In case you missed the action, FasterSkier provides a gallery capturing the top scenes of Stage 7 at the 2016 Ski Tour Canada. Four American women finished in the top 30, with Jessie Diggins leading the team in 5th and Chelsea Holmes scoring her first World Cup in 22nd overall.
Stage 6 of the Ski Tour Canada featured a brutal course for both the women's 15-kilometer and the men's 30 k skiathlons. It was simply survival of the fittest as the classic loop featured a grueling 1.2 k climb while the skate leg was punctuated by dicey soft-snow corners navigated at high speed.
After besting Norwegian teammate Therese Johaug in last week's Quebec pursuit, Norway's Heidi Weng repeated the feat to win in the women's 15 k skiathlon on Wednesday in Canmore. “It was very good to go with Therese and give her a little bit of a fight," Weng said. She is currently 2.9 seconds ahead in the overall tour standings with two more distance races to go.
American Jessie Diggins posted her best World Cup classic sprint result to date, striding to a sixth in the Ski Tour Canada's Stage 5 in Canmore, Alberta. Diggins also sits in sixth overall heading into Stage 6 on Wednesday. Norway's Maiken Caspersen Falla remained undefeated in every classic sprint she competed in this season, winning the final by a whopping 7 seconds.
After Heidi Weng nabbed the Ski Tour Canada leader's bib from her Norwegian teammate Therese Johaug, Weng intended to keep it after the women's 10 k pursuit on Saturday. “[Therese] is very strong in the distance and she has won so many times now, so it was very good to take her,” Weng said.
Sweden's 22-year-old Stina Nilsson bested four Norwegians to top Stage 3 of the Ski Tour Canada, the women's freestyle sprint in Quebec City. Maiken Caspersen Falla missed out on her fifth-straight skate sprint win, but locked up the overall Sprint World Cup title, and four Americans finished in the top 20, led by Sadie Bjornsen in eighth.
Therese Johaug overcame an unusual starting position in the fourth row to win the women's 10.5 k classic mass start by a minute over her Norwegian teammate Heidi Weng. With the win, Johaug claimed the Ski Tour Canada lead, while American Jessie Diggins raced to eighth to put herself in fifth overall.
Jessie Diggins felt right at home on Tuesday in Gatineau, Quebec, racing to her fourth podium in the last two months in the first stage of the Ski Tour Canada. She timed her strikes and finished third overall, while three other U.S. women made the heats and Canada's Maya MacIsaac-Jones achieved 29th.
Therese Johaug racked up her 15th World Cup win of the season, putting her on track to break Norwegian teammate Marit Bjørgen's record with three more wins in eight remaining races. Norway swept the top four, and Sadie Bjornsen led the U.S. women in 15th.
Jessie Diggins rocketed to her second-best result of the season and first individual World Cup sprint podium on Saturday at the Lahti World Cup. She broke up a Norwegian sweep, placing second behind Maiken Caspersen Falla and ahead of Heidi Weng, Ingvild Flugstad Østberg, and Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen.
In the first freestyle mass start of the season, Jessie Diggins gave the Norwegians a run, ultimately finishing 15 seconds off the podium in fourth. Therese Johaug dropped teammate Heidi Weng in the final kilometers to secure her second win of the weekend and record-tying 14th World Cup victory overall.
With her 13th win of the season and two more distance races before the Ski Tour Canada already begins, Therese Johaug of Norway might beat her predecessor Bente Skari's record of 17 wins in a single season. In Falun, she bested Heidi Weng by almost 20 seconds in the 5 k classic.
At Sunday's Holmenkollen 30 k classic mass start, Norway's Therese Johaug dominated. She won by a margin of 3:46.5 over teammate Ingvild Flugstad Østberg. FIS reports Johaug's margin of victory was the largest ever for a women's cross-country World Cup.
It's been a steady climb of success for the U.S. women's cross-country team. On Sunday in Nove Mesto, they took a collective step higher in the 4 x 5 k relay, placing second to a hard-charging Norway, while besting Finland by nearly 14 seconds.
Groundhog Day. That was the feel of Sunday’s 6 x 1.2-kilometer freestyle team sprints at the World Cup in Planica, Slovenia, a day after Sweden’s Stina Nilsson and Italy’s Federico Pellegrino won the individual freestyle sprints on the same one-lap 1.2 k course.
Italy's Federico Pellegrino rolled to his fourth-straight skate sprint victory on Saturday, and Stina Nilsson of Sweden won her second World Cup race as the regular season resumed in Slovenia following the 10-day Tour de Ski.
The women’s overall podium at the 2016 Tour de Ski on Sunday was all red. Norway swept the top three, with Therese Johaug taking the overall title from Ingvild Flustad Østberg on the final climb, and Heidi Weng retained third. For the U.S., Jessie Diggins locked up 10th, Sadie Bjornsen was 14th and Liz Stephen posted the third-fastest time of day.
Always the bridesmaid no more; Heidi Weng ended a streak of 37 World Cup podiums without a win on Saturday at Stage 7 of the Tour de Ski, beating out her teammates Ingvild Flugstad Østberg and Therese Johaug in the 10 k classic mass start. American Sadie Bjornsen placed ninth and Jessie Diggins 17th to head into the final stage in 12th and 10th, respectively.
Jessie Diggins fended off all challengers for her first individual World Cup victory -- that's right -- another one for the U.S. in the last three stages of the Tour de Ski. Diggins did so in the 5 k freestyle in Toblach, Italy, besting four Norwegians in the top five.
Jessie Diggins captured the second win of the Tour de Ski for the U.S. Ski Team on Friday at Stage 6 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy. She fended off four Norwegians in the top five, and improved to 10th in the Tour.