By Máximo Steverlynck and Gavin Kentch
Classic sprints kicked off the final World Cup weekend of the year, hosted in a notably moist Falun, Sweden, earlier Friday.
The Norwegian team brought the heat coming off of a home weekend, with Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Kristine Stavås Skistad both taking victories to round off incredible sprint seasons for them both. It was not the first time this season week that both athletes with a fraught relationship with the Norwegian national team had won a classic sprint on the same day.
JC Schoonmaker led the Americans today, following up his strong performance in Drammen on Tuesday with another top 10, placing 9th overall. He reflected on his performances over the last few weekends in comments provided by USSS:
“This season has been pretty consistent with qualifying,” said the lanky Californian, “which is really nice. Just because then you’re constantly like gaining experience and learn every single weekend. Sometimes when you don’t qualify it’s really hard to keep that momentum going. So I think that’s been really nice and I definitely would have liked to finish off the season a little bit better today, but still happy to make the semis again, and to get another top 10 just feels good because it’s definitely a really competitive field.”
Conditions in Falun today were not dry (see Gus Schumacher’s comments, infra, for more on this). Schoonmaker stated that he has not always skied well in such conditions, but was pleased with his ability to make adjustments today.
“Where you want, like, slick skis so that you can go faster on the downhill I’ve been struggling with that a little bit,” Schoonmaker said. “And today I just made a couple technique adjustments on the fly and I think that really worked; my climbing felt a lot better than it has the rest of season. So that was really nice to see, and just to know that, yeah, I’m kind of figuring it out.”
Following Schoonmaker on the men’s team were Gus Schumacher and Zanden McMullen, back to back in 19th and 20th respectively.
Schumacher spoke candidly to the conditions that athletes encountered on course today.
“It’s pissing rain,” he said. “It’s warm. And they salted the course so it makes it harder. It firms up the snow, because of science. So it’s honestly skiing pretty well, like it’s pretty firm. Good traction; poling is good; my skis are good. So it’s nice skiing, but yeah, it’s kind of funky. The hardest part is being cold.”
Skiing is fun.
Schumacher has had a strong season, but also a long one. He described his current mood as, “Kind of, like, the clouds are lifting; the end of the season is in sight. Kind of nice to just race, and … it’s almost over.”
That said, the ever-considerate Schumacher did allow that he was targeting a top-15 finish in the distance standings (he currently sits 18th, 20 points out, with two races yet to go, but also the man currently ranked 15th, Calle Halfvarsson, has ended his season due to illness), which would place him in the Red Group for next season and save the team some money.
Schumacher’s fellow young Alaskan, Zanden McMullen, is finishing a breakout season, still aged just 22. “The whole season I’ve been slowly climbing up” in the results, McMullen said of making the heats in a classic sprint yet again. “So I’m happy; this is exactly what I wanted.”
McMullen led much of his quarterfinal, but ultimately lost out to athletes who were somewhat taller.
“I was like, Oh boy I’m in for it with the height disadvantage” against the Edvin Angers of the world recounted McMullen, who I would estimate is like 5′ 10″ or so, of racing against the 6′ 3″ Swede. “My job for the summer is to grow a foot, so yeah, we’ll see you next year.”
McMullen added, “I’m so happy with the whole season; it’s been so fun. I’m just excited to see what I can do for the last two races.”
Jessie Diggins led an admittedly tough day for the American women in 18th, with Rosie Brennan following her in 20th, and Julia Kern rounding out the heats crew in 24th.
Diggins now holds just a 41-point lead over Linn Svahn going into the final two events of the season (down from 102 just this morning), making it a nail-biting finish to a great season for both women. In comments provided by USSS, Diggins touched on her performances today and in the last few weeks, and how she’s feeling going into the final two races.
“My goals and priorities might be different than the ones that other people have for me,” reflected the American star. “And out of everything I can control, I feel like I am very proud of how I skied. I actually think maybe last year I wouldn’t have even qualified, and I have tried to improve my classic technique a lot. So, yeah, I definitely need to get stronger in doublepole; that’s for sure. But overall I feel like my energy is good and that’s something I’m very proud of.”
She continued that, “to be totally honest,” results and the overall globe were not her priority. “I’m trying to have fun and enjoy it,” she said. “And it’s been a very long season and a long time away from home. And a lot of challenges for me this year. And so, I think for me the most important thing is that I don’t let other people’s priorities take away my joy in ski racing. And sometimes that’s hard to do, but that’s what I’m focused on.”
Regarding her ever-closer rival for the globe, Linn Svahn, Diggins said, “To be honest, I just told Linn good luck because she’s having a great year. And I hope that she has coaches and people in her life who say the things that my coaches say to me because they’re telling me, we love you. We don’t care if you win or lose. You can be dead last by an hour. We’re still going to love you the same amount. And I think that’s way more important when it comes down to it.”
Diggins has sounded similar themes over the past few days, recently sharing the above on Instagram in advance of this weekend’s races. She did not share a race post following today’s classic sprint, a relatively rare occurrence for her.
Klæbo handily wrapped up the sprint standings today, claiming a sixth (!) crystal globe for his mantle following a season in which he did not land outside the podium in any race he contested over the second half of the season, especially impressive following his early-season sickness. Klæbo also holds second place in the men’s overall standings, where the Norwegian men have a lockout on the top five spots.
Klæbo took the men’s race today, setting the pace with a 2:56.78 winning time. Close behind him but just out of touch was Lauri Vourinen, 1.14 seconds behind. Rounding out the podium was the men’s overall leader, Harald Østberg Amundsen, 1.37 seconds behind.
Skistad won the women’s sprint, continuing with her late-season sprint domination. Linn Svahn took second place with a deficit of 1.18 seconds, not landing outside the podium at a single sprint event this season. Jonna Sundling cinched 3rd, 1.56 seconds behind.
Several other athletes started for the Americans today. In the qual, Sammy Smith was 39th, Erin Bianco 44th, Haley Brewster 51st, and Renae Anderson 54th for the women. For the men, Zak Ketterson was 53rd, Luke Jager 57th, Kevin Bolger 61st, and Michael Earnhart 64th.
Racing continues in Falun tomorrow with a 10km classic interval-start race.
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.
