By Noah Eckstein
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It was a demolition derby out there in Trondheim Friday for the women’s classic sprint. The crowds were sparse, at least compared to the madness of World Championships last spring, but the Norwegian faithful who did make their way up to Granåsen Arena were treated to the finest impression of bumper cars skiing can offer, with at least half a dozen crashes and comings-together across the men’s and women’s fields keeping the heats interesting.
Way out ahead of the argy-bargy taking place behind her in the finals, Johanna Hagström took a clear win, only the second of her career after her victory in Ruka last year. Emerging from the chaos with minimal damage to equipment and egos, fellow Swedes Emma Ribom and Linn Svahn rounded out the podium.
As the only World Cup race on Norwegian soil during the Olympic selection period, this classic sprint was the last-chance dance for many B-tier Norwegian-fast women to make their case for selection. Nine (!) Norwegians qualified for the heats, making up nearly a third of the field, but that wouldn’t be enough for the host nation to come away with even a podium in the end.
Notably, no Russian athletes arrived in Trondheim, by helicopter or by more conventional means.
The course — the same one used for the sprint events at Trondheim World Championships last year — incorporates two loops, each involving a gradual climb, a hairpin corner, and a straight and fast descent back into the stadium. The climbs were approachable enough that a handful of men raced on skate skis, but no women in the heats opted to forgo kick.
Quarterfinal 1 presented the day’s first drama when Kristine Stavås Skistad, Norway’s great, taciturn sprint hope, was boxed out in the finish straight by Jasmi Joensuu (Finland) and just beaten to the line by Jonna Sundling. Her third place in the heat was not fast enough to secure a lucky loser slot, depriving viewers of another chapter in the mild beef she has carefully cultivated with the Swedish squad.
American Julia Kern was gapped slightly on both descents, her skis visibly running a bit slower than her competitors’. She doublepoled back into contention down the finish straight, but her fourth place wouldn’t move her through.
“Today was a step in the right direction,” Kern told Nordic Insights. “I felt like I had moments of feeling like I was moving well and fast.”
“I felt like I pushed hard over the top,” she continued, “but I was missing some glide today. But kick felt great and it’s early season so I am hoping to work through skis and wax adjustments. My energy has remained good, the top end sharpness is still missing, but I feel confident in my fitness.”
Heat two brought the triumphant return of Swede Linn Svahn to World Cup racing. Riding the pine for the close of last season following an ill-timed fall right before world championships and a lengthy recovery to get over the resultant post-concussion symptoms, then an illness last weekend, her long stint on the IL clearly left her with motivation to spare. Coletta Rydzek joined Svahn in advancing.
A very fast heat three saw Maja Dahlqvist (Sweden) and Laura Gimmler (Germany) advance on placing, joined by Milla Grosberghaugen Andreassen (Norway) — just 20 years old and making her third World Cup start, though also a multi-time World Junior champion — and Moa Ilar (Sweden) in the lucky loser slots.
From heat four, Emma Ribom eked out a win in a very tight sprint for the line. Joining her in the semifinal was another unheralded Norwegian, Ingrid Bergene Aabrekk. Just on the wrong side of the split was Margrete Røssum Dyrhovd, making her second World Cup start at age 32. These chances don’t come often to Scando Cup lifers, and to miss the semifinals by less than three-tenths has to sting.
Surprising no one, Jessie Diggins was back in her home-away-from-home, heat five. Breaking out some genuinely pretty clean striding technique, Diggins hovered near the front for the first half. At the top of the last climb, and foreshadowing events to come, Diggins and Hagström tangled equipment and nearly went down.
Despite staying on her feet, the American lost much of her momentum at the course’s most critical point and was not able to work her way back to the front during the ensuing descent and sprint. Norwegian Ane Appelkvist Stenseth advanced along with Hagström.
A closer look at the replay after the heat revealed that the contact at the top of the hill was more than a race incident, with Hagström cutting decisively in front of Diggins and stepping on her skis. The yellow card the eventual winner received couldn’t bring Diggins back into contention post-hoc, but the American remained upbeat afterward.
