By Gavin Kentch
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The snow came in waves today and so did the Scandinavians, with Norway or Sweden claiming 11 of the top 13 spots in Friday’s women’s 10-kilometer interval-start classic, the opening race of World Cup Finals at Lake Placid.
Linn “not just a sprinter” Svahn took the win, the fourth distance victory of her career for the 26-year-old Swede. Countrywoman Frida Karlsson, the presumptive pre-race favorite after an incredibly strong string of distance races across the back half of the season, was a narrow second, 1.4 seconds back, after Svahn closed out the final kilometer of the course slightly better than she did. Heidi Weng of Norway was third, 22.1 seconds back.
Jessie Diggins, an athlete you may have heard something about in the run-up to this race weekend, was fifth, 32.5 seconds back and about ten seconds off the podium, after skiing in fifth position for nearly all of the race. Astrid Øyre Slind of Norway was two-ish seconds ahead of her for fourth. Johanna Matintalo of Finland, ninth, was the other non-Scandinavian in the top thirteen. No word on whether she had the magic skis today.
The next American on the day was fellow veteran Rosie Brennan in 19th (+2:04.5). Third for the home team today was Brennan’s APU teammate Kendall Kramer, 25th (+2:31.1). Novie McCabe, also of APU, slotted in in 28th (+2:37.5) to mark the final American in the top 30.
An additional eight (!) Americans started today. More on them later once I hear more from the on-the-ground folks, don’t worry. An especial shoutout to Emma Reeder (BSF) and Katey Houser (Montana State), both of whom made their World Cup debut today.
Today was the first victory in an interval-start race of Svahn’s career. It feels “really nice,” she told FIS in post-race comments. “I’ve been doing good on the mass start, but never on the individual start, so it was nice to finally get the win in that race.”
Svahn said that it felt like she had been “going quite the same speed” as her teammate, Karlsson, in the last few 10km classic races. “So in Lahti she was the strongest and now today I was the strongest, so it was a good day.”
Svahn admitted that, at this point in the season, while her physical shape remains good, “mentally I’m starting to get tired. So today my motivation was the crowd,” she said, “and they just pushed me.”
Speaking as someone who has watched his share of World Cup broadcasts, the crowd at the venue today looked to be somewhere between “very healthy” and “lowkey prodigious for the conditions.” Organizers were approaching 10,000 tickets sold for Saturday’s sprint as of earlier this week (at a venue far away from everything with no great public transit), while Holmenkollen drew just 9,000 to 10,000 paid spectators for two iconic races on Saturday (at a venue a short subway ride away from downtown Oslo) (okay plus also 5,000 more at Frognerseteren), so maybe we should have World Cups in the U.S. more often not saying just saying.
Fifth on the results sheet, but first in many fans’ hearts, was one Jessica Adele Diggins. “Today they all came for her,” wrote FIS on its Instagram page. While I understand how marketing works, this felt a little harsh to me; I’m sure that American skiers numbers two through twelve also had fans out there who care about them, too.
That said, Diggins was the highest-placing American today, so let’s start with her and run down from there.
“I had so much fun out there,” exulted a joyous and buoyant Diggins after her race. “It was so cool. The crowds were amazing. The fact that so many people came out here in a snowstorm and were out in the woods just cheering, screaming, it was so exciting. I felt so loved, and my big goal was to have fun and to just go as hard as I could one last time in a classic race and to really be present in any moment and just feel all the love and excitement out there.”
“I truly had a great day out there,” Diggins continued. “It was so fun and exciting. I’ve got four little nephews out here, and I wanted to show those young boys what it is to be a professional woman in sport and to get to have them see and experience this excitement. So it was fun being Auntie Jessie today and getting to do my job one more time.”
Conditions were, shall we say, variable today, with heavy snow pelting down throughout the afternoon. Diggins started 58th in a field of 61, behind all seeded athletes save for Maja Dahlqvist in bib 60.
“If I was worried about the conditions being completely stable and fair every single time across the board, I should have stayed a swimmer, right?” was Diggins’s post-race take on snow conditions.
“Or like track and field. But this is part of it. That’s what makes it so magical; that’s what makes it so exciting. It’s a partnership with the weather, the conditions, the wax techs, the coaches. … It is tricky out there, and I thought I had a great kick. And of course it’s a little like that second lap was kicking pretty tough, but that’s part of the sport. And some days you get really lucky, and some days you’re less lucky. And you just crawl out there and you do your best anyway.”
