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FasterSkier’s reporters watch every single race of the World Cup and Olympic season, so we have our own ideas regarding what may happen on any given race-day. We’ve followed who has been progressing up the standings, who has been fading, who has been injured or ill and how their recovery has progressed. And we follow the amazing and durable actions of Jessie Diggins (USA) who has competed in every single race of the season (That’s right, isn’t it? Someone check the record . . .). Alone among all World Cup competitors, Diggins continues to devote herself to performing at the highest levels on every available race day. If she’s tired, she deals with it. If she gets sick, she overcomes it. If she’s injured, she races through it. If there’s a start line and a finish line, drawn on the snow Diggins is racing. While it may be argued that she might’ve performed even better if she took a day off from time to time, evidently it’s impossible for her to just sit out those race opportunities. And Diggins is also one of only two skiers in the world (along with Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo) who has an honest chance to win on any given day, regardless of distance or discipline. And the reward for such devotion and fortitude?
Any day’s race coverage begins with a check of the start list; that’s how we see the first inclinations of how the story might unfold. Here’s the context of today’s 10 k Classic Interval Start: perennial contenders, Ebba Andersson (SWE) and Kerttu Niskanen (FIN) have chosen to stay home home, Krista Parmakoski (FIN) retired at eh Holmenkollen finish line, and Dariya Nepryaeva (AIN) wasn’t allowed into the country (no American visas issued to Russian citizens) . . . The rest of the contenders appeared to be present. Among the logical contenders within the women’s field were those whose performances shined brightest this season, but whose illnesses and injuries kept them from contention in the year-long FIS World Cup competitions. Frida Karlsson (SWE) is undoubtedly the fastest skier in the world today as she proved repeatedly in the Olympic Winter Games and the recent Holmenkolen 50 k. She is joined by a list of other Distance contenders including Heidi Weng (NOR), Astrid Oeyre Slind (NOR) Karoline Simpson-Larson (NOR), Jonna Sundling (SWE), Moa Ilar (SWE), and Olympic Sprint champion Linn Svahn (SWE).
Host-nation USA was allowed additional entries. In addition to the much-anticipated participation of Diggins, the American roster included Emma Reeder, Alayna Sonnesyn, Katey Houser, Renae Anderson, Emma Albrecht, Samantha Smith, Novie McCabe, Kendall Kramer, and Rosie Brennan.
“It’s really awesome to know how many people care about skiing in America,” Kramer said in response to the crowds of eager spectators gather around the course. “It’s heart warming!”
“I love racing at home!” said Brennan. “It’s so awesome. I had many moments when I was second-guessing myself out there. then Id get to a hill and everyone was going nuts, yelling my name, and I was like ‘Okay, I got this! I got this!” ‘
“Honestly, I don’t care about the results,” beamed Diggins after the finish. “I just wanted to enjoy the crowd, and feel the love and the excitement, and just go as hard as I could! Laying in the snow there at the end, I was like ‘That was one of the best 10ks of my life.'”
In the end, it was Svahn winning a back-and-forth battle with her good friend, Karlsson. Sweden would top the podium, but Heidi Weng would prove the best of the rest, finishing 22 seconds behind the winner. Diggins would battle through the falling snow to secure a fifth place finish in the final interval start race of her career.
Not Yet Spring
While the field—and the spectators—may have been hoping for sunny and mild spring conditions. Wouldn’t that have been nice? But Lake Placid sits at an elevation of 2200 feet—quite high for the east coast—and spring is notoriously late to arrive in these Adirondack mountains. Race day dawned with dense cloud and swirling snow, conditions that seemed likely to challenge ski technicians and skiers, alike.
The 10 k Classic would be skied over two five kilometer laps climbing immediately from the stadium into the woods. Svahn was the revelation among early starters, totally gapping the rest of the field at all early check points. At the halfway mark of the race, Svahn led all earlier starters by nearly a minute! Later starters among the top seed would begin whittling into Svahn’s times, but even Karlsson would trail by eleven seconds at the first checkpoint, with her teammate, Sundling, another five seconds behind.
Diggins started in bib 58. She would trail Svahn by 23 seconds at the first checkpoint (13 seconds behind Karlsson, 10 seconds behind Slind). The contenders’ splits were bunched near the front, but it was definitely Svahn who appeared strongest. Svahn continued to hold that lead over Karlsson at the 3.8 kilometer checkpoint, by which time Diggins had managed to take six seconds out of Svahn’s lead.
Svahn would surge again in the middle kilometers to put another six seconds into Diggins, but the splits identified the next serious challenger as Slind pulled within just a few seconds. And that’s when Karlsson made her move, pulling even with Svahn at 6.7 kilometers. Had Svahn gone out too fast?
Svahn has won 14 Sprint races in her career, but it is less known that she’s also won three Distance races. She is certainly no slouch when it comes to long events, and she obviously possess great endurance ability. That’s what she must’ve drawn upon in the later kilometers as—despite the charge from Karlsson—Svahn would finish in a dominant 29:04, surging to the victory by 1.4 seconds to claim the first Individual Start Distance victory of her career.
Diggins would thrill her fans with another gutsy performance, giving her all—as she has always been known to do—in finishing fifth on the day. She extended her lead in the Overall World Cup standings over her closest rival, Sweden’s Moa Ilar, virtually closing out that competition for the fourth time in Diggins’ illustrious career.
World Cup Final Women’s 10 k Classic RESULTS
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World Cup racing continues from Lake Placid this weekend:
Saturday, March 21
10:30 am | Women’s Sprint Qualification Free
11:05 am | Men’s Sprint Qualification Free
1:00 pm | Women’s Sprint Final Free
1:00 pm | Men’s Sprint Final Free
Sunday, March 22
12:30 pm | Men’s 20km Mass Start Free
2:30 pm | Women’s 20km Mass Start Free
4:30 pm | ONE LAST LAP w/Jessie Diggins & the Retiring Stars
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.