“It’s always a bummer to be obstructed in the race,” she said in an audio message to Nordic Insights, “but in the moment I’m just trying to stay on my feet and figure out, okay, how do I problem-solve? Like, of course this is a bummer, but what can I do next? How can I still try to save my race?”
“I’m really proud of how I skied,” she continued, “and mostly I’m just really proud of the process today. It was great working with Cork, my wax tech.”
She went on to attribute her clean technique today to good skis and an adaptable mindset. “I felt like I had awesome kick out there,” she reflected, “and it was just really nice to feel good and have good energy and be thinking about, like, How do I kick well in tracks that are starting to get sugary and change out there? It was just a lot of thinking and trying to problem solve and I’m really proud of that.”
The day’s first semifinal was a tactical affair, with Sundling and Joensuu slacking the pace way off just before the final descent into the stadium. Svahn, coming from the back, showed no fear of getting slingshotted and blasted around the top of the group, grabbing enough of a gap to carry her across the line. Sundling came through in second, with Joensuu just missing out on a lucky loser spot due to the dawdling.
The skiers in semifinal two did not hesitate to take advantage of the lollygagging of their predecessors, pushing the pace throughout in pursuit of lucky loser spots. A booming doublepole from Gimmler propelled her to the win here. Ribom came through in second, while both Hagström and Aabrekk advanced on time.
The final was cagey and compact from the gun. Hagström, Gimmler, and Ribom led tentatively up the first hill, nobody wanting to turn onto the descent in the lead. At the apex, Gimmler and Svahn hooked skis, sending both to the snow and snapping Sundling’s pole in the process. Gimmler and Svahn were up quickly but now way off the back; Sundling remained in the mix and picked up a new pole at the bottom, losing only a second or two with the handover.
Up the final hill went Hagström, now with a small gap, followed by Ribom, Aabrekk, and Sundling. At the top, Sundling — already skiing with a spare pole, remember — snuck inside Aabrekk to chase her teammates toward the stadium, only to have the Norwegian step on her ski and send her spinning down the top of the descent. Chute deux!
Despite a 10/10 execution of a pretty handy turtle roll to get back on her feet, Sundling’s chances for the day were done. Squeezing through the carnage came Svahn, charging back from her only crash just a minute earlier.
Hagström glided easily up the finish straight with time to soak up a meaningful victory. Ribom came home just behind, in second. Svahn, in third, proved that the crash-to-sprint podium pipeline does, in fact, exist.
Three other Americans raced the qualifier, contending for the heats against (among many others, obviously) twelve hungry Norwegians instead of the usual six. Alayna Sonnesyn (Team Birkie) finished 45th, besting her 50th last weekend in the sprint in Ruka.
Erin Bianco (BSF) was 52nd. With 18 starts now under her belt, Bianco is no longer a World Cup newbie. Getting up to speed in these stacked fields remains a challenge, though. “holy Norwegian nations group lol,” she wrote on Strava. “P1 [World Cup Period 1] at it again.”
“Mentally it is pretty tough to have my first races be sprint qualifiers, especially at the WC level and especially in Finland and Norway,” she wrote to Nordic Insights. “I definitely feel like I’m still getting into the race mode. It’s been a challenge as well having the patience to wait a week and then try again at another 3 minute race but it’s good mental practice.”
The Granåsen track, though, was not a problem. “Our skis were great,” she noted, “and this course was perfect for my strength, which is power striding.”
Kate Oldham was 54th. After the race, she reflected on the challenge posed by host-nation start rights in these early season races. “The level definitely feels high,” she wrote, “which makes sense given it’s an Olympic year. We’re racing with the Norwegian nation’s group, from which 9/12 Norwegian women and 12/12 men qualified today.”
Racing is racing, though, and Oldham appreciated the chance to implement skills she developed in the off-season. “Despite feeling slightly frustrated by the way this season has started,” she reflected, “I have been working on my classic technique, and I’m proud of the way I was able to carry some of the things I’ve been working on into the race with me today.”
Racing continues Saturday with a 20-kilometer skiathlon. American women on the startlist are, in bib order, Jessie Diggins, Julia Kern, Rosie Brennan, Kendall Kramer, Kate Oldham, and Alayna Sonnesyn.
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