Jessie Diggins took an early lead in her bid for a third Ski Tour title by winning the Stage 1 sprint in Toblach, Italy on Saturday (28 December).
The US cross-country ski hero claimed her first World Cup sprint race in three years to make the perfect start to her bid for a third Tour de Ski title, one shy of the record of four held by Justyna Kowalczyk.
Three-time Olympic medallist Diggins led for much of the final with Jasmi Joensuu in close attendance after Sweden’s Maja Dahlqvist suffered an early setback when she lost one of her ski poles.
Joensuu took the lead on the final descent, but Diggins timed her finish to perfection to take the lead metres from the line and beat her Finnish rival by three-tenths of a second. Nadine Faehndrich of Switzerland was a close third.
The win means Diggins will carry a seven-second advantage over Joensuu in Sunday’s 15km classic mass start.
“This was a huge surprise. I’m so thankful to our wax techs, they’ve been working so hard and they really smashed it today. It was just so fun to be here,” Diggins told FIS afterwards.
“Toblach is so special. This is where I had my first podium, a long time ago, during the Tour de Ski. I kind of thought I was getting old and not ready to have another sprint victory in my life so this was an amazing surprise.”
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won the men’s sprint on his return to the Tour de Ski after missing last year’s edition. Victory would see him match Dario Cologna’s record of four overall victories.
The Norwegian star showed his class as he moved to the front of the six-man final on the first climb and held onto the pole position until the very end.
He won the race by just over four-tenths of a second from Frenchman Lucas Chanavat with Janik Riebli of Switzerland taking third.
“It’s two years since I did a Tour, so it is good to be back her at Toblach,” Klæbo said afterwards. “In the end, I am really satisfied and it is the perfect way to start the Tour.”
Klæbo will take an eight-second advantage over Chanavat into Sunday’s classic mass start.
Swiss
