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The Tour de Ski seems originally to have been designed to reward the efforts and abilities of the best all-around skiers. If that’s truly the case, then it comes as no surprise when Jessie Diggins is naturally one of the skiers who rises to the top of Tour standings. All-around skier, indeed: she’s a fearsome sprinter (she won a gold medal in the Olympc Team Sprint, afterall), a true force at 10 k races (whether Freestyle or Classic), a tactically-savvy mass-start racer, and a gutsy climber. There are a lot of great skiers entered in the Tour de Ski field, but none of them possess an overall package that compares to the one Diggins has developed during her career.
And when we speak of Diggins’ career as a phenomenon that has “developed,” we truly mean it. Perhaps more than any other skier, Diggins has transformed herself from a skier-with-potential at the beginning of her career, to the every-event-contender whom we watch today. Do we all remember when a youthful Jessie Diggins was an up-and-coming Sprinter who was often foiled by her own recklessness and/or awkwardness? Can we all recall when Diggins only real chance at World Class performance in a Distance race was in the now nearly-extinct 5 k distance? Well, that’s not the same Jessie Diggins who’s racing today . . .
The day began in Toblach with the Tour de Ski lead resting on the shoulders of Sprint specialist, Kristine Stavaas Skistad. Skistad was not expected to end the 10 k Classic Interval Start still in possession of the leader’s jersey, which would pass on to Jessie Diggins (USA) following her third place performance. Diggins was preceded in today’s results by 10 k winner, Astrid Oeyre Slind (NOR), and runner up Teresa Stadlober (AUT) in a race that saw many other Tour contenders falter. Going into today’s race, much would’ve been expected of Distance skiing stars like Sweden’s Frida Karlsson, Ebba Andersson, and Moa Ilar. Likewise, Norway’s roster included stars of its own like Heidi Weng and the revelation of Davos, Karoline Simpson,Larsen. However, all those skiers turned in middling—or athletically ill-conceived—performances resulting in a Tour de Ski field that really only involves two main contenders for the overall crown: Diggins and Slind.
Diggins was not expected to linger behind the Tour’s early leaders: Sprint specialists, Kristine Stavaas Skistad (NOR), and Coletta Ryddzek (GER), and she donned the leader’s bib soon after the conclusion of the day’s racing. Heading into tomorrow’s rest day, Diggins’ new lead—after the Tour’s first Distance event—will afford her a considerable cushion when racing re-commences on Wednesday.
Canadian skiers were largely absent from Period 1 World Cup events while they competed back home in Canada for Olympic Team selections. Now that their Olympic roster has been established, Team Canada is back in the mix. Alison Mackie finished today’s 10 k ranked 34th, followed by Jasmine Drolet 43rd, Liliane Gagnon 57th, Olivia Bouffard Nesbitt 75th. The only other American still entered in the Tour de Ski—Julia Kern—finished the day in 41st.
When asked about her freshly evident prowess as a Classic skier, Diggins was smilingly circumspect. “I still love skating more,” Diggins laughed. “But, when it all comes together, and you have awesome skis like I had today (thanks to our team), it is super fun to just be power-striding out there. I really like this course because a lot of it is this beautiful power-striding. And to me, that is a fun Classic course!”
Karlsson Flies, and Burns
Karlsson went out hot, stretching to an eight second advantage over Slind by 2.1 kilometer mark. Karlsson’s done that before, and it’s worked in the past, but later splits would show that Karlsson’s blazing start had been impetuous, and her advantages established early on were rapidly being stripped away. At five kilometers, it was Slind who had established a gap of five seconds over Stadlober, followed seven seconds later by Karlsson. Slind was charging, Stadlober was chasing, Karlsson was fading.And Digins hadn’t even started yet . . .
Tour leader, Skistad, lost a full minute in the first two kilometers . . . but her job wasn’t to contend in today’s 10 k; it was to survive until the staging of the next Sprint event. She did this pretty well, finishing 62nd on the day, less than three minutes behind the leader.
Karlsson had thrown down a blazing start, bu at the two kilometer mark, Karlsson’s wheels fell off. Slind began eating into her lead, then establishing a commanding lead of her own. The race turnaround was so striking that Slind managed to catch Karlsson (who had started 30 seconds earlier) around the the 8 kilometer mark.
When Diggins took to the course, she opened conservatively, trailing Slind by two seconds at the first time check. Five seconds behind by 1.7 kilometers. Four seconds at 2.1 kilometers.
When Slind crossed the finish line, she posted a seven second advantage over the courageous Stadlober. Only a few contenders remained out on the course, and Slind settled into the leader’s chair to witness their progress. Except for Slind and Stadlober, the other Distance specialists struggled to prove their pedigrees. Karlsson faded throughout the day to finish 35 seconds behind Slind. Ilar trailed the leader by 41 seconds, with Weng ending the day 48 seconds behind. Andersson followed 53 seconds behind, well out of contention. The revelation of Davos—Karoline Simpson-Larsen—finished the day in 14th place, trailing by nearly a minute.
On-air commentators surmised that Team Sweden might be “training through” these races, describing a situation in which those skiers may not yet have cut back on training at all, sacrificing their potential in these races in order to delay their ultimate taper toward Olympic events of Milano-Cortina. Maybe they’re training through (that would be bold), maybe they’re not . . .
“I think every athlete approaches it differently,” Diggins said. “For me, I back down slightly right before the Tour because I need to have enough energy to hit each race really hard in order for the training load of the Tour, itself, to really punch through.”
After the completion of Tour de Ski Stage 2, Diggins maintains a healthy 39 second lead over Slind, 45 seconds over Rydzek. Diggins’ other primary rivals are farther back: Ilar at :53, Karlsson at 1:22, Weng at 1:33, Andersson at 1:41. Those are big gaps, and deficits that will be difficult for distance specialists to make up in what is already the shortest Tour de Ski ever staged. If Slind is to catch Diggins, she’ll need to whittle away at Diggins lead in upcoming distance races, post a career-best result in the upcoming Classic Sprint (she’s entirely capable of that), and dust the field up Alpe Dermis. Slind is the kind of skier who can do all that . . . but she’s not likely to receive Diggins’ willing cooperation along the way.
“Yesterday (after the Sprint competition) I was really tired in the evening, ” Diggins admitted. “But, I knew we weren’t going to race until (3pm) in the afternoon. I was like, ‘Sweet, I have basically 24 hours to recover (followed by) a day off!’ . . . There’s some fatigue, but when you’re in really good fitness you can bounce back enough that the day off in the Tour should be enough.”
“You literally never know how you’re goin to feel, day to day,” said Diggins. “That’s the beauty and the frustration of the Tour: we only really control just so much, and you do what you can with what you have.”
A rest day is on the Tour de Ski schedule Tuesday, followed on Wednesday by the 5 k Mass Start (to be conducted in heats). The World Cup has never seen such a race before, and it’s thought that almost anything can happen. Tune in Wednesday . . .
Women’s 10 k Classic Interval Start RESULTS
John Teaford
John Teaford 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.
