Diggins Victory Completes Historic American Day

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At one point early in her career, Jessie Diggins (USA) had become the pre-eminent World Cup racer at the 5 k Freestyle. She was fast, she could endure bucket-loads of lactate, and she could suffer like nobody’s business: perfect for the demands of the 5 k. Today’s result makes it look like she’s probably still the best at this distance, though it’s a race that’s hardly ever contested anymore in international racing. Diggins probably had it in her mind that she could post a win—if her heat was strong, if their strategy was sound, if everyone did their job, and if her 5 k skills remained intact. In the end, it was the speed of Diggins’ heat—and the intensity with which she led it—that made the difference, as all the podium places were claimed by that heat. Diggins first, Ebba Ribom (SWE) second, Moa Ilar (SWE) third, Leonie Perry (FRA) fourth, and Alison Mackie (CAN) fifth.

Diggins is a gamer; it was no surprise to see her embracing this new race format even before racing had begun. “It was just five k,” Diggins remarked” . . . “You’re going to gain or lose ten seconds.” In typical Jessie Diggins fashion, her perspective on the day seemed to be It’s a ski race. Let’s all just have fun!

Inventing an Event . . .

It’s a race . . . they’re filling World Cup podiums and delivering World Cup points and awarding event prize money. The field would be taking it seriously, even though a majority of the racers probably didn’t know what to make of it.

A recent press release claimed that this 5 k Mass Start format was “introduced to boost excitement.” Well, if our sport is in such dire need of a boost in excitement, then we should try to do something about that. What other format innovations could boost excitement? Perhaps the notion of full-contact Nordic racing—pads, helmets, a penalty box, the occasional dropping of the gloves. Maybe we should consider adding “Sharks and Minnows” to the roster of Olympic, World Cup, and World Championship events? How about a jump? Some aerials? A little air-time? Recent Eastern Cup Sprint races (a Junior Nationals qualifying event) conducted at New Hampshire’s Holderness School included a jump at the top of a small downhill slope. A few of the best skiers hit the jump well, and looked good doing it. The majority of skiers looked shaky, apprehensive, terrified. And a predictable number of racers ended their day splayed at the bottom of the hill as their rivals sped up the trail. At least it made for good spectating—and I suppose that was the point. Imagine how much better it could have been if we’d incorporated a hoop of fire on the jump, as well?

“My plan is to survive the 5 k,” said Astrid Oeyre Slind (NOR) the winner of yesterday’s 10 k classic event. “I think that will be a fun, but maybe a little bit chaotic, race.”

Tour organizers seem to think that adding novelty events is just what Nordic skiing needs to be more exciting for its viewing audience. The 5 k Mass Start Heat also adds the benefit of potentially re-shuffling the deck so that lesser skiers get a chance to shine. Certainly that’s exciting for fans of those lesser skiers. But for the true contenders, that’s gotta be incredibly frustrating, especially when World Cup points and potential Olympic qualifications are on the line.

Heat 1—11:15.7

In pre-race start-lists, FIS described today’s event as taking place in four heats of 20 skiers per heat. The composition of those heats selected skiers from multiple seeded groups (a few fast skiers, a few middle skiers, a few skiers from the tail end of the field) to fill out the heats in a relatively fair fashion. Intermediate Sprint bonuses were offered for both the Sprinters and the Climbers. The rest would be settled on the race course. Somebody say 1, 2, 3, go . . .

Rydzek led out Heat 1, taking the Sprint points at a line across the trail atop Toblach’s arch-shaped building. Thereafter, Frida Karlsson and Moa Lundgren committed to setting the pace. But at the crucial point in Heat 1, the surprising attacks came from Switzerland’s Kaelin sisters (Nadija and Marina), and Germany’s Helen Hoffman and Katherine Sauerbrey. If the overall Tour contenders needed this to be a fast heat, then their decision to leave the pace-making to lesser-known Swiss and German skiers may not have been the most effective strategy.

Nadia Kaelin would hold on for the heat win in 11:15.7. Behind her, regular contenders struggled to remain in contention: Jasmi Joensuu (FIN) in 8th place, Frida Karlsson (SWE) 13th, Coletta Rydzek (GER) 16th, Johanna Hagstroem (SWE) 18th.

“We saw a lot of surprises in these competitions,” said on-air commentator, Chad Salmela. “A lot of names that we didn’t necessarily expect to see at the top of the order.” You can say that again, Chad . . .

Heat 2—11:01.0

The second heat included contenders like Astrid Oeyre Slind (NOR), Maia Dahlqvist (SWE), Kertuu Niskanen (FIN), Kristin Austgulen Fosnaes (NOR), Heidi Weng (NOR), and Julia Kern (USA). After a little bit of early speed provided by the logical contenders, the pace making was taken over by Julie Pierrel (FRA) and Pia Fink (GER). Time was slipping away for the overall contenders trapped in the languid pace of Heat 2 as the Sprint bonus points line passed with the leaders trailing Heat 1 by three seconds. The contenders could try charging to the front to take over the pace, but such a lactate-ploouted effort might ruin them for days to come. Well, Slind ain’t scared of a little lactic aid; she stormed to the front at the halfway mark followed by Fosnaes, Weng, Fink, and Kern.

Kern’s potential in upcoming Olympic events rests solidly on her probable pairing with Diggins in the Team Sprint. Kern’s job in that event will be simple: don’t get dropped. If her performance in today’s Heat 2 is any indication, her current level of fitness is preparing her well for that challenge. She went to the front (a bit too early), but was overtaken at the finish line by Dahlqvist. They were followed by Slind, Fink, and Austgulen-Fosnaes. The finishing time was considerably faster than Heat 1, but they’d need to wait to see what times later heats would produce.

