Industry News
Jessie Diggins had crashed in the warm-up but during the 20km race at Toblach, Italy, on Monday, January 1, 2023, the American cross country skier was in a league of her own, leading the pursuit race without ever a threat to her leading position, finishing the race in first place. The American collapsed across the finish line, seemingly too exhausted to celebrate. With this victory, Diggins extends her lead in the FIS Cross-Country Skiing 2023-24 Tour de Ski, which next moves to Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday. It marks Diggins’ 17th career World Cup victory.
The 20km race is held in a pursuit style, where the top-ranked cross country skier starts first and is “pursued” by those in second place, third place, etc. Diggins started the race as the current Tour de Ski leader with a seven-second head start on Germany’s Victoria Carl but finished 46.5 seconds ahead of Carl, crossing the finish line in 58 minutes and 18.7 seconds. This extends her lead in the Tour de Ski to 47 seconds.
“I wanted to ski a brave race and see what I could hold. I was blowing up the last two laps, I couldn’t really feel my legs but I did hear my family out there cheering – and that kept me going. I crossed the line with nothing left and that was the goal.”
— Jessie Diggins
The competition for second place, however, is much closer after Monday’s race. Third-placed Linn Svahn had started the pursuit just four seconds behind Carl, but narrowed the gap to 1.7 seconds by the finish. Unlike Diggins, who had sprinted off, leading alone at the front, the majority of the top ranked skiers, including Svahn and Carl, had skied in a pack, which can be strategically useful as skiers can benefit from the slipstream effect of sitting behind the leader. Typically skiers will take turns for the lead to allow each one a rest. This makes Diggins achievement even more impressive and if you are not impressed enough: Diggins lead of almost 47 seconds to second-placed Carl becomes gigantic when you realize that just nine seconds separates Carl in second place from Sweden’s Emma Ribom in ninth place. Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team athletes Rosie Brennan finished in 15th, Sophia Laukli in 21st, Novie McCabe in 27th, Julia Kern in 45th, and Sammy Smith in 47th. The U.S. men saw Gus Schumacher finish in 10th place, while Ben Ogden, who had started in third position, finished in 63rd. Scott Patterson secured 28th place, Zanden McMullen 48th, and Kevin Bolger in 65th.
Stage four of the Tour de Ski will be a skate spring in Davos, Switzerland, on January 3, 2024.
