By Devin L. Ward, PhD
This is a reader-funded website. Virtually all of my income (for perspective: I took home less than $5,000 from Nordic Insights last year after paying staff) comes from reader contributions, which I sincerely appreciate. If you would like to support the site, including helping us get to the Olympics in February, you may do so here. Thank you.
There’s no rest for the wicked (racers and race reporters alike) as we head into the Falun World Cup weekend with a skate sprint. This course is a test run for the World Championships here in spring 2027, featuring a new turn that may impact how racers approach the finishing stretch by slowing athletes as they come down to the stadium.
Showing that her form is still excellent after winning the classic sprint at the Milano–Cortina Olympics (in spite of illness keeping her from pocketing a near-guaranteed gold in the team sprint with Jonna Sundling), Linn Svahn clocked the fastest qualifying time. By 4.65 seconds.
She selected the first heat, along with Kristine Stavås Skistad (who didn’t necessarily race to her potential in the Olympic sprint 18 days ago). Skistad seems to have recovered from her rocky Olympics and looked strong up climbs today, easily holding pace with Svahn, but neither seemed to be working particularly hard to take the top two spots in that heat.
Heat 2 was fast and produced both lucky losers. Nadine Fähndrich and Anja Weber pushed hard from the front, with Fähndrich comfortably leading into the stadium. Jasmine Joensuu fell halfway in, sliding off the course around a tight corner, and wasn’t able to catch up. This left Gina del Rio (Andorra) moving forward and Weber grabbing a lucky loser spot along with Liliane Gagnon of Canada.
Falun is a good venue for Jessie Diggins, but she didn’t move forward out of Heat 3 after qualifying in fourth. Going up the first climb she looked well recovered from her fall in the Olympic skiathlon (and ensuing five race days with injured ribs), easily taking the lead and skiing some tight, technical corners quite well.
Moa Ilar’s skis looked really good in this heat, and she was able to leverage them to put herself in a good position for the four-way battle in the finishing stretch. Coletta Rydzek and Moa Ilar grabbed first and second here, respectively. I’ll add that Ilar skied outside of the V-boards around the same tight corner that took out Joensuu in Heat 2, but was somehow able to ski through them and not crash.
Diggins did not respond to specific questions today from Nordic Insights (we had asked her about how she was transitioning from the Olympics back into wrapping up her pursuit of her third consecutive overall Crystal Globe and fourth of her career).
Instead, in general media comments shared via USSS, Diggins had the following thoughts about her race today:
“So today was really cool for me. It was my 357th World Cup start, which is the most in history, and I feel like it was just a really cool chance to feel extra grateful to my team and to look back on why that was possible.
“And I think the bigger message for me here is that asking for help with my mental health got my physical health to a place where I could race this hard for this long and this many races. And it just makes me super, super grateful for all the people and the team behind the team, and all of my people who have just been there for me through the ups and downs, and this isn’t over yet, obviously, but that just makes me feel extra appreciative.
“And I think my favorite moment of the day was all these little kids doing a kid’s race. So many of them had glitter all over their faces, and they were super excited, and they were just having so much fun. It was just a cool reminder of what it’s really all about at the end of the day.
“And as for me, I’m just also feeling very excited and very lucky to be racing, and feeling like I’m coming off the 50km well. I felt like my energy was good today. I hope it stays good for tomorrow. But I felt like it was a really good sign.
“My ribs are still in progress, but I’d say we’re really, really close to being done with that. They’re still a little bit achy, but overall, I’m just feeling really grateful and lucky to be racing without this being a huge distraction, which is super nice.”
Back to the races:
Heat 4 was a Swedish showdown with Moa Lundgren and Maja Dahlqvist trading the lead through the bulk of the loop. Patrīcija Eiduka put up a good fight and very nearly pipped Lundgren (+.05), but only the Swedes progressed.
In Heat 5 Julie Drivenes drove the bus most of the time, with Johanna Hagström taking the wheel on the downhills (like Ilar, it looked like she also had good skis). The finishing stretch was, as in Heat 3, a four-way battle, with Drivenes and Hagström progressing.
Sammy Smith finished fifth in this heat (+1.66). I asked her what she learned from her Olympic sprint experience and how she applied what she learned in her racing today. Smith said, “I’m disappointed with the tactical decisions I made in today’s race. I felt really strong and was hoping for a better result.”
Semifinal 1 was stacked, with Skistad, Svahn, Fähndrich, and Rydzek. Gagnon skied a strong race and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the Canadian is able to progress as she gains more World Cup sprint experience. Both lucky losers came from this semi, with all aforementioned fast sprinters progressing to the final.
In Semifinal 2, Weber tried her best to make a breakaway from the four Swedes, but (insert something about home-snow) that didn’t work as well as she might have liked. Lundgren hunted her down in short order with the rest of the pack joining her soon after. This was a very tight finish across all six women (.73 seconds across the finish times for the entire semi), but Hagström and Dahlqvist progressed.
Svahn took home the win in the final today, skiing very fast off the front to start the race and securing just enough daylight early in the heat to hold off Skistad closing fast behind her. Fähndrich finished third.
For the remainder of the American women, Lauren Jortberg did not start, Hailey Swirbul finished the qualifying race in 49th (+18.75), and Emma Albrecht finished the qual in 53rd (+28.12), her time back inflated by an untimely fall near the end of the qual.
This is Albrecht’s first World Cup start since Falun in 2025, but she’s coming off some recent podium finishes on the SuperTour. Albrecht shared with Nordic Insights, “My goals for this weekend are to ski to the best of my ability while having fun. Cracking the top 30 would also be amazing. Skiing the SuperTour is very different than skiing the World Cup, I simply want to be competitive here.”
Tune in tomorrow for the Falun women’s skiathlon at 15:05 CET (9:05 a.m. EST, 5:05 a.m. AKST). American women starting are Jessie Diggins, Rosie Brennan, Kendall Kramer, Novie McCabe, Hailey Swirbul, and Emma Albrecht.
You’re reading this on Nordic Insights, one man’s labor of love dedicated to publicizing American skiing. We started with nothing, and then we made it to the Olympics. You can read more about our first three years here, and donate to the Olympics fund here. Thank you for consideration, and, especially, for reading.
