By Angie Kell
The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships kicked off today in the idyllic setting of Trondheim, Norway, with the women’s skate sprint, and there could truly be no better place for hosting. The birthplace of nordic skiing featured an electric, boisterous, and sold-out crowd amidst untimely vernal conditions. The ample snow in the background toyed with one’s sensations of winter, but with air temperatures in the 40s, spectators lamented that it was more reminiscent of April. A cloud cover over the venue kept the course largely intact, though with fully transformed snow and at times a chunky appearance, particularly in the high-speed, descending turns of the 1.5km course as the day progressed.
Today’s course, upon further analysis, explains a lot of the success that many of the Norwegians have had in recent years in the World Cup. The course was tight, fast, and required a lot of agility, confidence, and prime positioning on the descents. These are skills characteristic of several top skiers hailing from Norway, including Kristine Stavås Skistad. Underscoring the technical nature of the course, noticeably absent from today’s women’s sprint race was Swedish sprint specialist and would-be podium favorite Linn Svahn, who suffered a concussion from a crash on the course only yesterday.
In the qualification round, defending Sprint World Champion Jonna Sundling of Sweden came out swinging immediately. She skied the course in a time of 2:56:17, an obscene 6.49 seconds ahead of second-place Nadine Fähndrich of Switzerland (3:02.66). Skistad rounded out the top three in the quals, almost two seconds behind Fähndrich in 3:02.94.
Team USA advanced four skiers to the heats, despite commentary of rumored suboptimal skis early after the qualifications. Julia Kern, whose form continues to improve each week, led the way in 21st position, followed immediately by Montana State’s Kate Oldham who was 22nd in her first World Championships start. Jessie Diggins qualified for the heats in 26th, a placing that has to presumptively beg questions about ski speed given her baseline level as a sprinter, and Rosie Brennan, in her return to ski racing after several weeks off, advanced in the final position of 30th. Also advancing was fellow North American and Canadian skier Liliane Gagnon in 18th with a time of 3:08.82.
The first quarterfinal heat featured powerhouses Sundling and Skistad, who locked horns immediately from the start gun. Sundling charged to the front of the field and Skistad stayed on her heels through the first of two climbs. The remaining three competitors appeared to struggle with the pace early as Sundling left nothing to chance and gapped the field, at times reaching 55 km/hr on the descent. On rutted snow and skis sans metal edges. Skistad, with her preeminent poker face, appeared calm and measured, and in a risky move, remained in the pack on the final descent through the precarious righthand turn to the finish, but her powerful sprint finish pushed her to second to advance to the semifinals along with Sundling.
Julia Kern, in her tenth career World Championship start, opted for heat two along with teammate Rosie Brennan, where she joined Sweden’s Emma Ribom, Finland’s Jasmi Joensuu (World Cup Sprint Leader), and Victoria Carl of Germany at the start line.
Ribom and Joensuu led out of the gate. Joensuu skied with a furious tempo up the hills, but Ribom stayed in contact and Kern kept herself in prime position, even tripping on Ribom’s skis at one point, but was able to maintain control.
In the final descent, as Ribom and Kern accepted the draft created by Joensuu, Kern was able to slingshot on the outside corner and, in a furious sprint to the finish, placed second behind Joensuu with a time of 3:05.79. With Joensuu’s pacing and her finishing time of 3:05.66, the heat was almost three seconds faster than the first. Notably, Brennan fell to the back of the pack at the start gun and was never able to advance her position nor to the semifinals.
Rosie Brennan on course / photo: Lukas Pigott
Brennan reflected briefly to Nordic Insights post-race, “It was tough. [The snow] is getting softer. I think I’m struggling with my skis some and maybe needed to get racing again — it’s been a while now.”
In an effort to extract additional information as to her physical and mental state, a subject on which Brennan is notoriously tight-lipped, she was asked if she was struggling to glide, to which she stated simply, “Yeah.”
