By Gavin Kentch
CANMORE NORDIC CENTRE, Canmore, Alberta — There were five American women who made the heats today in the skate sprint, the second consecutive day of racing at this picture-perfect venue nestled into the base of the Rocky Mountains.
Three of them were precisely the names you would expect: Jessie Diggins, Rosie Brennan, and Julia Kern, who between them can claim a cumulative hundreds of rounds of World Cup sprint racing in their careers. They were joined by two relative newcomers, Lauren Jortberg (career sprint heats counting today: two) and Erin Bianco (career sprint heats counting today: one).
When the dust settled after a full day of sprint racing, Diggins was once more in a sprint final in this year of consistent excellence, finishing in fifth. Kern continued her dogged grinding back toward health and the performance to which she is accustomed, making the semifinals and finishing 12th. Jortberg was 19th, and was one extremely fast Jessie Diggins–led quarterfinal away from advancing to her first career semis. Brennan was 26th, which she was generally accepting of given where her current fitness and larger life events are. And Bianco was 29th, which left her thrilled on the day.
Other Americans who raced today were Alayna Sonnesyn in 39th, Renae Anderson in 40th, Emma Albrecht in 46th, Margie Freed in 47th, Alex Lawson in 49th, Sydney Palmer-Leger in 50th, and Michaela Keller-Miller in 54th.
Ahead of them all, Kristine Stavås Skistad of Norway won the final, for the second time this season, coming from way off the back going into the final, largely dispositive downhill to destroy the field over the closing metres. She had enough energy left at the finish to blow a dismissive kiss to her Swedish rivals. A resurgent Maja Dahlqvist, in second, and sprint leader Linn Svahn, in third, were the main beneficiaries of Skistad’s sardonic well wishes today.
“The final heat played out a little different from what I thought it would be,” said Svahn in written comments after the race. “I thought we would go fast from the start, but it was a bit more wait-and-see. It’s a technical course so you have to be prepared for everything, and unfortunately, it wasn’t my best finish in the final heat. And that will not cut it when you are up against fast finishers like Dahlqvist and Skistad.”
“It’s fun to be on the podium, but honestly, I always want to win races so third place is not my favorite.”
Johanna Hagström was fourth, because of course the Swedish women put three of their six athletes entered in today’s race into the final. Tiril Udnes Weng of Norway was slightly behind Diggins in sixth.
Skistad’s kiss, which fell somewhere between hilarious and deeply rude depending on your rooting interests, leads the above embedded post, and is already the subject of articles in both the Swedish and Norwegian tabloids. But take a moment and click through to the second slide, which shows the final 45 seconds of the race.
Skistad is solidly in fifth position coming into the crux of the final downhill. A shockingly short time later she is coming out of the draft to blow past Dahlqvist on the Swede’s left and claim the lead. Skistad kept it to the finish, which she reached with more than enough of a cushion to engage in her ostentatious osculation. It was a tactical course today, and most days, is what I am trying to say here, given how that final downhill skis.
That said, in the hands of the right athlete, there can be multiple iterations of “tactics.” Klæbo won the men’s final today by slowing down the field, and then slowing it down some more, until just the right moment, at which point he exploded. Diggins won (okay, was roughly a tenth of a second off the win) both of her first two heats today by essentially skiing hard the whole way, dragging the field with her and daring anyone else to keep up — for perspective, Diggins’s time in both her quarter and semi would have the lollygagging men’s final outright.
And then in the final, Diggins… did something completely different, hanging back in the pack and declining to take the lead for much of the race?
“That was so interesting” said a thoughtful Diggins afterwards, standing in the mixed zone and clearly delighting in discussing her craft. “I’m trying to think if I’ve actually ever done a race like that. Because it’s been a long time since I’ve raced in Soldier Hollow, and this is very Soldier Hollow–esque. But on the World Cup, usually you don’t see that happening in the women’s races in general. And usually, the sprint courses don’t have quite this dramatic long, straight shot in the finish. So that was fascinating.”
Are there things that you did today that you wouldn’t have done a few years ago, Diggins was asked.
“I think I would have tried to just blast ahead in the final a couple of years ago, or even earlier this year,” was the frank answer. I spent most of yesterday’s 15km skate article praising Diggins’s refined tactical acumen, so I’m not going to repeat that here. But suffice to say that even after a decade-plus as a full-time World Cup athlete, after 20 victories, after 299 starts, Diggins is clearly still refining her skills. And I’m just editorializing here by this point, but that has been really neat to see, this season in general and the last two days in particular.
