By Máximo Steverlynck
The second day of this World Cup stop in Lahti brought a 20-kilometer interval-start classic competition with temperatures just around or above freezing, bringing extremely tough wax conditions across the board for Saturday morning’s race. Especially in the women’s competition, the skiing was heavily impacted by the ski preparation, with varying results both within teams and between them.
Sweden, for example, failed to crack the women’s podium today, a rare sight so far this season. Jonna Sundling placed 4th, but with a 10-second deficit to third and visibly unreliable kick on the broadcast.
Jessie Diggins suffered more heavily still, pushing the course but managing to find only 21st place on a tough day.
In comments provided by USSS, Diggins said, “Today was really a challenge, and we had some variable wax conditions within the team. It was challenging, but what’s important is that everyone tried their best. The service team did their best, and I did my best, and I’m really proud of how I skied.”
Rosie Brennan, on the other hand, had a great day, putting up a 9th place for her 13th top-10 of the year. Reflecting on the day and the last few weekends in comments provided by USSS, Brennan wrote, “Minneapolis was an amazing experience but honestly a low point in my racing and body. I’ve been struggling with illness and health for awhile and opted to stay home a few extra days to regain some energy. I had no expectations for today knowing that my body is far from its best but I love klister skiing so I felt that if I just focused on good skiing, I might be able to have an ok race. It worked well and I am very satisfied with today.”
The third starter on Saturday for the American women, Sophia Laukli, finished 26th, 46 seconds behind Diggins. Laukli wrote on Instagram afterwards of having experienced some “character building” on course today.
Winning the women’s race was Krista Pärmäkoski, putting in a dominant effort throughout the race to secure the win on her home soil. Following close behind her was Victoria Carl just 1.6 seconds back, racing a great race but coming up just short. Rounding out the podium was fellow Finn Kerttu Niskanen, bringing home another home-soil podium performance, 9.9 seconds behind her teammate’s pace.
Winning the men’s race was, you guessed it, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo. He opened a 24-second gap to second place, and has left no doubts regarding his form after the early-season speed bumps of Covid and flu. Iivo Niskanen, the home favorite, brought home second place, ahead of Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget, who rounded out the podium for Norway, 58 seconds behind the pace. Following the race, Klæbo and Niskanen embraced and talked about skiing.
Zanden McMullen led the American men by tying his career-best World Cup result with 23rd place, skiing a great race. Speaking in comments provided by USSS, McMullen said, “I felt pretty strong today. The skiing was very tough, and I historically have struggled A LOT in warm wet slushy conditions. It was definitely a mental battle out there and felt so nice to cross the finish line. Also proud that I had a good race in a Scandinavian stacked classic race!”
Other athletes racing for the American men were Scott Patterson in 34th, Michael Earnhart in 48th, Luke Jager in 55th, and Peter Wolter in 57th. Gus Schumacher and Zak Ketterson did not start due to minor illness.
Racing in Lahti wraps up tomorrow (or late tonight Alaska time) with a skate sprint. Athletes currently on the start list there for the U.S. are Diggins, Brennan, Julia Kern, Sammy Smith, and Lauren Jortberg for the women, and Kevin Bolger, JC Schoonmaker, Logan Diekmann, Ketterson, Schumacher, McMullen, and Earnhart for the men. That said, stay tuned to see if Schumacher and Ketterson race following today’s DNS.
You’re reading this on Nordic Insights, one man’s labor of love project dedicated to publicizing American nordic skiing. 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.
