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Today’s Freestyle Sprint in Engadin, Switzerland was an opportunity for Jessie Diggins to expand her lead in the chase for the Overall leader’s position in the World Cup. Entering today’s race—held at over a mile in altitude— Diggins held a healthy 146 point lead in the Overall competition over Victoria Carl (GER), and 158 points over Astrid Oeyre Slind (NOR). It was a great opportunity for Diggins to put more distance between herself and Slind, as the Norwegian was not on the Sprint start list. The event’s importance was further magnified since Diggins’ foot injury has hindered her opportunity to separate herself from Slind in Classic Sprints, so Freestyle Sprints have become a rare opportunity for her to gain substantial ground on Slind. Carl, however, is a regular in the Sprint heats, and she would be working hard to gain ground on Diggins.
For Diggins, it was mission partly accomplished before the heats even began as Carl finished 37th in qualifying meaning that she wouldn’t be in the heats and Diggins would have a golden opportunity to put some distance on her German rival.
Team Norway was somewhat replenished with Lotta Udnes Weng, and Kristine Stavaas Skistad, joining the start list. Sweden fielded its usual formidable field—including Jonna Sundling, Emma Ribom, and Maja Dahlqvist— but still absent from team Sweden was Linn Svahn. When Sundling is in form she is always a name to beat and proved that again by finishing first in the qualifying round leading the field by over four seconds.
At the end of the day Sundling simply proved too formidable for the rest of the field as she led every heat including the finals, where she was able to convincingly handle Skistad. Skistad skied very tactically the entire day and tried to slingshot past Sundling in the finals, but the Norwegian simply didn’t have the speed to be able to pass Sundling. Dahlqvist ended up taking third.

Diggins qualified eighth and decided to race in the third quarter final, abandoning her strategy of choosing heat number five. The new strategy served her well as she advanced to the finals. But she had bad luck in the finals when she fell going up a hill and broke a pole. It was an unrecoverable event, and she ended up finishing sixth. It was a truly unfortunate bit of bad luck as Diggins had looked very strong all day and into the final race as well. “The thorn was getting my ski stepped on, which caused me to fall then put my knee through my pole, or my ski, I’m not sure” said Diggins. “My rose was how I handled it. You only get your sportsmanship tested when things go wrong. And I’m really proud of how I kept my head high, I smiled and thanked the volunteers and the fans, and took time to high-five a bunch of cute little kids. I’m proud of how I handled the situation that’s obviously a bummer, but that is sport.” But the good news for Diggins was that she gained substantial ground over her rivals in her chase for the Overall lead.
Today also marked Julia Kern’s (USA) return to Sprinting. Kern raced yesterday in the mixed relays (five kilometers) but today was her first opportunity to test her Sprinting legs since the Tour de Ski. Kern looked good in the quarter final and made it to the semifinals but was unable to advance out of the semis. “I was excited to be sprinting again,” said Kern “I’ve been hungry to improve my sprinting this season, trying to find my sprint mojo back. The pace was hot from the start and I was feeling the quarterfinals and the altitude in my body. I’m proud of how I skied the quarterfinals today, and was a step in the right direction to getting my sprint form back, and now I have to work on holding repetitive efforts through the rounds.”
There were also some fresh faces on team USA with Kate Oldham and Lucinda Anderson joining Lauren Jortberg and Alayna Sonnesyn in the qualifying round. It was the World Cup debut for Oldham, and only Anderson’s second world Cup race. Oldham and Anderson made the heats qualifying 28th and 24th respectively. “I’m trying not to have any result-based goals on my first trip to World Cup so I can just focus on learning what it’s like to race here,” Oldham said after the race. “That being said, it was a huge bonus to make the heats today. Racing the qualifier felt similar to most other qualifiers especially because it was an individual start race, but I knew that every fraction of a second was going to count because the level of competition is so high here. I think the parts that were the most different were the little things that you don’t get in the US, like having a heat selection, lots of cameras, starting gates, etc. After all that, it just felt like racing, but with a new group of teammates, techs, and coaches who are all incredibly good at their jobs!”

