By Angie Kell
In a month known stateside for March Madness — check out the American men’s coordinated basketball-themed intros in yesterday’s sprint — nordic skiing played its part. Today’s skate team sprint, held on a tactical course amidst sunny, spring-like conditions in Lahti on the penultimate day of the 2024/2025 World Cup season, did not lack for chaos. While the women’s race was logarithmically less dramatic than the men’s race that followed, Team Germany once again kept the outcome interesting for the second day in a row following Coletta Rydzek’s breakthrough sprint win on Friday, in a race where first through last were separated by only 11.33 seconds.
The final, the roster for which was determined by completing a single lap by each teammate in a qualifier and adding the times together, included 15 teams: two teams each from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Germany, and Switzerland, then single-team representation by Italy, the U.S., Canada, France, and an independent FIS team (featuring the duo of Magdalena Scherz from Austria and Gina del Rio of Andorra),
Germany’s Laura Gimmler spoke to FIS TV before the final, after qualifying in 5th place, of her plan for the day alongside teammate Rydzek.
“The plan is that I do my best in position one, and that (Rydzek) has a good position for the last loop. Then maybe she can be the rocket in the end,” Gimmler said. As she demonstrated in last night’s sprint victory, Rydzek’s form suggested this to be a plausible strategy.
The youthful lone duo representing the U.S., fielded by Stanford’s Sammy Smith and Kate Oldham of Montana State, qualified in 9th to make the final. (American teammates Julia Kern and Jessie Diggins opted to save their legs for tomorrow’s 50km classic race, while Rosie Brennan pulled the plug on her season prior to the weekend for the nebulous health reasons that have plagued her for much of the year.)
Even without sprinting superstar Jonna Sundling, Sweden’s teams, comprised of Johanna Hagström and Maja Dahlqvist (Sweden I) and Moa Lundgren and Moa Ilar (Sweden II/Team Moa), were the presumed favorites coming in. Sweden I advanced to the final in pole position in a combined time of 6:22.67, while Sweden II qualified in 6th. Finland I, featuring Jasmin Kähärä and overall Sprint Cup winner Jasmi Joensuu, were also strong contenders for a podium spot on their home turf, as they qualified in second place, 1.77 seconds behind Sweden I.
Early in the race, and upon the first descent to determine a quick ski test, the skis for both Swedish teams were indeed looking fast. But even so, not much separation occurred within the pack, including at the first exchange — which contained the lone tumble televised in the women’s race, by Team Canada.
Pack racing continued throughout the entirety of the six-lap race, as the Swedish, Swiss, Norwegian, and Finnish teams each tested the field with sudden surges, only to have the pack reconnect at the hairpin turn three-quarters of the way through each lap. Team USA, lurking in the back of the field, remained in contact. Each exchange appeared clean and lacking the drama that defined much of the men’s race.
It wasn’t until the final left-handed curve of the last lap that the field fully pressed on the gas. Rydzek and Switzerland’s Nadine Fähndrich initially vied for space at the front, side-by-side, skiing with a frenetic pace. But Fähndrich was no match for Rydzek’s finishing kick and Rydzek pressed ahead to land Team Germany I the gold, notably giving teammate Gimmler her first career World Cup win, at age 31.
Unfortunately for Fähndrich, Dahlqvist was only a short distance back at the turn. Although initially boxed in she stayed patient and skied the finishing straight with clinical aplomb, using her tactics and sprinting prowess to surge ahead of Fähndrich for the silver. In a lunge for a photo finish alongside Norway I’s Kristine Stavås Skistad, Fähndrich and Switzerland I walked away with the bronze.
Team USA would finish the day in 12th, relatively far down in the standings but also just 9.18 seconds behind Sweden’s gold. Smith told Nordic Insights briefly of her day, “Today definitely wasn’t my best race, but Kate really carried us. Team events are always so much fun and I’m really looking forward to doing more!”
Oldham echoed her teammate’s sentiments on how fun the day was. “Today was really fun,” she wrote to Nordic Insights. “I had one of my best qualifiers and was happy to end my World Cup season on a high note. Tactically, it is a fun event because it’s not just a pure sprint, and there is a fair amount of reward for being able to endure all the rounds so close together.”
As to how Smith plans to use this season’s learnings for next year’s presumed season, she lamented, “I have a lot to work on when it comes to heats — I definitely need to do a much better job of finding the gaps and picking moments to accelerate. And in general, just working on tactics and strategy when things are hectic.”
As one of Team USA’s most reflective athletes, Oldham spoke to us about her own learnings, both of the day and the entire season in her young career. “One of the main things I’m taking away is the importance of having a plan that accounts for training, travel, and racing that you want to do so that when your schedule changes or feels full, you have something you can fall back on, that you’ve already thought out,” Oldham noted. “It’s important to be adaptable too but thinking a few steps ahead will be key for me next year to have the best outcome for my goals.”
Champion Rydzek spoke on the live feed of her uncertainty on how the day would go, following her win yesterday, and what the repeat win meant to her. “It feels unbelievable,” she said. “I wasn’t sure what was left behind after yesterday and a sleepless night. Now to take the win with Laura: a dream.”
Racing for the 2024/2025 season concludes tomorrow in Lahti with the 50km Classic. The women’s start list can be found here, with Jessie Diggins, Julia Kern, Alayna Sonnesyn, Sydney Palmer-Leger, and Sammy Smith representing Team USA. It will be the 19-year-old Smith’s first career 50km FIS race.
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