As to the mood of the team, Brennan stated, “Bummed for sure. We definitely came here for more but it’s day one, so there’s more chances, so time to turn it around and pull it back together. We are going to move on, get back to our normal selves and have fun and be a team.”
In Heat 3, American viewers wondered if Team USA had rectified Diggins’s skis from the qual for a course that could in theory favor the superstar. But from the outset of the heat, it was clear that Diggins’s skis were left wanting, and her “heartbroken.” (“Just because I’m heartbroken about my skis today doesn’t mean that I didn’t still have a good time,” was her full quote in the mixed zone.)
Fähndrich, with a time of 3:02.68, and Norway’s Julie Myhre (3:03.57) secured the top two spots in this heat, and Gina del Rio of Andorra and 22-year-old Märta Rosenberg of Sweden (who replaced the injured Svahn) secured the lucky loser spots. Diggins finished fifth in this heat with a time of 3:05.70, ending the day 23rd overall. The American star has had less success in world championship sprints than the rest of her résumé may imply, with finishes of 24th, 21st, and now 23rd across her last three world champs individual sprints.
As discussed in a Team USA press conference earlier this week, there has been a recent comfort on the American team with acknowledging that even sometimes hardworking tech teams produce subpar skis, and today was no exception.
Diggins spoke to this saga on behalf of the team again today, after her heat, in the mixed zone. “Skis are a big part of the sport, and I think that’s ok to say,” she plainly stated. “It’s not that we are not trying as hard as we can. On the days when we struggle, we are trying just as hard.”
Diggins explained that her efforts shouldn’t be questioned, although it can be a mental battle to not question oneself amidst a day where skis can play such a large role in outcomes. “I put my whole heart out there,” said Diggins. “I skied absolutely as hard as I could, and the service staff worked as hard as they could. Something went wrong with my skis today, but that doesn’t mean that it was for a lack of effort.”
She reflected, “I’m just excited for new chances. Every day is a totally new day. I have trained as absolutely as hard and as smart as I could, and I also have to believe that you can’t have the kind of fitness that wins a World Cup disappear in ten days, so I have to keep that belief and that confidence in myself.”
German skier Coletta Rydzek and Lotta Udnes Weng of Norway advanced out of Heat 4, the slowest of the day. Canadian Gagnon came in sixth in this heat to finish 27th overall for the day.
Post-race, Gagnon told media about her day, “It felt pretty good, a bit disappointed with how the result turned out because how I was feeling, just had some trouble with pacing myself. I think the second hill I was always on the outside, it’s just a bit longer outside, and I was making my way up there but not quite enough to go on the downhill in a good spot.
“I think it was a good course for me. At the end of the day, I’m feeling pretty good. It’s going to be a good championship; it’s just a bit disappointing.”
As to the venue, Gagnon was enchanted. “It’s amazing. I’ve never seen so many cross-country skiing fans so it’s one for the books for sure.”
Kate Oldham found herself amongst sprinting greats in the final quarterfinal of the day with names such as Sweden’s Maja Dahlqvist (who notably has lived and trained in Trondheim for the past year in preparation for these races, along with beau and fellow Salomon athlete Kevin Bolger) and Johanna Hagström, plus Mathilde Myhrvold of Norway. These Scandinavian racers led the heat throughout its entirety, but Oldham kept herself in contention and even had to scrub speed on the first descent in the draft to not ski upon the leaders.
Dahlqvist, known for her keen racing tactics, used the final descending turn to take the optimal line from her teammate and outsprinted Hagström in the final stretch to win the heat in 3:08.69. Oldham finished fourth in this heat with a time of 3:10.11; she was 22nd overall for the day.
In the first Semifinal heat — featuring Rosenberg, Skistad, Fähndrich, Sundling, Kern, and Joensuu — it was as in the quarterfinals, with Sundling again creating her own destiny. Sundling jumped to the front quickly and Skistad matched her tempo, but it was not enough to prevent Sundling from gapping the group on the descents to handily win in a time of 3:04.77.