“It felt great!” remarked a clearly pleased Anderson after the race. “I wasn’t expecting to make the heats today, but I had a fun time trying to keep up with all those fast skiers. They definitely raced it a lot more tactically than heats I’ve done in the US, so hopefully I get the opportunity to race more World Cup heats and try and get more in the mix!”
Sonja Schmidt (CAN) Canada had a breakout day. She qualified 10th and in a shocker won her quarterfinal heat. Prior to today, Schmidt—who has only previously competed in five World Cup Sprints— had one top twenty Sprint finish at the World Cup. She advanced to the finals by qualifying as a lucky loser in the semifinals, finishing fourth in the finals just missing the podium.
Diggins was the top American finisher in sixth place followed by Kern in 12th. Other American finishers were Oldham in 19th, Jortberg 28th, Anderson 29th, Sonnesyn 50th, and Sammy Smith in 52nd.
Schmidt led Canada with a personal best finishing fourth. Other Canadian finishers were Liliane Gagnon 32nd, Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt 40th, and Katherine Weaver 42nd.
Engadin Women’s Freestyle Sprints-Quarterfinals
Sundling and Skistad battled each other in the first quarterfinal with Sundling taking the win over her Norwegian rival by half a second. The two easily took the top two spots, and it was a familiar scenario for two of the top Sprinters in the sport.

Lucinda Anderson made her Sprint heat debut in the second heat. She had the unenviable task of going up against Jasmi Joensuu. But the story of the day was that in a huge surprise, Sonjaa Schmidt (CAN) was able to blast past Joensuu to take the victory. It was a breakout race for Schmidt.
In a change of strategy, Jessie Diggins chose to race in the third heat today. She joined her teammate Julia Kern and the strong Katerina Janatova (CZE). Diggins went to the front early along with Kern. The two skied together for the first half of the race with Diggins putting a big gap on the rest of the field. Coming to the finish Janatova went by Kern and put in a push to try and catch Diggins. But Diggins was able to hold of Janatova to win the heat with Janatova taking second. Kern held onto third and her time would be good enough to qualify as a lucky loser.
The fourth heat also had strong skiers with L. Weng and Maja Dahlqvist facing each other as well as Jortberg. L. Weng and Dahlqvist dominated the heat with L. Weng taking the win and Dahlqvist finishing second. Jortberg was unable to keep pace with the leaders and finished sixth.

The fifth heat was the Sprint heat debut for Oldham. She would face Moa Lundgren (SWE), and Alina Meier (SUI). Ane Appelkvist Stenseth (NOR) took the early lead. But about a minute into the race, she was passed by Lundgren who continued to lead coming into the stadium. The rookie Oldham was right with the leaders as Meier managed to squeak by on the inside to take second place. Oldham battled hard but couldn’t gain on the leaders as she ended up in fourth but was less than a second away from finishing in the top two. However, placing fourth in a heat in your first world cup race and just missing advancing was an impressive debut for Oldham.
SemiFinals

In the first semi-final Diggins and Kern again faced each other along with Sundling, Skistad, Schmidt and Joensuu. It was as difficult a field as there is these days in Sprinting with Sundling and Skistad having a dominating presence. Sundling and Skistad immediately went to the front of the field with Diggins right with them. Sundling put in a torrid pace as about 1:20 into the race she put a gap on the field with Diggins sitting in second place and Skistad right behind her. There was no catching Sundling as she continued to push the pace and string out the field. Into the stadium Sundling was leading comfortably as Diggins and Skistad battled for second. Skistad put in a quick burst of speed to catch Diggins who finished third. Schmidt had another incredible performance finishing fourth which allowed her to advance to the finals as a lucky loser along with Diggins. Julia Kern was never able to keep pace with the leaders and finished sixth.
In the second semifinal Dahlqvist and L. Weng were able to advance by finishing first and second. Fortunately for Diggins and Schmidt the pace was slower than the first semi-final which allowed Diggins and Schmidt to advance as lucky losers.
Finals
The finals ended up being a star studded field with Sundling and Skistad looking like the favorites going in, against Dahlqvist, Schmidt, L. Weng and Diggins. As she had done the entire day Sundling went to the front from the start, with Skistad shadowing her, and Dahlqvist and Diggins just a few strides behind them. Going into the first big climb Diggins began to charge up the hill when she fell and broke a pole as she hit the ground. It immediately put her to the back of the field and there would be no recovering from it.
As Diggins was struggling with her broken pole Sundling continued to hammer away with Skistad doggedly pursuing her. The two had put an enormous gap on the rest of the field as the top two places were decided before the skiers entered the stadium. It was a fitting duel to the finish as Skistad hung back drafting off Sundling. But the Swede proved too tough as she was able to outsprint Skistad winning by over a second. Dahlqvist finished third with Schmidt hanging on for fourth in her best ever Sprint finish.
It was a might-have-been kind of day for Diggins who looked very sharp in the finals, but there was no way for her to overcome a broken pole. Nonetheless she was able to gain valuable points in the Overall standings over her two principal rivals. It was a day that showcased everything Sprint skiing has to offer—incredible speed, technical prowess, and the heartbreak of very bad luck.
Engadin Women’s Freestyle Sprint
