Slind pushes 'gas pedal to the bottom' and wins with Mass Start masterclass
Jan 26, 2025·Cross-Country)
Astrid Oeyre Slind (NOR) won the Women's 20km Mass Start Free in Engadin, Switzerland, on Sunday, with a tactical masterclass after pushing the "gas pedal all the way to the bottom" midway through the race.
The 36-year-old, who won her first Coop FIS Cross-Country World Cup race in Davos, Switzerland, in December, claimed her fourth victory this season and strengthened her position as No.1 in the World Cup distance standings.
Runner-up Nora Sanness (NOR) made it a Norwegian one-two as Jonna Sundling (SWE) completed the podium.
Slind’s background as a long-distance Cross-Country skier on the Ski Classics tour made the A-to-B course between ski villages St Moritz and Silvaplana, ending with three short loops, suit her perfectly.
"I love these kind of races. I've been doing it a lot in the Ski Classics cup and it's something for me," Slind said.
A heavy snowfall had slowed down the men's race a couple of hours before but in the women's race, the sky had cleared up, the snow was packed, making the track a lot faster.
Halfway through the race, Slind decided to skate off and got herself a gap to the rest of the pack.
For several kilometers, she was about six seconds ahead of the main chaser, Sanness, and nine seconds before the overall World Cup leader Jessie Diggins (USA) in third place.
"The plan was to try to be smart until the laps were starting here (in Silvaplana), and then speed up," Slind said.
With 5km left to skate, however, Sanness had caught up with the long distance expert, leaving Diggins to fight for the third place with Flora Dolci (FRA), Anne Kjersti Kalvaa (NOR) and Sundling.
Slind welcomed her teammate in the front and the Norwegian duo helped each other to keep the pace up and secure the two top spots. In the last of the three loops finishing the race, however, Slind had saved up energy for a killer move that Sanness could not follow.
"I am really happy about how it turned out," Slind said, thanking the weather gods for being able to follow her game plan on fast snow.
"It's amazing that we ended up skiing in these nice conditions in sunny weather, because it looked like it would be a snow storm with one meter of snow or something like that."
Finishing 3.6 seconds behind Slind, 24-year-old Sanness secured the first individual World Cup podium of her career, watching the chasing group battle it out for a spot next to the Norwegian duo on the podium.
Kalvaa had been in the lead coming into the final long curve of the race. In the home straight however, Sundling showed why she had won Saturday's Sprint Free and switched gears to land a second podium in two days.
The 30-year-old Swede finished 20.2 seconds behind Slind to deny Norway a second full podium sweep on Sunday after the men's dominant Mass Start display earlier. Kalvaa, 0.9 of a second behind her, beat Diggins by a tenth of a second to clinch the fourth place.
Dolci had made a strong race and put down her work in front of the chasing group but the 25-year-old's pursuit of a first World Cup podium will have to continue.
Finishing in fifth place, just over half a minute behind the winner, however, landed Dolci the third best individual results of her career. Only a 10km Free fourth place and a 15km Mass Start Free fifth place, both from last season, beat it.
Helene Marie Fossesholm (NOR) finished first in the second chasing group to claim the seventh place 47 seconds behind Slind. Katerina Janatova (CZE) and Moa Ilar (SWE) crossed the line within less than a second of Fossesholm to clinch places eight and nine, as Teresa Stadlober (AUT) completed the top-10.
As an eventful World Cup weekend in the beautiful Swiss Engadin valley ended, Slind promised that she will be back competing in Cogne, Italy, next weekend, as the last month of preparations for the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships in Trondheim, Norway, kicks off.
"I'll go to Cogne and just do the 10k there, then do two races in Falun (Sweden)," Slind said.
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