Diggins Dug Deep, Fifth in 20k Mass Start

20k skate races are no easy task and today’s was no different, except that the athletes had to complete the course in powder-skiing-like conditions. Yet, Jessie Diggins did what she does best - digging deep and finishing fifth on the day to wrap up three days of racing in Engadin, Switzerland. 

Hours before the race, the volunteers were shoveling, re-grooming, and trying to find the finish line in the snowglobe, which was the Engadin World Cup 20k course. With a point-to-point on the menu for the racers, as the saying goes, it was anyone’s game. But the real test wasn’t the distance, the challenging climbs, the high elevation - it was the pure grit it would have to take to get through the snow. 

The men were off the line first. Five Americans were on the roster today, including Gus Schumacher, Zanden McMullen, Luke Jager, Hunter Wonders and Zak Ketterson. With the mass start format, it was everyone all at once. At the first checkpoint of the course, some 6.5k in, the Americans were struggling to stay in the front group, but McMullen and Ketterson were working together to stay within the top 30. At the halfway mark, Ketterson was the lone American in the top 30 and raced consistently to round out the day. At the finish, Ketterson was just one place shy of his season-best distance result, crossing the line in 30th place—a substantial distance result for the Minnesotan. 

McMullen was just eight seconds behind Ketterson in 32nd, with Wonders in 44th, Schumacher in 39th and Jager in 65th. 

For the women, grit was the name of the game - who had the most of it? Who could push through? Diggins answered. 

The American women on the roster were led by Diggins, with Sophia Laukli, Julia Kern, Kate Oldham, Kendall Kramer, Luci Anderson, Lauren Jortberg and Alayna Sonnesyn in tow. 

At the 10.8k mark, Diggins was putting up a fight in the front, trailing behind Astrid Oeyre Slind of Norway but mere seconds - 5.7 to be exact. That became the common theme throughout the rest of the course, with Diggins, Slind Nora Sanness and Anne Kjersti Kalvaa of Norway and France’s Flora Dolici fighting for the top five. With only 2k remaining, Diggins had to put the hammer down, which she did. Yet, here came Jonna Sundling of Sweden, who had risen from sixth place to contend for the podium. Into the finishing stretch, the athletes were gassed, yet Diggins does what she does best - not give up. With the podium out of reach, Diggins sprinted like the first place was on the line and came from behind to have a photo-finish with Kalvaa and was beaten out by .01 of a second to get fifth on the day. Laura was 16th and Kern 19th, rounded out the top 30 for the U.S. women, an encouraging set of results for the Stifel U.S. Ski Team. Kramer was next in 36th, Oldham 38th in her first World Cup distance race, Anderson 46th, Jortberg 54th and Sonnesyn 55th. 

The women’s podium ultimately went to Norway’s Slind in first, teammate Sannes in second and Sundling of Sweden in third. 

Now, the team will rest and reset before another round of World Cup races next weekend. 

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