By Angie Kell
As sure as the Swiss watch Certina noisily ticks down at the start, so does a Swedish woman win a sprint in Falun. Kicking off a weekend of racing with a classic sprint on Friday morning, however, Team Sweden was missing some of its key stars and familiar contenders such as Emma Ribom, Frida Karlsson, and Jonna Sundling, who was on the podium here at World Cup Finals in March 2024. In a 1.4-kilometer course sure to be a test of fitness and ski preparation, eyes were still on Sweden with their remaining roster.
The sprint loop, as in previous years at this venue, was a technical and challenging one, comprised of two rather steep hills for a total of 56 meters of climbing, a test of kick wax; the ensuing downhills, a test of ski prep and descending ability; and lastly a doublepole final stretch, a test of true sprinting prowess. The conditions appeared fast and firm over what was likely, owing to its dry appearance, entirely manmade snow.
The qualification round was led by Linn Svahn, whose presence on the World Cup circuit this season has been spotty at best. But Svahn was fastest in the qual today, and was among five Swedes moving on to the quarterfinals. Svahn finished first in the qual in 3:17.89. There were some huge gaps here: Svahn was followed by Finnish sprinter and overall sprint leader Jasmi Joensuu in 3:19.44, then by fellow Swede Maja Dahlqvist in a time of 3:23.24.
Three Americans — Jessie Diggins (8th in the qual), Julia Kern (10th), and 18-year-old SVSEF skier Sammy Smith (14th, and coming off a fifth-place finish in the classic sprint last week at World Junior Championships in Schilpario, Italy) — advanced to the quarterfinals. Erin Bianco and Kate Oldham, recent additions to the Team USA World Cup roster, did not move on, finishing in 33rd and 34th places for the day, respectively. Bianco missed qualifying by 0.78 seconds. Oldham was precisely one second slower, missing the heats by 1.78 seconds.
Oldham spoke to Nordic Insights about narrowly missing advancement. “It was tight out there for those last few qualifying spots!” she wrote. “In hindsight, I would have attacked the hills a little differently, but it’s hard to know what the best strategy is when you’re out there so it’s much easier said than done.”
She added, “I’m still working on classic sprinting becoming one of my strengths, but I think the moderately steep hills and fast downhill corners played to my strengths today. I am feeling comfortable in the World Cup routine and still have plenty of racing to go this season. I’m glad to have more starts and some training opportunities coming up to keep searching for race fitness.”
In heat one of the quarterfinals, Joensuu and Norway’s Kristine Stavås Skistad predictably advanced to the semis. Heat two, featuring Svahn, revealed hints of how the day may shape up, as Svahn was one of the few women to find kick on the uphills while still remaining in the tracks. Svahn won this heat in a fast 3:19.33, followed by German Coletta Rydzek in 3:19.68. Norwegian Mathilde Myhrvold secured the first lucky loser spot out of this heat, with a time of 3:20.22.
Heat three was an exciting one, as Julia Kern took off from the start, her confidence on display well into the beginning of the first climb. Her teammate Smith also looked snappy and aggressive on the first hill, skiing just off the lead, but viewers soon became distracted by Dahlqvist appearing to beg for a replacement pole. After an awkward handoff for a new pole, Dahlqvist took the time to insert her mittened hand inside the pole strap, if not to re-fasten the velcro, then took off charging. She would, notably, regain contact with the group well before the end of the heat.
Smith advanced her positioning on the second climb, just behind Kern, but in the final short descent to the stadium for a sprint finish, Smith found herself swallowed up by the field as Kern sprinted for the win in 3:20.85. Dahlqvist, in a phenomenal display of competitiveness and strength, returned from way, way off the back to sprint her way into second, pumping her fist as she crossed the line.
Although Smith finished fifth in this heat, she was ultimately relegated to last for obstruction, giving her a final finishing position on the day of 30th. It was unclear from both the live broadcast and the replay what led to the jury decision, and the incident was not discussed in the Swedish media.
All was not lost for Smith, as she told Nordic Insights, and she found a silver lining. “It’s been great to have some consistent time on snow these last few weeks,” wrote a multisport athlete who is racing on the World Cup this semester after appearing in 13 games for the Stanford Cardinal women’s soccer team last semester. “I felt like I had more to show at World Juniors, so it was nice to have a good qualifier.”
Switzerland’s sprint specialist Nadine Fähndrich won heat four in a time of 3:18.11, the fastest quarterfinal heat of the day, as Jessie Diggins showed viewers in this same heat that in fact her left foot injury is no longer a liability. Diggins advanced to the semifinals as she finished just behind Fähndrich with a time of 3:19.31.
