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By Devin L. Ward, Ph.D.
With just twelve days remaining until the start of the Milano–Cortina Olympics, the U.S. women’s team has been named, but the specifics have yet to be nailed down. The classic sprint in Goms, Switzerland, earlier Saturday was the last opportunity for sprinters to make their case to be on the start list next month, in particular for the Olympic classic sprint.
Three U.S. women qualified today: Jessie Diggins, Julia Kern, and Samantha Smith. Lauren Jortberg was thisclose to joining them; she finished the qual in 31st, 0.34 seconds out of making the heats.
In Heat 1, Smith and Kern spent most of their time on the chase. Jasmi Joensuu and Moa Ilar, predictably, looked very strong throughout. The very, very long finishing straight in this very long course presented the opportunity for some unexpected position changes, both in this heat and throughout the day.
Kern took advantage of this opportunity with smart skiing in the last few hundred meters, combined with a stellar lunge, to just grab third from Hedda Bakkemo (Norway). This, sadly, was not quite enough for her to progress to the semifinals, but it was a great display of Kern’s racing strategy.
Kern is on good form returning from a break from racing; she headed back stateside following the Tour de Ski to rest and train in Vermont. She told Nordic Insights, “I [am] feeling better every day. Three weeks off from racing is a lot for me, so these races have really woken me up and I’m coming in with better feelings in racing that I have so far this season. I’m proud of how I skied and the lines I took. I wish I had asked for more wax, I was a bit slick on the first climb and lost a lot of positions there, but am happy with the finish.”
While the altitude at Goms probably played a role in some athletes’ performance, it wasn’t an issue for Smith, who grew up in Boise and later moved to Sun Valley. In comments to Nordic Insights, she said, “Compared to where I grew up racing and training, this is lower altitude, so it wasn’t as much of a factor in my race plan as might have been for other athletes. Obviously, yesterday[’s team sprint] was a big day and a big effort; I still felt pretty good, just lacked execution throughout the qualifier and quarter final in today’s race.”
Linn Svahn and Nadine Fähndrich showed class and power in Heat 2. They pushed the pace hard to end up making this the fastest heat of the day, taking along both Anja Weber (Switzerland) and Johanna Matintalo as lucky losers to the semifinals.
Heat 3 featured some jockeying for the draft at the top of the last downhill, but no one came to a complete stop (as we sometimes see in men’s racing). A big lead off the top of this last hill did seem to necessarily be advantageous, but didn’t guarantee a win because of the aforementioned very long finishing straight. Emma Ribom skied a tactical race throughout and battled with Laura Gimmler for a photo finish.
Although she did not race the team sprint yesterday, Diggins did not appear to be taking this weekend easy, and kept her foot on the gas in Heat 4. While Diggins may well have the overall ranking in the bag, Ilar isn’t actually that far behind her (-149 points). Diggins’s glide wax looked great today, even if she seemed to slip a bit striding up hills, and her performance in the heat was more than enough for her to progress to the semis behind Maja Dahlqvist.
Norwegian Helene Ekrheim Haugen pushed hard up over the first hill in Heat 5, but Johanna Hagström wasn’t deterred. Hagström smartly waited to take the lead until the top of the second hill and thereafter gathered enough speed to give her a significant lead. With Haugen pushed to the back, Märta Rosenberg and Iris de Martin Pinter fought for second, with the Italian progressing.
Semifinal 1 featured Fähndrich surrounded by a sea of blue Swedish and Finnish suits. Fähndrich was the most wily here and saved enough gas for the final stretch, letting Svahn and Ribom lead most of the course. She ended up in second behind Svahn, who slowed a bit towards the line with her win secure. This semi was the faster of the two, so Matintalo and Ribom also made the final.
Diggins started Semifinal 2 looking strong, but was unable to maintain the speed that Dahlqvist and Gimmler had over the last hill and ended up three seconds off a lucky loser spot. We also watched de Martin Pinter fall for the second weekend in a row, this time on the first uphill. Race footage made this look like a misplaced pole plant of her own, rather than obstruction; while three athletes were reprimanded today for obstruction, the young Italian was not among them. Not unlike Frenchman Jules Chappaz in previous years, I wonder if we will see de Martin Pinter podium soon if she can stay on her feet and out of any tangles with other races.
On to the final:
Gimmler flew out of the gates in the last heat of the day, not letting yesterday’s team sprint win slow her down, and fought with Svahn and Dahlqvist for the lead. Fähndrich didn’t let this group break away after the final downhill. She passed Dahlqvist in the finishing stretch and came in third to the sounds of a roaring home crowd. Gimmler also showcased strong doublepoling to nearly take the win, ultimately finishing just 0.12 seconds back. Fähndrich was 0.26 seconds back at the line.
Linn Svahn has had a brutal string of health and injury setbacks the last few years, but seems to be herself again, and to be peaking at the right time. She skied well all day, winning the qual and every heat, to confidently take the win.
“It’s so nice to be back and compete again,” Svahn told FIS after the race. “It’s been like a rollercoaster year, but it’s nice to be here. It’s one of my favorite courses on the whole World Cup, but damn, it was a tough, long sprint today.”
Lauren Jortberg was 31st in the qualifying race, narrowly missing the heats. Jortberg had mixed feelings about this result, telling us, “I’m really happy and really sad at the same time from today, because many people maybe know I’ve really struggled with classic sprint qualifiers, and this is by far my best by miles. So, [I’m] really happy, but being 31st by thirty hundredths of a second is also really heartbreaking. I would have loved to ski in heats today, of course, and I feel like I made some pretty big mistakes in the qualifiers, so there was a lot of easy time out there for me to get, but overall there’s a lot of good things from where I feel with my skiing, classic especially, and my shape.”
Jortberg also raced in the team sprint yesterday. She added, “I feel like I recovered decently well from yesterday and [there’s] a bit of altitude, so maybe I was carrying a little bit of fatigue today, in my legs maybe, but I feel like it also was a good wake up yesterday.”
Rosie Brennan appears to be making slow but steady progress, finishing 34th in the qualifying race. We asked her how she felt, and she responded, “I’m still struggling with pain but felt I was able to move much better today and unfortunately had some slow skis. My priority continues to be training as best as my body will let me.”
Hailey Swirbul finished 48th in the qualifying race. I asked her what her priorities are for the coming couple of weeks and she replied, “I am not quite sure what the next two weeks will look like! I’ll know more after tomorrow and will try to figure out the best way to be prepared for the Games.”
Tomorrow is the last race before the Olympics, a 20-kilometer mass start classic race at 11:15 a.m. CET (5:15 a.m. EST, 1:15 a.m. AKST). Starting tomorrow is nearly the same roster as today: Jessie Diggins, Julia Kern, Rosie Brennan, Kendall Kramer, Samantha Smith, Novie McCabe, and Hailey Swirbul.
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