Diggins Opens Final Season With Best-Ever Result in Ruka 10k Classic; Ketterson 14th, His Career Best

Jessie Diggins launched her final World Cup season with a statement performance in Ruka, Finland, delivering her best-ever result on the storied 10k classic course and showing strong early-season form while wearing the yellow bib. Zak Ketterson led the men to a 14th place finish, a career-best individual result. 

For the past 13 seasons, Ruka has served as the opening World Cup stop—a venue known for setting the tone of the year and testing athletes immediately. The women went out first. Diggins entered today’s event ranked as the No. 1 skier in the world after bringing home the overall FIS Crystal Globe last season—an honor she has now won three times. 

For Diggins, this race also marked the last “first start” of her career. Ruka’s opening weekend is notoriously brutal—defined by steep, punchy climbs, fast technical descents, little rest and the infamous “Ruka Climb” into the stadium. That final climb averages a 14% gradient with pitches that spike to 17%—a wall of a finish. 

At the halfway mark at 5k, Diggins sat sixth, only 16 seconds off the lead of Sweden's Frida Karlsson, posting times that kept pressure on the front of the race. In the final kilometers, Diggins began putting down some of the fastest splits in the field and held her position through the line as athletes continued to finish. She moved up to fifth place, marking a new career best for the 10k classic in Ruka. 

Karlsson was untouchable from start to finish, claiming the win with another dominant performance, her second consecutive win in the Ruka 10k classic. Norway’s Heidi Weng finished second and Karlsson’s teammate Ebba Andersson rounded out the podium in third.

Kikkan Randall, Olympic champion and longtime friend to Diggins, summed up the moment: “When you know it's your final season, and you've already done everything, she can just come in here and ski with reckless abandon.”

“My goals for the whole season are to be happy, healthy and in the present moment," said Diggins, post race. "Really soak it in, because this is the last time I get to do this, and that's really special to me. And so, I was just thinking about going out there and smashing a 10k in Ruka one last time and laying it all out. And, as usual, in a race one of my goals is to cross the finish line with nothing left and today, I did that. I was really happy with the race. There were people out there chanting ‘last one, last one,’ which was so cool because I felt the support and love from so many people from so many countries. For the actual race result, it was super exciting to have my best-ever Ruka classic 10k. My combo of kick and glide on a tricky day was great. All said and done, I am coming into the season right where I want to be.”

Seven U.S. men started the race, signaling the depth of a men’s program that enters the season as one of the strongest in U.S. history. Conditions added an extra layer of difficulty; as the race went on, the course began to ice up, making it difficult for athletes to engage their kick zones cleanly. Many athletes battled icing throughout the event, leading to significant time losses on the steeper sections.

But the conditions and tempo of the field did not stop Ketterson from delivering a standout day, earning his career-best individual World Cup result—surpassing his previous top finish of 15th at the 2022 Falun World Cup.

At the end of the day, Norway’s Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget won the day, over the second-place winner, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo. Austria’s Mika Vermeulen delivered a surprise performance in third.

The U.S. has 14 athletes racing today. For the men, Ben Ogden was 34th, Gus Schumacher 37th, Zanden McMullen 49th, JC Schoonmaker 62nd, John Steel Hagenbuch 64th and Luke Jager 68th. For the women, Rosie Brennan was 24th, Julia Kern 42nd, Sophia Laukli 48th, Kendall Kramer 50th, Alayna Sonnesyn 54th, and Kate Oldham 73rd. 

Saturday, the team is back for the skate sprint, with finals live on skiandsnowboard.live at 5:25 a.m. ET.

RESULTS
Women
Men