Sweden’s Johnna Hagström won heat five in a time of 3:18.82. Julie Myhre of Norway and Germany’s Laura Gimmler secured their spots in the semifinals from this heat as well, with times of 3:18.97 and 3:19.12.
The first semifinal was loaded, with all six contenders qualifying in the top 17. Skistad, with her notable and powerful doublepole, led from the gun, with Svahn eventually catching up as the first incline began.
Joensuu moved ahead of Skistad on the climb as Svahn still led the pack, and Kern remained safely in fourth position. Svahn let off the gas at the top of the second incline, and Joensuu briefly took the lead until Svahn’s clean line on the ensuing descent propelled her back into the lead. After a furious sprint to the finish, Svahn once again won the heat in a time of 3:17.00. Skistad finished second in 3:17.40, and Joensuu secured the first lucky loser position in third, at 3:17.55. Kern, who finished the heat in fourth with a time of 3:18.17, ended the day in eighth overall, and narrowly missed advancing to the finals.
Kern was happy with how she skied today, she told Nordic Insights. “I set some goals yesterday on how I wanted to ski certain parts of the course and executed on that today. Pushing hard over the top, cornering hard and aggressive, and getting out to a fast start.”
She continued, “I’m also proud of our wax techs making us incredible skis on a course that is always tricky to nail the kick to glide ratio. Of course, it’s always bittersweet to miss the lucky loser spot by so little, but it was the first time this season that I felt like myself sprinting, so I take that as a huge win.”
In the second semifinal heat, Swedes Dalhqvist and Hagström, along with Gimmler of Germany, had great starts to lead the heat.
Fähndrich moved herself amongst that trio at the top of the first climb. Hagström kept a good tempo on the second hill but could not shake Fähndrich as Fähndrich kept herself on Hagström’s heels.
Upon the final small rise towards the stadium finish, Dahlqvist moved lanes to even her positioning with Fähndrich, and in a final sprint to the finish, Dahlqvist outpaced Fähndrich to win the heat in a time of 3:16.96. Fähndrich was just 0.13 seconds behind, in 3:17.09. Hagström, in third, secured the second lucky loser spot with a time of 3:17.70.
Diggins, much like her teammate Kern in the first heat, remained solidly mid-pack the entire heat, but could not move her positioning beyond fourth in the heat. Diggins did not advance to the finals and finished seventh overall for the day, but in true Diggins fashion, found several “wins” for the day.
Diggins spoke to the media as to precisely what these wins were. “I feel like my biggest win for today was just feeling really psyched with how my foot held up,” she said.
“This weekend is a really big test for me in terms of trying to see where my foot is at, how it’s going, especially how it’s going with steeper striding and just more striding in general. It is a little tender after the race, that’s to be expected, but I am really psyched about being able to do that and being able to go three rounds and know this is still okay.” She continued, “The other win is the wax techs did an awesome job with the skis, and I feel like it was an amazing ratio of kick to glide.”
Diggins concluded, “I see these races this weekend as a really good opportunity for me to challenge myself, to use as part of my preparation in the training lead up, … and also a really important chance for me to see how my classic distance is doing in terms of what my foot can handle. So hopefully tomorrow will be my first classic distance race back and I’m excited to see how it goes.”
In the final, three Swedes — Svahn, Dahlqvist, and Hagström — toed the line in a bid to make their country proud. It was Norway’s Skistad who led the field from the start, but at the first rise, Svahn once again showed the most efficient and fastest climbing, while Skistad needed to exit the tracks to ascend.
Svahn remained in the lead once again throughout the entire loop, fully in control, and never looked back as she crossed the finish line first in a time of 3:12.22. Fähndrich and Skistad battled each other to cross second and third, respectively, rounding out the podium in 3:13.11 and 3.14.82. Dahlqvist finished fourth (3.15.62), Joensuu fifth (3:15.68), and Hagström placed sixth with a time of 3:29.16.
After the race, Svahn mused about what the win meant to her on the live feed. “Today was amazing; it’s always fun to compete here in Falun. I’ve been home for some weeks now, so I really needed this before the main goal this year.”
Of her struggles this season, she said, “I’ve been a little bit tired, so I’ve been home just collecting energy and doing some good training, and not so much training, so this is probably what I needed for the future also. I went here to get a good feeling on the skis, and that’s what I did, so it’s nice it took me to first place.”
Racing continues tomorrow in Falun with the 10km interval-start classic. Americans featured on the start list include Oldham, Kern, Diggins, Sophia Laukli, Alayna Sonnesyn, and Sydney Palmer-Leger.
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 toAmerican 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.