Joensuu, keeping herself in contention, leaped ahead of Skistad for second positioning up the final climb, leaving Skistad and Fähndrich side by side in the third spot, but even Joensuu was no match for Skistad’s final acceleration to the finish to secure the second spot of the semifinal. Skistad finished two seconds behind Sundling in 3:06.77 to advance to the finals.
Kern, in this heat, kept contact with the group throughout the lap, and in the final descent, used the best line to accelerate on the final right-hand turn to propel her to a fast photo finish with Fähndrich, where Fähndrich would best her for third. Both would secure lucky loser spots to advance to the final.
In the second Semifinal, del Rio, Hagström, Dahlqvist, Myhre, Rydzek and Udnes Weng appeared to approach the heat more tactically than the previous heat, with lots of position changes. Hagström set a rapid tempo initially, but del Rio also pushed the pace up the first hill, skiing side by side with the Swede. Myhre took the lead on the second climb but her Norwegian teammate Udnes Weng ultimately pushed ahead of her at the crest of the hill.
The drama unfolded on the precarious right-hand turn following the descent, as Hagström edged herself onto the inside line, pushing Myre off to the outside corner for the final turn to the finish. Weng led into this final turn, with Hagström hot on her heels, but Hagström’s ski caught the choppy snow, and her chances of winning went to the wayside.
Myhre and Dahlqvist masterfully skied around Hagström and in an epic finish, Dahlqvist pushed ahead of Myhre for second position, just short of catching Udnes Weng. Udnes Weng won the heat in a time of 3:11.53 and Dahlqvist advanced to the finals behind the Norwegian with a time of 3:11.61.
In the final — comprised of Sundling, Udnes Weng, Skistad, Dahlqvist, Fähndrich, and Kern — it was, in theory, anyone’s game. Tactics were at play, and all finalists were accomplished tacticians.
At the start, Sundling and Skistad flew out of the gates together in a fiery pace, setting the tone for the final lap, and letting viewers know it was in fact, their game after all. The cameras kept their lenses on the pair throughout the entirety of the lap.
Sundling and Skistad matched each other’s paces, furiously jump skating up the climbs in the choppy snow, and it wasn’t until the highest point of the course that Sundling appeared to wear Skistad down. Sundling descended to the finish, uncontested, to win the final in a time of 3:03.36, taking gold in this event for the third world championships in a row.
Skistad, drained and disappointed, secured silver with a time of 3:05.49. Fähndrich, trailing in third position was never able to overcome the Norwegian, taking bronze in 3:06.20.
Kern, middle, with coach Kristen Bourne and tech Eli Brown / photo: Leann Bentley, USSS
Kern finished fifth on the day, with a time of 3:13.89, her best individual World Championship showing by far (she was eighth in the sprint in Planica two years ago).
“Today was really exciting,” gushed Kern to mixed-zone media after the race. “The crowd was amazing. Our staff did a good job pivoting after the qualifier and this is probably the best I’ve felt sprinting this year, so I’m really happy to put down a good day and feel like myself at the right time.”
She expounded on her tactics, stating, “One of my goals today was the second half of the climb — I said, This is my section, this is where I have to really dig deep and where the race will be decided. We had a really good race prep yesterday practicing the corners and I feel like I made all the mistakes in race prep yesterday, and I feel like today, skiing the downhills and corners went really well.”
As to the ski prep which had plagued some of the Team USA skiers today, Kern had a good experience. “Today was a mixed bag,” she acknowledged. “Personally, my tech [Eli Brown] did really well, and I felt my skis were really competitive.”
Events at Trondheim continue Saturday with the men’s skiathlon. The start list will be found here 24 hours before the race starts.
— Lukas Pigott contributed in-person reporting from the venue
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