On to Brennan, who finished 19th today.
You look like you’re a bit worked over, a reporter gently suggested. How do you feel?
“I’m worked over!” Brennan said, laughing. “It’s a brutal, brutal day out.”
“You never know” about the implications of an early start position said a sanguine Brennan, bib 15 today. “Those are one of those things that we’ll never know. But we’re outdoors. So it is what it is.”
“I tend to like these conditions,” said Brennan of a day that was rough for everyone. “I think they suit my grindy style. I just was trying to focus on being relaxed and skiing the best I can.”
Finally, it is no secret that Brennan has had a rough few years of working through health challenges. “I’ve been continuing to navigate it,” Brennan said. “Just trying to do the best I can every day. It was really nice to be out here and just have so many people cheering no matter what. So it meant a lot to me to be able to make it here and be able to race.”
Next up for the U.S. today was Kendall Kramer, who finished 25th. Speaking of variable conditions out there: Kramer had bib 5 today.
“It was a lot of muscling on this course,” said Kramer of her day. “Especially I was number five, out number five, but I came in as the second girl to finish, and so it was a lot of breaking trail. So the first girls out there were breaking a lot of trail, and that was a whole other piece to navigate. Like, you had to go where the people had gone and broken the trail before you, so you had to look for that as you were going, as opposed to just not thinking about it.”
This is… not typically something on an athlete’s list of concerns during a World Cup race.
Kramer raced here two-plus months ago for U.S. Nationals, and raced well, securing her first career Olympic berth in the process. She said that this experience gave her an advantage relative to the Europeans who were encountering the course for the first time.
“I know where there’s gonna be rest,” Kramer said, “so I know where I can push a little harder. I know what the hills feel like already, so I’m not surprised when they feel hard. So I do think it’s an advantage.”
The capacity of our man on the ground to speak with all twelve American finishers today became a bit compromised at this point, so let me be sure to note all Americans here: After Diggins in fifth, Brennan in 19th, and Kramer in 25th, the home team also saw Novie McCabe finish in 28th, Ava Thurston in 33rd, Hailey Swirbul in 34th, Alayna Sonnesyn in 35th, Sammy Smith in 47th, Emma Albrecht in 48th, Renae Anderson in 50th, Emma Reeder in 53rd, and Katey Houser in 58th. As noted above, it was the World Cup debut for both Reeder and Houser.
Hailey Swirbul was the final American whom Peter Minde caught today.
“It was such cool energy out there,” were the first words out of Swirbul’s mouth. “Getting to start in a little sandwich with me then Jessie then Novie [in bibs 57 through 59], you could feel the energy for Team U.S.A.”
“I thought my skis had really good kick,” Swirbul said of her boards today. “It’s hard to tell speed when you’re not around anyone else, but it was really fun to stride up all the hills here again.”
“I think with this course it’s such a long working section,” was Swirbul’s take on how the 5km lap skis, “and if you have a lot of extra energy on the second lap, there’s plenty of time to leave it all out there. So I think it’s important to pace this course well and then see how much time you can make, or not, in the end.”
One athlete who made up time today was winner Linn Svahn; the relatively early starter (bib 10) laid down a prodigious time off a fast start, only to watch Karlsson, bib 32, slowly erode the entire gap. By the 8.8-kilometer mark Karlsson was the virtual leader, by 3.1 seconds, but she faded slightly over the return to the stadium to finish second by 1.4 seconds.
“It didn’t feel like it went so fast,” Svahn said of her ski that culminated with a slow-for-World-Cup time of 29:04 for 9.8km, “but I held up a really good speed.”
“It’s hard to get a good feeling when the weather is like this, but it felt like I could just push on the way to the finish line,” she continued. “So apparently it was a good day for me and Team Sweden. We had really good skis in these difficult conditions.”
Difficult conditions, indeed. That concludes things for now for women’s racing out of Lake Placid. The article on the men’s race will be up later today (TLDR, Klæbo won, followed by four teammates; Gus was seventh, 40.5 seconds back, but also second on the non-Norge podium). Thanks to Peter for his fine work from the venue today and to @rylanhphoto for the images.
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