By Adele Haeg
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It looks like Swedish sprinter Jonna Sundling has hit an early-season stride, running away with the 20-kilometer freestyle today in Ruka after taking second in yesterday’s sprint.
Last year, Sundling lost this race to Jessie Diggins by only 0.3 seconds, and today Diggins and Heidi Weng finished less than three seconds behind Sundling in second and third places. It’s tight at the top.
This is a reminder that when Sundling is on, she’s really on. Not to make this all about Diggins, but remember how Sundling came out of nowhere to sweep the Minneapolis World Cup in 2024, to the surprise of Diggins fans everywhere? That 10-kilometer skate was her first career World Cup distance win; today was her second.
The women were on a hilly 4-kilometer loop in Ruka, which Julia Kern told Nordic Insights was like “a sheet of ice” caused by “thawing conditions” in Arctic Ruka.
Norway’s Mattis Stenhaugen, who competed in the men’s 20km, told Swedish news outlet Expressen that he would have liked to wear a helmet today. Scary, but fast: Sundling’s winning time was 50:24.9, which was about a minute faster than Diggins’s time last year on the same course.
By about halfway through the race, a mostly Swedish pack of seven had taken the lead, with Ebba Andersson and Frida Karlsson, who was distance leader going into today’s race, driving the pace from the front.
The two Swedes seemed poised to take the top two spots of the podium for much of the race, with Sundling right behind them.
Up the final hill, Diggins advanced, attempting to make a move past Frida Karlsson. But she got stuck behind the Swede as Jonna Sundling, ahead of her, was able to position herself well for the sprint to the finish. Diggins and Weng caught up, overtaking Karlsson and Andersson who finished in 4th and 5th, but no one could catch Sundling.
“I tried to be in the front but not all the way,” still saving energy for the last lap, Sundling told a reporter on site after the race.
On the broadcast, Chad Salmela said that Diggins has used Ruka the past two years “to launch her bid to be the best skier in the world.” Diggins won the event in 2024 barely beating Sundling and the now-retired Therese Johaug. In 2023, she also placed second, memorably crossing the finish line with one bare hand and one bloody face. Diggins would go on to win the Crystal Globe both years.
Like clockwork, after today’s race in Ruka, Diggins moved up to the number one rank in the world today, 25 points ahead of Sweden’s Moa Ilar. But it’s still just the first weekend of winter. Anything could happen.
After Diggins, Alayna Sonnesyn led the American women in 27th, with Sophia Laukli coming in 39th, Kendall Kramer in 44th, Julia Kern 53rd, and Kate Oldham in 61st behind her.
Sonnesyn told Nordic Insights on Friday that she had made “a lot of changes” to her training and lifestyle over the summer, and was hoping those decisions would start to pay dividends this season. They have — to be second among the American women in a distance freestyle race is no mean feat.
Sonnesyn told Nordic Insights that she is focusing on “being patient through the first few races,” adding that she knows she has “the fitness right now but not necessarily the sharpness that I’d hoped.” Again, it’s the first weekend. That’s a sentiment many skiers have expressed — that’s the sport.
Rosie Brennan, who finished 24th in the 10-kilometer classic race on Friday, did not start today.
“It’s been challenging to face the reality of not being in the shape I want to be. I’ve also had a very challenging time adapting over here, presumably because my body is just not as resilient right now,” Brennan told Nordic Insights.
Kern was also less than enthused by the day. “I would have expected better results from this weekend,” she told Nordic Insights. “Going into this season, I felt better prepared than ever and am quite perplexed by my results this opening weekend.”
“For me the most challenging part has been balancing expectations with the reality of starting the season much earlier and in a much more competitive field than I’m used to,” said Kate Oldham, who had a handful of World Cup starts last year but is now in Europe for the entirety of Period 1 as last year’s SuperTour leader.
Alas, it is still November. Some, like Sundling, find results early, and others have to wait. Such is the sport.
Next weekend the show moves to Trondheim, Norway, the site of last year’s World Championships, for the first skiathlon of the season.
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1) You mentioned Kate, but yeah, that was my question (why),
since she was pretty much +- a few seconds with Kendall, but this year she is several minutes behind.
2) There was only one Canadian woman participating — is it always like that? Or most of them simply start later.
3) I wonder if skiing downhill on a course like in Ruka (and Falun) is faster if you are alone (outside of the pack), because you don’t have to be extra careful around other skiers: Jessie was several times behind at the top (at one point 9 seconds behind), but then at the bottom, she would always catch up with the pack. Amazing.