Diggins claims career-first classic win to make it two triumphs in Toblach
Dec 29, 2024·Cross-Country
Jessie Diggins (USA) claimed her second victory in two days of Tour de Ski as she won the Women's 15km Mass Start Classic in Toblach, Italy, on Sunday.
The 33-year-old, who said it was a "huge surprise" when she won her third Coop FIS Cross-Country World Cup Sprint race on Saturday, took another step towards a third Tour title as she broke new grounds with a career-first World Cup victory in classic style.
"It's really, really cool. It took me something like 340 World Cups to get here and I think this is why you never, ever give up. You keep working," Diggins said after finishing half a second before runner-up Kerttu Niskanen (FIN) as Astrid Oeyre Slind (NOR) clinched the third place.
"I've been working so hard on classic skiing for my whole life and it's really emotional to finally do it."
Starting with bib No.39, Therese Johaug (NOR) quickly made her way to the front of the pack and led the race together with teammate Slind for most of the four laps. Strong in the uphill sections, the three-time Tour de Ski winner Johaug picked up 14 of the maximum of 15 climber bonus points to earn the Tour-debuting purple bib as the best climber.
But every time she and Slind looked like they could break away from the rest of the pack in the uphill section, Diggins closed the gap going downhill, much thanks to her technique of making her body as small as possible, and to good skis.
"I'm so thankful to my team. They gave me the perfect skis," Diggins said.
"They were fast but I had the grip so in this last hill, I could go and it was just pure magic. It was really cool."
Coming into the last 300m, Johaug and Slind were still in front but had not managed to shake Diggins off. In the last uphill section, the overall World Cup leader made her move to take the lead and none of her competitors could stop her, Johaug falling further back in the field as Niskanen beat Slind in a home straight sprint behind the winner.
Norway's Heidi Weng, with bib No.36, and Silje Theodorsen, who had started in 46th place, clinched place four and five as Johaug made it four Norwegians in the top-six, all finishing within five seconds of the winner.
Ebba Andersson was the best Swedish skier, in seventh place, crossing the line 7.1 seconds after Diggins as the last one in the front group. Austria's Theresa Stadlober claimed the eighth place 23.7 seconds after the winner before Linn Svahn (SWE) and Krista Parmakoski (FIN) completed the top-10.
After two of seven events, Diggins has got the best possible start to the campaign to defend her Tour de Ski title from last winter. Having spent her Christmas on high altitude in Antholz, Italy, she said the mental well-being could have been a big reason to why her first classic win came now.
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