Heat 3—10:51.2

Diggins was joined in Heat 3 by the remaining Swedish contenders—Moa Ilar, Emma Ribom, and Ebba Andersson—though Diggins’ pre-race conversations with Norway’s Ingrid Bergene Aabrekk and Eva Ingebritsen made it seem like she’d be relying on other recruited allies to keep the pace high. Diggins could be seen talking up the strategy of the day—volunteering to start fast, but intending for others to come forward to cycle through at the front. Obviously, she was hoping the heat would be a fast one. The strategy may have been markedly different for Tour Sprint Leader, Kristine Stavaas Skistad, who was probably intending to sit at the back and stay out of trouble. Skistad may have been the wearer of the Sprint Leader’s jersey, but the likelihood of Skistad being the final winner of that distinction (awarded at the end of the Tour de Ski atop the Alpe Cermis) is extremely low. She just wanted to make it to the next Sprint stage where she hoped to claim another World Cup win.

True to her original intent, Diggins flew off the starting line. Diggins was racing her last-ever World Cup 5 k Mass Start Heat race in Toblach (in Diggins’ farewell season, everything identifies as a “last-ever”), but if Diggins was relying on someone else to help with the pace-making, she’d need to let someone else lead. The Swedes volunteered as Diggins settled back into the pack for a moment of precious recovery. It may be just that—her ability to recover—that makes Diggins such a threat in mass-start racing. The rest of the field would do well to remember that when mass-start races (the Skiathlon and the 50 k) are run during the Olympics of Milano-Cortina.

Just as she’d been instructed to do, Ingebritsen led through the Sprint bonus line. While Diggins’ start had been lightning fast, the pace of Heat 3 had begun fading by this point, no longer the fastest at the Sprint bonus. Ingebritsen had done the job that Diggins had proposed before the race. Now it was time for Diggins to take over again. She did so with authority, racing through the Climbers’ bonus points and flying down the descent toward the finish. Diggins was just magnificent today. She set the early pace, she set the pace in the middle of the heat, and she totally dropped everyone else on the final uphill to post a finishing time a full nine seconds faster than any other heat. She was followed across the line by Ribom, Ilar, and by tremendous efforts from Leonie Perry (FRA) in fourth and Alison Mackie (CAN) in fifth.

“I love it!” Diggins could be heard exclaiming to Ingebritsen in the finish area after the heat concluded. “You gotta do it, and you went for it. I love it!” Diggins’ strategy had worked . ..  and it was nice that she also said “Thank you” to Ingebritsen.

At the tail end of Heat 3—a minute and a half behind the leaders—Skistad out-sprinted Aleksandra Kolodziej of Poland to avoid being the last one across the finish line.

Heat 4—11:13.6

Stadlober drew the short straw, and a starting position in a weak heat. Stadlober is no sprinter, but she has proven to be both cagey and capable as a racer in mass start events. Though she was joined in Heat 4 by Nadine Faehndrich (SUI), Julie Bjervig Drivenes (NOR), and Karoline Simpson-Larsen (NOR), none of them really appeared poised to pull Stadlober to a finishing time that could rival Diggins’ performance in Heat 3.

Drivenes led out the pace, followed by Faehndrich and Stadlober. But early checkpoints revealed that their efforts already placed them outside the top 20 compared to earlier heats. Gina del Rio (AND) led through the Sprint bonus, and continued on beyond the line. But del Rio’s pace was not what was needed for the contenders languishing in Heat 4 to make up time. Knowing her Olympic potential is on the line in every event, Simpson-Larsen went to the front. But her prospects were not bright: she was volunteering to race alone and un-assisted for the rest of the distance. Ultimately, Stadlober re-took the lead and powered across the finish line one second ahead of Simpson-Larsen. Imagine Stadlober’s disappointment when it was announced that all her work and all her effort resulted in her placing no better than 17th (22 seconds slower than the. winner)?

On-air commentator, Kikkan Randall remarked on the “intrigue” created by this format, one in which the finishing time is what matters, but in which each skier will either benefit from, or be victimized by, the pace of their heat. For any number of today’s participants, that seems to me to be less a source of intrigue, and more a source of consternation. Regardless, Diggins was without doubt the skier who was most able, most prepared, and most intentionally poised to capitalize on today’s circumstances. Ultimately, Diggins added 11 seconds to her Tour de Ski lead over Slind, a margin that now stands at 50 seconds. That could certainly prove significant when the course turns upward on the final climb up Alpe Cermis.

In the end, it appeared that Diggins and Slind were the only two contenders who understood how things could work today. They both drove the pace as hard as they could, they both proved their fitness and their mettle, and they finished with a distance between them that might not have been much different if today’s race had been conducted in interval start format. Other skiers jumped in and delivered great results, and that is truly wonderful for them, for their fans, and for the event organizers. Maybe old curmudgeons like me, too, will come to love this event in the future. Regardless, I’ll be betting on Jessie Diggins if ever this event is run again.

“It was fun to feel that excitement with other friends and countries on the World Cup,” Diggins recalled. “I think that was an unexpected delight of the format.”

Racing Continues—and the Alpe awaits

Tomorrow in the Tour de Ski will see the staging of the second odd event in a row—the 20 k Pursuit—a race that gives a head start to those who are already leading, and rewards them (with World Cup victories!) for winning a race in which they were given a head start. Don’t get me started . . .

Women’s 5 k Mass Start RESULTS