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Krista Parmakoski (FIN) has battled the greats: Marit Bjorgen, Therese Johaug, Charlotte Kalla, Justyna Kowalczyk, Heidi Weng, Jessie Diggins. Across fifteen years of World Cups, World Championships, and Olympics, whomever was the dominant skier in the women’s field always had to contend with the brave and aggressive racing of Parmakoski. In Lahti—six years after her last World Cup victory—Parmakoski thrilled a sparse but energized Finnish crowd, winning the 20 k Classic Individual Start with a narrow margin over Victoria Carl (GER) and Kerttu Niskanen (FIN).
“An emotional day. I’m so happy that I’m back on the podium,” said Parmakoski in post-race comments. “It’s so nice to take the victory in the home crowd.”
Among Americans, Rosie Brennan finished ninth, Jessie Diggins 21st, and Sophia Laukli 26th.
“I love interval start racing,” said Brennan. “I get to push where I want and relax where I want and more or less just hold a steady pace which I think is one of my strengths so I think the challenge of doing that for 20k is awesome and I wish we did more intervals starts.”
Women’s 20 k Classic Individual Start
On a day like this—in a technical discipline like this—there’s simply no place to hide. Old, sugary snow, finnicky klister under every ski, temperatures hovering around freezing, and a layer of low clouds hanging over the flat-topped ridges that define the course in Lahti. After a sprint day marred by numerous crashes due to the challenging klister conditions, athletes knew that their four laps of Lahti’s five kilometer course would be a serious challenge, both physically and mentally. Every skier would feel slow today, every skier would suffer slips today. Would the kick hold? Would there be enough glide? The true test would be continuing to battle while the psyche continued to be tested. Pacing and patience, aggression and ambition, courage and consistency: it would not be an easy day.
“The conditions were wet and soft but honestly not that bad by Lahti standards,” commented Brennan. “This place has some of the toughest waxing on the circuit. The course demands a lot technically and physically so I really felt that focusing solely on good skiing was my best chance to put together a decent race. I’m proud my classic has come to a place that that is possible and that leaves me happy with the day.”
Leaders indicated by early splits included Frida Karlsson (SWE), Sundling, Carl, Parmakoski, and Niskanen. At five kilometers, Brennan was within ten seconds of the leaders. She would maintain her pace and remain in contention throughout, ultimately finishing ninth.
The challenges faced by the Americans were evident early on.
“With this being the last seven races of the season, I went out there and skied as hard as I could today,” said Diggins. “Unfortunately, we had some challenges with the glide—that’s okay; that happens—so I felt like the results did not reflect the effort and grit that I put into that race, but I skied a race and an effort level that I do feel really proud of. And I’ll continue doing that for each of the races that we have left!”
If part of the interest in today’s racing was the ongoing competition between Diggins and Linn Svahn (SWE) for the Overall World Cup championship (in which Diggins 2290 points at the start of the day ahead led Svahn’s 2033 points), then their comparative splits would tell the story. Diggins already trailed Svahn by eight seconds at the 1.1 kilometer check point, by 25 seconds at 3.4 kilometers, by 45 seconds at ten kilometers. By the 13.4 kilometer checkpoint, Svahn could begin to see Diggins skiing just ahead. Having started a minute behind, Svahn could definitely tell how much she had gained on her rival in the chase for the Overall World Cup. Svahn (11th place) would catch and pass Diggins (21st place) just before the finish line.
But this was not just a race for a season-long prize. It was definitely a race for World Cup individual honors. Earlier in this World Cup season, Victoria Carl (GE) won the 10 k Classic Individual Start in Trondheim. In Lahti, Carl surged into the mid-race lead, marked closely by Karlsson, Parmakoski, and Niskanen.
Carl and Parmakosi remained virtually tied with just under four kilometers remaining. Ultimately, it was a late-race surge that delivered Parmakoski her sixth career World Cup win ahead of Carl and Niskanen. Jonna Sundling (SWE) continued to demonstrate her fine form with a fourth place finish. The win was Parmakoski’s first at 20 k Classic (all her other victories had been earned at 10 k Classic), and her first World Cup win since Falun in 2018. Siox years is a long time to wait—a long time to work—and Parmakoski’s emotional felt like redemption, indeed.
Women’s 20 k Classic Individual Start RESULTS
World Cup Standings
In the race for the season-long overall championship, Linn Svahn’s (SWE) 11th place finish made up ground on current leader, Jessie Digins (USA), who finished the day 21st. Diggins (with 2330 points) continues to lead Svahn (2093) in the race for the Overall World Cup. With 1328 points, Diggins also continues to lead in the Distance standings ahead of Carl (1112 points), Ebba Andersson (SWE) (1090 points) and Brennan (1044 points).
John Teaford
John Teaford—the Managing Editor of FasterSkier — has been the coach of Olympians, World Champions, and World Record Holders in six sports: Nordic skiing, speedskating, road cycling, track cycling, mountain biking, triathlon. In his long career as a writer/filmmaker, he spent many seasons as Director of Warren Miller’s annual feature film, and Producer of adventure documentary films for Discovery, ESPN, Disney, National Geographic, and NBC Sports.
