reasons known only to the International Ski Federation (FIS), both Sprint events in this year’s TDS are Freestyle; a schedule that’s just fine by the American women. After her dominating performance two days ago in the 20 kilometer Freestyle Pursuit, Diggins is the Tour leader. She sits 47 seconds ahead of Victoria Carl (GER), 48 seconds of Linn Svahn (SWE), and 48 seconds ahead of Jonna Sundling (SWE).
Because of who is chasing Diggins—and considering the nature of Sprint time bonuses in the TDS—today’s race took on outsized proportions. TDS standings are based on total accumulated finishing times. In Sprint races, finishing times are calculated based upon the qualifying round times. But more importantly, those who qualify for the heats get bonus time. The winner gets 60 seconds subtracted from their overall time (comparatively, 26th has four seconds subtracted from their overall time). For Diggins, the combination of format and who the competition is has become especially compelling. While Carl has had strong Sprint showings this year, she is not especially known for Sprinting prowess. On the other hand, Svahn and Sundling are sprinting powerhouses. Svahn began her career dominating Sprints, and Sundling has been a consistent Sprint podium finisher for years. If Diggins couldn’t hang with the two Swedes, she could quickly find herself knocked off the leader’s perch.
Sundling and Svahn ended up qualifying first and second. However, Diggins qualified fifth, only four seconds behind Sunding, setting up a very impactful round of heats. Rosie Brennan (USA) also qualified for the heats finishing tenth, six seconds behind Sundling. Eighteen year old American Sammy Smith had her best ever World Cup Sprint qualifications, finishing 19th. Julia Kern also qualified, finishing 21st. So, with four Americans reaching the qualifying rounds, Davos’ good luck was continuing for team USA.
Other Americans in the qualifying round were, Novie McCabe 34th, and Sophia Laukli in 50th.
When the day’s racing concluded, it was Svahn taking first, Kristine Stavaas Skistad (NOR) was second, and Diggins finished third. Julia Kern took 11th, Rosie Brennan was 15th, and Sammy Smith ended up 22nd.
As expected, the Tour standings tightened significantly with Svahn gaining ground on Diggins, and Carl taking steps backwards.
Tour de Ski Women’s Freestyle Sprint
The skiers raced under the lights in Davos with a late start of 5:30 p.m. local time. Diggins for one appreciated the late start time. “I was really tired yesterday,” said Diggins. “I’m glad it was a night race.” There were no Americans in the first heat with Sundling having to battle against the formidable Skistad (NOR) and Emma Ribom (SWE). Ribom was able to take first with a photo finish putting Skistad into the semis with a second place finish. Sundling would have to wait to see if she qualified for a lucky loser. It could prove extremely significant for TDS standings.
Brennan and Svahn raced in the second heat. In an interesting turn of events, Federica Sanfilippo (ITA)—a former member of the Italian biathlon team—reached the heats by qualifying 15th. Early on, Brennan was pushed toward the back but fought her way up to join the leaders about half-way through the race. When the race ended, Brennan was in third trying to secure a place for advancement. For the time being, she occupied a lucky loser spot, and importantly, had knocked Sundling out of advancing.
Julia Kern had her opportunity in the third heat. She would face hometown favorite Nadine Faehndrich (SUI), along with Moa Ilar (SWE), and Anne Kjersti Kalvaa (NOR). Kern and Faehndrich set the pace throughout the race with Faehndrich putting on a tremendous burst in the last 30 seconds to take victory. Kern advanced by taking second. It was a fast heat which ended up moving Brennan out of the lucky loser position.
In heat number four, teenager Sammy Smith had another taste of World Cup heat sprinting. TDS contender Carl was also in the heat. Smith hung on at the back for most of the race, with Carl also at the back. It was Johanna Hagstroem (SWE) and Mathilde Myhrvold (NOR) who took first and second, automatically qualifying into the semifinal. Carl finished third, further disrupting the TDS standings. Smith finished fifth.
As Diggins prepared for her heat, she knew that two of her main competitors would not advance, allowing her to add valuable time to her lead. Diggins would be up against Dahlqvist, Astrid Oeyre Slind (NOR), and Frida Karlsson (SWE). As has been her tactic this year, Diggins went hard from the start and immediately led. She charged up the first steep hill and didn’t let the pace slacken one bit. She was immediately able to put a bit of a gap on the field. Dahlqvist was able to pull up on Diggins halfway through, but Diggins immediately responded, pulling away again. She established an enormous lead over the rest of the field and pushed hard all the way through to make the semifinals. Most importantly, she would automatically put time on Carl and Sundling. Svahn was the only one of her main rivals who advanced to the semis. So, before the semis even started much of Diggins’ to do list for the day had been checked off.
Semifinals
Svahn landed in the first semifinal with Diggins and Kern dueling in the second semi. In that first semi Svahn would go up against Faehndrich, Ribom, and Skistad. Svahn went into the lead right from the start. Halfway through, the entire field was still bunched together with no one getting separation and the pace was slow. Coming into the finish Ribom fell leaving Svahn clear to take the victory. It meant that Svahn would get significant bonus time no matter what happened from this point forward, and put pressure on Diggins to make the finals.
In the second semifinal, Diggins and Kern would face Hagstroem, Dahlqvist, Myhrvold and local favorite Alina Meier (SWI). Diggins went out hard from the start again and shot to the front. She pounded up the first climb not content to let tactics play into the race. Dahlqvist was able to hang with Diggins along with Hagstroem. As they came up the big hill for the final climb, Diggins put a gap on the entire field. Going into the finishing stretch she had a significant lead to put her into the final. Kern finished sixth. For Diggins, it meant that she would fight it out in the final with Svahn, but that no matter what happened at this point, the competition could only have limited gains.
Sprint Finals
In addition to Svahn, Diggins would face off against Dahlqvist, Skistad, Myhrvold, and Hagstroem. It was a deep field, and Diggins’ strategy of going hard from the start could run into obstacles when facing such a formidable grouping. Undeterred, Diggins went hard from the start, taking an inside lane and going to the front. But this time, Skistad immediately challenged her, hung on her tails, and appeared to have very fast skis. Svahn then picked up the challenge and three quarters through jumped to the front. For the first time all day, Diggins was now chasing. Svahn quickly put in a big gap over Diggins as she entered the final stretch. Diggins pushed hard all the way, but was outpaced by Skistad, who finished second with Diggins taking third. It meant that Svahn would gain valuable time on Diggins, but Diggins had done all that she needed to today by making the finals and keeping the competition behind her. And, Davos would continue to be a favorite American venue.
Tour de Ski Standings
After all the day’s jostling was over, Diggins still maintained her TDS lead, but it had shrunk to only 33 seconds over Svahn, who was now in second place. Diggins was pleased and surprised to still be in the lead, “that’s a huge surprise,” said Diggins after the race. Sundling was 1:22 back, and Ribom 1:27 behind. Carl who had come into the day in second was no relegated to fifth and was 1:31 back. Also of critical importance, key challengers Heidi Weng (NOR), Frida Karlsson (SWE), and Astrid Slind, were all over 1:30 behind.
Tomorrow could prove to be Diggins’ most challenging day yet when the 20 Kilometer Classic Pursuit race is held. Diggins will take her lead into the race while the rest of the field tries to chip into her lead. Long Classic races are unpredictable and Diggins will be hoping that the Davos magic continues.
Women’s Freestyle Sprint RESULTS
