By Noah Eckstein
Aerodynamics is a fickle thing. The science — frontal area and turbulence and all the rest — is pretty well figured out by now, at least by people far smarter than your average cross-country skiing writer. But the art of aerodynamics, if you will, remains a tough nut to crack.
In Saturday’s Lillehammer World Cup skate sprint, skier after skier learned this lesson by coming face-to-face with the infamous slingshot effect. The slingshot means nothing, though, if you are way, way faster than everybody else.
Today, Swedish star Jonna Sundling was way, way faster than everybody else.
At the end of a dominant day, Sundling stood atop the podium, joined by her compatriot Johanna Hagström in second place and Norwegian Julie Myhre in third. Three American women made the heats, with Jessie Diggins finishing eighth, Julia Kern 17th, and Rosie Brennan 29th. Diggins retains her yellow bib with a 21-point lead over Sundling.
Today’s 1.3-kilometer course in Lillehammer, distinct from the two-lapper at the nearby biathlon venue that has been used in recent years, was defined by its second half: a fast and technical left-hand corner into a steepening climb, followed by a two-stage right hander into a long, fast descent depositing racers directly into the finish lanes.
Diggins, skiing in the fourth quarterfinal, initially adopted the tactics that became familiar (and possibly frustrating) to regular viewers last year: She shot to the front, drove a ferocious pace throughout, and, fading slightly in the approach to the line, was swept up by the pack. Her grueling lead-out, though, ensured that her heat was quickest, and she hung on enough to advance as a lucky loser.
Being the slingshot-ee was educational, Diggins told Nordic Insights in audio comments. “In the first round, I just kind of wanted to punch a ticket through, even if it was the hard way,” she said. “But in the semis, the slingshot was becoming huge — watching all the previous heats I was like, Oh my god, you either need a massive lead or insane skis that are far and away better than everyone else’s or you have to slingshot well.”
In a drastic tactical turnaround, Diggins skied most of her semifinal at the very back of the pack. She made a strong move up the final hill, slotting into third position, but a combination of some contact with Mathilde Myhrvold on the descent and a finishing kick that remains “still a little bit locked up” meant fourth place in the heat and no spot in the finals.
Reflecting on her tactical choices, Diggins was characteristically positive. “I thought this would be really good for me to try,” she said. “I’m usually not as comfortable sitting in the back and then trying to punch my way up the side, but I wanted to try that out and see how I could do. I ultimately didn’t move on but I was able to move within the pack, which was pretty fun. So it was cool to just try something different.”
The early part of the season can be a learning experience for everyone, even the wax techs. After the uneven ski speed of the American team last weekend, Diggins was appreciative of a smoother operation today. “I felt like the ski testing process went really, really well,” she said, “and I felt like I had really competitive skis and that was super cool and super important, so I was really grateful for that.”
The most obviously blazing-fast skis, though, were on the feet of the Swedish women. Taking full advantage were Sundling — who won the qualifier by an obscene 6.03 seconds over a sub–three-minute course — and last week’s winner Hagström. Each won both her quarter and semi on the way to the final, and Sundling in particular demonstrated that piddly aerodynamic considerations only apply to mere mortals. Each round, her brutal acceleration up the final hill created a gap large enough that her chasers, try as they might, could not latch onto her slipstream. In the final, she crossed the line with a full three seconds of clear air behind her.
Julie Myhre, just behind Hagström in third, built upon her second place in Ruka and presented a very strong case for selection to the World Championships team.
The biggest story of the day for the Norwegian women though — sadly for Myhre, who seems very nice — was Kristine Stavås Skistad’s return to the World Cup after abdominal surgery in the autumn. Although she qualified fourth, Skistad appeared flat and without her typical earth-shattering top-end. She finished her heat third, but later received a yellow card and was ranked as last in the heats for obstruction, although no incident was obvious on the broadcast. The full results note a violation of ICR 343.9, but provide no further details.
Most people would be satisfied with such a strong qualification in the first race back after a serious medical procedure and an extended hiatus from training. Kristine Stavås Skistad is not most people. According to NRK, after initially blowing past the media in frustration, she returned and answered a number of questions with the same simple message: “No, I’m just going home and training.”
Her coach then elaborated, insisting (quite ominously for the rest of the field) that “you will never see her this bad again.”
Watch out.
Julia Kern’s 17th place marked a big step up from her 41st in the classic sprint last weekend in Ruka. Early in her quarterfinal, Finnish skier Jasmin Kahara stepped on and broke her pole, but Kern, in written comments to Nordic Insights, felt that this didn’t meaningfully affect her chances.
“It was unfortunate to break a pole,” she wrote, “but weirdly, I felt relaxed and calm about it. I knew Kristen [Bourne, shown above] was standing at the base of the hill, I looked up, locked eyes with her running at me and quickly got my pole off and made my way to the side of the trail. Kristen nailed the handoff, it’s like we had done it before, but it was actually my first pole break in a race with a pole hand off! I didn’t lose much ground so I … just refocused on finding an open lane to make my move up the final climb, but unfortunately I had nowhere to go and was stuck.”
After training through an injury in recent months, though, Kern surprised herself with her skating form today. “I actually would have thought classic would be a stronger discipline right now since I was unable to skate ski for a lot of the fall, so I am looking forward to another chance in a classic sprint in a few weeks!”
Rosie Brennan disclosed yesterday that she has been skiing through an injury of her own, which may help explain her mixed bag of results recently. In her quarterfinal, she skied cleanly but never looked especially in contention and finished sixth. She made a point of thanking the U.S. team medical staff in a recent Instagram post for APU.
As for the rest of the American women, Alayna Sonnesyn (Team Birkie) finished 38th in qualifying, Lauren Jortberg (Centre National d’Entraînement Pierre Harvey) 40th, Erin Bianco (BSF) 47th, Haley Brewster 53rd, and Renae Anderson (APU) 58th.
Racing continues tomorrow with a rare 20-kilometer skiathlon. Jessie Diggins, Sophia Laukli, Rosie Brennan, Sydney Palmer-Leger, Julia Kern, and Alayna Sonnesyn are scheduled to start.
You’re reading this on Nordic Insights, one man’s labor of love dedicated to publicizing American nordic skiing. Last season’s GoFundMe is literally the only reason why I turned a profit in years one and two of Nordic Insights, and in turn the only reason why there is a year three 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, last season’s GoFundMe may be found here. Thank you for your consideration, and, especially, for reading.
