Jessie diggins clinched his second victory in three stages of the Tour de Ski, moving up to first place overall in the cross-country ski stage race similar to the Tour de France.
Diggins won a furious sprint to the finish line of a 10km freestyle in Oberstdorf, Germany, beating the Swede Frida karlsson (half a second) and Russian Tatiana sorina (by eight tenths).
“It was pretty extreme,†Diggins said of the finish. “It probably didn’t look very graceful or very pretty.”
Diggins, already qualified for the Olympic Games, regained the lead of the Tour de Ski with 13 seconds ahead of the Finn Kerttu Niksanen through three of the six stages. The Tour continues with a classic sprint on Saturday (broadcast program here).
Last year, Diggins became the first non-European man or woman to win the Tour de Ski, which some of the world’s best skiers missed.
Some stars are visiting this year’s Tour again, in particular Maja Dahlqvist from Sweden and Norway Therese Johaug.
Diggins is an Olympic medal threat in the free sprint, which she won to open the Tour de Ski on Tuesday.
The women also run a 10k at the Olympics, but at this year’s Winter Games it will be in the classic format, while Diggins is better in freestyle.
In 2018, Diggins and now retired Kikkan Randall won the Olympic team sprint when it was a freestyle event, giving the United States its first gold in cross-country skiing. In 2022, the team sprint will be a classic event.
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