Diggins defeats Slind to claim 'huge' 10k win

Since winning the Women's 10km Interval Start Free at the Coop FIS Cross-Country World Cup in Les Rousses, France, two weekends ago, Jessie Diggins (USA) had missed the podium in three Sprints and finished in fifth place in the 20km Mass Start Free in Engadin, Switzerland, last week.

The defending overall World Cup champion does not usually have to wait for much longer than that to get back to the top of the podium and in Cogne, Italy on Sunday, it was time again.

The 33-year-old finished 5.1 seconds faster than her main rival Astrid Oeyre Slind (NOR) in second place as Kerttu Niskanen (FIN) completed the podium, 15.4 seconds behind the winner.

"This was so fun," Diggins said.

The last time the World Cup was held in Cogne, in February 2019, Diggins won the first Sprint race of her career. Six years later, she was happy to be back in the northwestern Italy where she got a lot of support from the stands.

The course at 1500m altitude, with a lot of uphill skiing and turns going downhill, suited the American overall World Cup leader perfectly. With start number 37, the interval start race turned into a battle against the times of distance leader Slind, who had bib number 31.

The gap between the two outstanding distance experts stayed between four and seven seconds throughout the whole course, as Niskanen, in third place for the last two thirds of the race, never got closer.

Already at the 3.3km mark, Diggins had got the best time with the two 36-year-olds, Slind and Niskanen, placed behind her in second and third position respectively. The top trio were persistent and kept their places for the remainder of the race.

"A beautiful day and a beautiful place – I really couldn't have asked for more," Diggins said.

"The skis were perfect so (it was) a huge win for my team. I just wanted to go really, really hard and I'm glad I didn't get too hot out there in the sun."

Niskanen, with start number 45, pushed down Katerina Janatova (CZE) to the fourth place as she crossed the finish line in the Italian sunshine.

Beaten by 9.1 seconds, however, the Czech 27-year-old made the best result of her career, closer than ever to a first World Cup podium. Her previously best result had been a sixth place in the Sprint Free in Lillehammer, Norway, in December.

Janatova was more than 20 seconds faster than Krista Parmakoski, 34, who made it two Finns in the top-five, 45.8 seconds after Diggins.

Nadine Faehndrich (SUI) took the sixth place in the spread-out field, 52 seconds behind the winner, as Anne Kjersti Kalvaa (NOR) and Lotta Dunes Weng (NOR), with a gap of 0.3 of a second between them, finished seventh and eighth respectively.

Flora Dolci (FRA) and Maja Dahlqvist (SWE) completed the top-ten, just over a minute after the winner and 33-year-old Maren Wangesteen (NOR) in her first World Cup race outside of Norway, took place No.11.

The victory extends the lead in the overall standings for Diggins, who looks keen to keep the yellow leader's bib on for the rest of the season. She leaves Cogne with 1,646 points and a comfortable gap down to No.2 Slind, on 1,364. 

The two-time Crystal Globe winner saw her fifth victory this season as a boost of confidence ahead of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim, Norway, at the end of this month, and a sign that her recent tough training had not been too much.

"I've been pushing hard in training and it's nice to know I'm keeping on the right side of that line," Diggins said.

"Now I'm excited for hopefully a really beautiful and fun training camp."

The last 10km race before the World Championships concluded the World Cup in Cogne. Now the World Cup action will take a two-week break before it is back in Falun, Sweden, 14-16 February.

Click here for full results from the Women's 10km Interval Start Free and here to follow FIS Cross-Country on Youtube.