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Two weeks ago, Jessie Diggins—hampered by a lingering injury (plantar fasciitis)—was compelled to double pole her Classic Sprint qualifyier, leaving her in 40th that day. Since then, Diggins has been spotted a time or two testing out her rehabilitative Classic abilities, though not usually at more than a Classic-shuffle around the Cogne race venue. Nonetheless, the defense of her lead in the World Cup overall standings encouraged Diggins to line up for the Classic Sprint (on a course with mandatory Stride-zones that would not allow a full double-pole strategy). Diggins is a gamer, a brave competitor, and a race-day innovator: she would qualify 17th, advance into the heats, and finish fifth in her semifinal (good for 10th on the day) claiming even more points in the season-long chase for the Crystal Globe.
“Today felt like an amazing little personal miracle,” said Diggins. “With the normal timeline of 6-8 weeks for healing, there’s no way I should’ve been able to do that today.”
Diggins was the sole American qualifier in Cogne, entering the day leading the overall World Cup lead over Astrid Oyre Slind and Victoria Carl (neither of whom were competing in today’s Sprint competition). Any points Diggins could add to her total would serve to pad her lead even further.
Among other Americans, Kate Oldham finished 38th, Alayna Sonnesyn 42nd, and Erin Bianco 44th.
Canadian Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt qualified 23rd. She appeared to suffer from slow skis in her quarterfinal, finishing that heat in sixth for an overall 26th place finish.
The Cogne Classic Sprint field lacked a certain number of significant contenders: no Jonna Sundling (SWE), no Linn Svahn (SWE), no Kristina Stavaas Skistad (SNOR), no Victoria Carl (GER). In the absence of those sprinters, Jasmi Joensu (FIN) stood poised to take over the lead in the season-long World Cup Sprint standings from Sundling. As the top qualifier on the day, Joensu continues her run of good form and fast skis, and hoped to find success in Cogne. Like Joensu, Maja Dahlqvist (SWE) has been on something of a run of late. it’s great to see her back in contention after four seasons without a win. She may be stepping out of the shadows cast by her Swedish teammates just in time for the World Championships later this month in Trondheim.
Women’s Sprint
The Sprint course at Cogne is a bit of a drag race. Only a few small bumps force the skiers into a momentary herringbone. One of those bumps is poised at the head of the finishing straight, and appeared likely to affect the results for those skiers who could accelerate over the crown and dive down the other side.
Diggins lined up on Quarterfinal 3, alongside Germany’s Laura Gimmler (who has raced brilliantly of late) and Switzerland’s Nadine Faehndrich. Faehndrich has been known to take out a heat very fast, and that’s what she did in the quarterfinal, leading the field to the fastest time among the heats. Diggins’ lingering injury was on every spectator’s mind, though she managed to stride well enough in the compulsory striding sections of the course to maintain her position near the lead. Accelerating well over the final bump, Diggins double poled furiously down the finishing straight ahead of a hard-charging Gimmler who was forced to initiate a quick lane change to keep from running up on the tails of Faehndrich. Gimmler wuld actually take the heat win with a well’timed lunge. Just behind Faehndrich, Diggins would hold a lucky loser spot until she was bumped out by Johanna Hagstroem (SWE) and Lotta Udnes Weng (NOR) who competed in Quarterfinal 5. Diggins would finish the day in 13th, doing more than enough to preserve and protect her lead in the overall World Cup standings.
Classic Sprint Semifinals
After a disqualification (technique infraction) for Johanna Hagstroem (SWE), Diggins found herself lining up in the semifinal alongside Joensu, Dahlqvist, and Gimmler. Diggins would race gamely, though on skis that seemed less speedy than those of her competition.
“I was just so excited to be able to go race today, and have my foot feel okay!” beamed Diggins. “Granted, I was still being incredibly careful. I still did more spin biking than anyone on the World Cup has ever seen, and I also was trying very hard to do as little striding on my left foot as possible. I was trying to be incredibly conservative, and playing it really safe.”
When asked about tomorrow’s 10 k Freestyle, diggings remained optimistic. “Time will tell,” she said. “Hopefully, things still feel really good tomorrow, but right now I’m really happy with (today’s) race . . . just feeling happy, that’s all!
Pre-race favorite, Joensu, would fade noticeably mid-race, finishing sixth in the semifinal. Her 11th place finish would not reap the points she had hoped for, but it would be good enough to overtake Sundling for the current lead in the World Cup Sprint standings.
Dahlqvist and Gimmler would advance to the final, finishing 1-2
In the second semifinal, Ane Appelkvist-Stenseth (NOR) and Faehndrich would drive to the finish unchallenged. Even so, this heat proved to be the faster of the two semifinals, with both lucky losers—Weng and Coletta Rydzek (GER) both advancing to the final in lucky loser positions.
Classic Sprint Final
Stenseth has not had many opportunities in World Cup Sprint finals, and she appeared determined not to waste this one. She pushed the pace from the start, followed closely by and Gimmler. But Stenseth’s inexperience only set the table for hungry, seasoned sprinters like Dahlqvist and Faehndrich who held their positions mid-race, and made moves on the short, punchy uphills to overtake and gap Stenseth. She would fade to fourth, as Dahlqvist surged to the victory ahead of Faehndrich and Gimmler.
It was an impressive return to the top of the podium for Dahlqvist who has spent the last few seasons being overshadowed by her own Swedish teammates. But with Sundling watching from home, with Johanna Hagstroem disqualified earlier in the competition (technique infractions), and with Svahn yet to return to full strength, Dahlqvist was more than capable of carrying the Swedish flag, and holding it high.
“It was about time,” Dahlqvist smiled. “It was a really good day for the waxers, and for me.”
When asked about her strategy in the Final, Dahlqvist grinned again. “Win, or die!”
Women’s Classic Sprint RESULTS
Women’s Sprint QUALIFYING
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.
