Aside from Norway's Therese Johaug dominating to take the overall Tour title and two Crystal Globes as well, the final day of the Ski Tour Canada saw three U.S. women crack the top 30, and six earn World Cup points, for the strongest team result of the season. "It almost brings tears to my eyes," U.S. women's coach Matt Whitcomb said.
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.
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.
The second day of the Ski Tour Canada got underway in Montreal, Quebec, with the women's 10.5 k classic mass start on Wednesday.
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.
The U.S. Ski Team rocked the first stage of the Ski Tour Canada with back-to-back podiums, starting with Jessie Diggins in third in the women's freestyle sprint, followed by Simi Hamilton in third as well in the men's sprint.
On Sunday, the U.S. Ski Team released its 24-athlete roster for the upcoming Ski Tour Canada, with eight stages in 12 days starting Tuesday. (Note: this article has been updated as Caitlin Patterson will not be starting due to illness.)
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.
With fewer than two weeks remaining until the Ski Tour Canada visits Gatineau, Montreal, Quebec City, and Canmore from March 1-12, we spent some time breaking down the provisional North American picks and estimated costs for Canadian nation's group skiers at the season-ending World Cups.
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.
Returning to Falun, Sweden, was exciting for some members of the U.S. Ski Team -- like World Championships silver medalist Jessie Diggins. For Sadie Bjornsen, the memories weren’t as happy, and she tried to forget them before Saturday’s 5 k classic individual start, the first World Cup back at the venue since the championships.
In soft conditions, Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla busted apart the final of the women's classic sprint in Stockholm, Sweden. She saved her powerful stride and double pole for the last half kilometer, where she appeared to engage the afterburners, winning the day by 3.3 seconds.
Three American women cracked the top 25 in Sunday's 30 k classic at the world-famous Holmenkollen, finishing within 1.6 seconds of one another. Sadie Bjornsen led them in 22nd, closely followed by Liz Stephen in 23rd and Jessie Diggins in 25th. Rosie Brennan and Caitlin Patterson raced to 33rd and 36th, respectively, and Canada's Emily Nishikawa was 39th.
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.
Sweden's Stina Nilsson retained her Sprint Cup lead despite getting reprimanded for obstruction in the final. And although none of the three American women advanced out of their quarterfinals, the U.S. team declared the day a success with all three skiing blazing qualifier times.
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.
In just over two weeks time since she won her first individual World Cup, American Jessie Diggins proves she deserves a place on the podium once again, racing to a third place finish overall in the women's 10 k freestyle individual start race on Saturday in Nove Mesto. “It’s been so fun to have all that hard work and all the hours of training pay off in such a big way,” Diggins said.
Can't get enough of the Midwest-skiing sensation? Here's an all-Jessie photo gallery from the sixth stage of the Tour de Ski, where the 24-year-old Diggins won the 5 k freestyle to become the second U.S. women to win a stage at this year's Tour.