Behind Diggins, Julia Kern made the semifinals to end up in 12th overall on the day, and was thrilled with that showing.
“I’m honestly really happy with today and proud,” Kern said. “I’ve had low expectations to no expectations, given the last month I’ve had. And my lungs didn’t hurt for the first time today in a long time, and that was a huge win. [Kern continues her recovery from the flu or other flu-like illness.] I think just getting the speed and pep back in my step is going to take some training and time, but with such a long break it’s not surprising, and I think I just don’t have the endurance yet. But I’m really happy with today.”
So is it hard to have to work your way back from illness on a public stage like this?
“It definitely is,” was Kern’s response. “But I feel like I’ve had such a supportive team around me, and for me, it’s really important to have my identity and my personal worth not tied to results. And so if I’m trying my best and doing my best, that’s all I can hope for and the team has been super supportive.”
Finally, is there a moral here about process, or about the, shall we say, Instagram vs. reality-fication of modern athlete life?
“I think it’s a really big takeaway,” Kern mused. “And I think the media and what you see on TV is often like the success stories, but what doesn’t get showcased as much is the hard times every single athlete has to go through to get there.
“There are ebbs and flows; it’s not always linear. There are going to be tough years, there’s going to be tough races. There’s going to be tough weeks, tough months, and it’s not linear. But I think for younger kids, my biggest takeaway over the years with injury and illness is that the setbacks is what really make you stronger in the end, and you have to have those low periods to have those high periods. And if you really pay attention to the scene, you’ll see that people ebb and flow quite a bit.”
For Lauren Jortberg, one such recent ebb was a car crash. Think getting her tires caught in frozen ruts while leaving Craftsbury in the rain, thrown into the path of another car, both driver’s side airbags deployed, whole nine yards. Jortberg took a solid week-plus off from training, was evaluated for whiplash and concussion symptoms, and credits the continued support from team medical staff in helping her get back out there.
And a few weeks later, she… logged a career-best World Cup finish? By nearly 10 places? Jortberg was fourth in a very fast second quarterfinal, and was in line to advance to the semis as a lucky loser until Diggins took the fifth quarterfinal out even faster.
“Today was unreal,” said an ebullient Jortberg after the race. “I mean it would have been cool to move on but it’s kind of a cherry on top to have a view of my teammate [Diggins] instead so I’m happy.”
“Honestly, I think it was for the better” to have the disruption of the car accident, Jortberg said. “Just because I was kind of having a tough season, and sometimes you just need to have a little gratitude for life and everything and have a scary situation that makes you appreciate everything. I wouldn’t recommend it. But it definitely gave me some good perspective that ski racing isn’t everything.”
Brennan also had some perspective on her day.
“I feel pretty bad, honestly,” the veteran said, quite good-naturedly, when asked where her fitness currently is. “Life’s throwing lots of curveballs and I’m rolling with it and trying to do my best and hoping that things will come around.”
Was there anything she wishes she could do differently to overcome her frustration with tactical heats like the one that stymied her today?
“Get better at it,” answered Brennan bluntly, but also laughing. “It’s definitely a skill set I have progressed with, but it’s still not my finest.”
“I think I just skied with a lot of confidence,” said Erin Bianco of her first career sprint heats. “And I just knew this quarter was gonna go hard. So I wanted to just hang onto them, and I thought I did a good job of that. But I think confidence is the biggest thing. And just being grateful to be here really helps you.”
Racing in Canmore continues tomorrow with a 20km classic mass start. Sydney Palmer-Leger, Jessie Diggins, Sophia Laukli, Rosie Brennan, Julia Kern, Margie Freed, Alex Lawson, Alayna Sonnesyn, Erin Bianco, Mariah Bredal, Lauren Jortberg, and Emma Albrecht are on tap to start for the U.S.
— Gerry Furseth contributed reporting
There are more reporters at these races than in Soldier Hollow for U.S. Nationals, but not that many, and I am probably the only one reliant on a GoFundMe to get here. Travel for in-person reporting is not cheap, and travel to anywhere from Alaska is particularly not cheap.
Last season’s GoFundMe is literally the only reason why I turned a profit in year one of Nordic Insights, and in turn the only reason why there is a year two of Nordic Insights for you to be reading now: I was okay with working for very little money to get this love letter to American cross-country skiing off the ground, but I didn’t want to lose money for the privilege of doing so. If you would like to support what remains a brutally shoestring operation, this season’s GoFundMe may be found here. Thank you for your consideration, and, especially, for reading.
