Diggins Eighth, Ogden 17th in Lillehammer Skate Sprint
On a challenging, hilly skate sprint course in Lillehammer, Norway, five Stifel U.S. Ski Team athletes advanced out of qualifications and into the sprint heats at today’s World Cup, landing five in the top 30. Jessie Diggins led the charge, who finished the day in eighth place, while Ben Ogden qualified first in the men’s field for the first time, ultimately finishing 17th.
On the start line, Renae Anderson, Haley Brewster, Erin Bianco, Rosie Brennan, Diggins, Julia Kern, Lauren Jortberg, and Alayna Sonnesyn represented the women's sprint team. Three athletes, Diggins, Brennan, and Kern, made the top 30 in qualifications, punching themselves a ticket to the skate sprint heats. Through the heats, it was anyone's game.
Brennan kicked off the sprint heats for the U.S. team, skiing in heat number two, and skied a strong race but ultimately did not advance as she was not in the top two across the line. Kern skied a smart and tactical third quarterfinal heat, putting up a good fight despite breaking a pole mid-race. Then Diggins, who demonstrated her hallmark tenacity to move through the quarterfinals into the semifinals, ultimately claimed eighth place overall. Kern and Brennan secured 17th and 29th, respectively.
Jonna Sundling of Sweden won the women's race, followed by her teammate Johanna Hagstroem and Norway's Julie Myhre, rounding out the podium. For the U.S. roster, Sonnesyn ended the day in 38th, Jortberg 40th, Bianco 47th, Brewster 53rd and Anderson 58th.
On the men’s side, Ogden and Young were the lone U.S. athletes to advance. Jack Young punched his ticket to the heats in just his fourth career World Cup start and finished an impressive 25th.
For Ogden, going into the heats ranked #1 was a different feeling than he's had before.
"It felt good to win the qualifier for sure, and I think it tempted me to look deeper into the sprint day than I normally do and try to be strategic with the final looming," said Ogden. "I got a pretty quick reminder why you can’t do that on the World Cup, especially not in Norway."
The seven starters for the U.S. men's sprint team delivered solid skiing from the entire team, including Gus Schumacher in 31st, JC Schoonmaker in 39th, Kevin Bolger 45th, Zak Ketterson 47th and Michael Earnhart 51st, respectively. First place went to Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, who took home his ninth consecutive World Cup sprint victory, with his Norwegian teammate Even Northug in second and Italy's Federico Pellegrino in third.
With a strong team effort on a grueling course, the U.S. athletes showed they’re ready to take on tomorrow's race, the 20k skiathlon, where athletes will ski both a skate and classic 10k.
Watch LIVE on skiandsnowboard.live, with the men at 4:00 a.m. ET and women at 6:15 a.m. ET.
