By Noah Eckstein
In yesterday’s sprint, Jessie Diggins returned to classic racing (well, the striding component of it, at least) for the first time since the Tour de Ski after dispatching a bout of plantar fasciitis. A successful trip into the semifinals on Saturday was just a prelude, though. On Sunday, she convincingly dispatched distance stalwarts Astrid Øyre Slind of Norway and Kerttu Niskanen of Finland — second- and third-place finishers, respectively — to take the win in the 10-kilometer interval-start skate in Cogne, Italy.
Kate Oldham (Montana State University) and Kendall Kramer, both racing in just their second European World Cup weekend (and Oldham’s second World Cup weekend ever), finished in 16th and 18th, respectively, both big personal bests and outstanding results by any measure. Julia Kern was DNS today.
Diggins fed off the boisterous tifosi lining the tracks and gorgeous conditions to ski an aggressive and consistent race.
“This was so fun!” she said in her post-race FIS interview. “The crowds were amazing. I’m really, really thankful for all the cheering. It was a beautiful day in a beautiful place — really, I couldn’t ask for more. The skis were perfect, so a huge win for my team. I just wanted to go really hard, and I’m glad I didn’t get too hot out there in the sun.”
Undoubtedly, The Diggins Collapse Index will note that her score would have been better if she had opted for true cut-off short sleeves instead of the more pedestrian sleeve roll-up, but nobody is perfect.
“I’ve been pushing hard in training,” Diggins continued, “and it’s nice to know I’m keeping on the right side of that line. Now, I’m excited for hopefully a really beautiful, fun training camp” ahead of World Championships in Trondheim.
Starting in bib 37 (well, an implied 37 underneath the yellow of the overall leader’s bib), right in the middle of the seeded group, Diggins jumped out to an early lead at the first split and never gave it up. Early competitors included Flora Dolci of France and Kateřina Janatová of Czechia, but from the 3.3k checkpoint on, dames of the women’s field Slind and Niskanen took charge as Diggins’s main rivals.
Slind started ahead of Diggins, giving Diggins the benefit of having splits to work off of as each separately battled the course. The gap between the two hovered around five seconds for the remainder of the race, with Niskanen a further 10 or so seconds behind. At the finish, Slind trailed 5.1 seconds behind Diggins and Niskanen came in 15.4 seconds down. Janatová, best known as a sprinter, held onto fourth place, marking a best-ever World Cup result and capping a run of strong racing across both sprint and distance.
The technical, turny, powerful Cogne course suited Diggins’s strengths. She took the race out at a furious tempo, grabbing seconds in the transitions as is her wont. The last few kilometers saw a classic fade into the desperate clawing that is also her wont, but it brought no appreciable loss of speed.
Peter Jihde, commentator on the Viaplay broadcast, called upon the image of “a boxer, a slugger of great measure,” to describe her season-long grittiness and resilience. An apt comparison, and hey, the ducking and weaving metaphor applies too.
With her win, Diggins now carries a 282-point lead over Slind in the World Cup overall standings.
For Oldham, this was World Cup race number four, after a sprint and a 20km last weekend in Engadin and the sprint here on Saturday. In such a young World Cup career, each start is an opportunity to soak up some of the habits and processes and speed (and glitter) floating around the start pen.
“I’m still here to learn and focus on process goals, but today’s result is icing on the cake of an amazing first experience at the World Cup,” she reported in a USST press release. “It’s a testament to my support system of coaches, techs, teammates, friends and family. ‘Career best result’ is something we’re always chasing as athletes. It may become more elusive as I accumulate more World Cup starts, but for now it’s just adding to the fun of the racing.”
The World Cup takes a break next weekend as athletes head to final training camps in preparation for World Championships. Racing resumes on February 14 (will we see any World Cup Carni Crushes? predictions in the comments) with a three-race weekend in Falun, Sweden. The World Champs festivities then kick off in earnest on February 27 with a skate sprint.
Until then, get your ski racing fill with World Juniors and U23s in Schilpario, Italy. Racing kicks off with the Junior classic sprint on Monday, February 3.
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.
