Diggins Eighth in World Championship Sprint
Jessie Diggins (Afton Minn.) led four American women in the finals and skied to an eighth-place finish in the FIS Nordic World Ski Championship sprint on Thursday in Seefeld, Austria.
“If I was going to build a course perfect for me, this would not be it,” said Diggins, who battled hard in her semifinal heat, but in a short 1.2km course got boxed in and finished fourth. “But that’s OK because this is the only time all week I will need fast twitch and I am a self-described slow-twitch athlete. I am proud of how I raced today and did the best I could.”
“We had a great start today qualifying seven of eight,” said Head Coach Chris Grover. “With sprinting you need a little bit of luck once you get into the rounds and it just didn’t go our way. Everyone raced really hard and the service team did an excellent job, and we have a lot more days of Championships ahead.”
The U.S. qualified all four starters in the event with Sophie Caldwell (Stratton Mountain, Vt.) qualifying fourth, Sadie Bjornsen (Winthrop, Wash.) 14th, Diggins in 15th and Julia Kern (Waltham, Mass.) in 22nd.
The finals were marred by a crash late in the race allowing eventual winner and Norwegian standout Maiken Caspersen Falla to enter the final stretch with a good lead. Stina Nilsson of Sweden was second, and Mari Eide of Norway in third.
In the men’s race, Simi Hamilton (Aspen, Colo.) was the top U.S. finisher in ninth - finishing fifth in a very fast semi final heat.
“I didn’t feel like I had the best energy today and my quarterfinal was really pinged the whole time and that took a lot out of me,” said Hamilton. “My plan was to use the second half of the course to draft and try to move up in the pack, but the pace was high at the start and the pack stayed together. I focused on a hard finish and it just wasn’t enough.”
The U.S. men qualified three of four starters with Hamilton in 11th, Logan Hanneman (Fairbanks, Alaska) 20th and Kevin Bolger (Sun Valley, Idaho) in 23rd. Norwegian Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo took the victory, with Federico Pellegrino of Italy in second and Gleb Retivykh of Russia completing the podium
“It was a disappointing day with regards to how things could’ve gone – we have a great sprint team – but we had a plan we believed in, and put everything we had into executing it,” said World Cup Coach Matt Whitcomb. “We nailed that part, and that’s why you’ll see us with our heads high as we move into the skiathlon. Our team was ready today, and we’ll be ready again on Saturday.”
The World Championships continue on Saturday with the men’s and women’s skiathlon.
RESULTS
Men’s sprint
Women’s sprint
HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
*Same-day broadcast
Thursday, Feb. 21
11:30 p.m. - FIS World Cross Country Skiing Championships women’s sprint finals - Seefeld, AUT - NBCSN*
Saturday, Feb. 23
5:00 a.m. - FIS World Cross Country Skiing Championships women’s 15k skiathlon - Seefeld, AUT - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
8:00 a.m. - FIS World Cross Country Skiing Championships men’s 30k skiathlon - Seefeld, AUT - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
8:30 a.m. - FIS World Cross Country Skiing Championships women’s 15k skiathlon - Seefeld, AUT - Olympic Channel-TV*
9:30 a.m. - FIS World Cross Country Skiing Championships men’s 30k skiathlon - Seefeld, AUT - Olympic Channel-TV*
Sunday, Feb. 24
5:30 a.m. - FIS World Cross Country Skiing Championships men and women’s team sprint finals - Seefeld, AUT - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gold
10:30 a.m. - FIS World Cross Country Skiing Championships men and women’s team sprint finals - Seefeld, AUT - Olympic Channel-TV*
11:30 p.m. - FIS World Cross Country Skiing Championships women’s team sprint finals - Seefeld, AUT - NBCSN*
All streams are available via desktop (NBCSports.com/Live, NBCSports.com/Gold andOlympicChannel.com) as well as mobile, tablet and connected television platforms. The NBC Sports app, NBC Sports Gold app and Olympic Channel app are available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV and Amazon Fire. Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass.
