Cross-country skiing: American Jessie Diggins beat the Norwegian team
On Sunday, Jessie Diggins won the mass-start classic in Toblach (Italy), the second race of the Tour de Ski. Naturally, she retained her gold bib and even increased her lead in the overall classification. Her closest rival, Kerttu Niskanen, is 38 seconds behind the American.
Therese Johaug was 6th, at 1’14. A place she had to fight hard for. After the skate sprint, which gave her number 39, she had to work hard to get back to the front of the race. She even took pole position. But Jessie Diggins was the strongest. “They can’t get rid of her. She’s intelligent. She does everything right,” commented NRK consultant Fredrik Aukland. ” It’s really experience and instinct that speak for themselves,” added Maurice Manificat on Eurosport, also referring to a “psychological edge”.” She’s simply better than the Norwegians”, Petter Northug Jr summed up on TV 2.
For the French Olympic medallist, Therese Johaug was unable to respond to the attack as she approached the finish line: “She had given it her all beforehand”. Fredrik Aukland, for his part, didn’t understand the Norwegian team’s strategy in the final stretch. “I think Astrid [Oeyre Slind] and Therese [Johaug] are looking at each other and wondering “who’s going to go now? If they’d worked together, they could have opened up a decisive gap on Diggins”, says the specialist. For her part, Heidi Weng was involved in a crash just after the start.
It’s worth noting that Jessie Diggins has never before won a World Cup race in classic style. Kerttu Niskanen and Astrid Oeyre Slind were second and third in the race, as well as in the overall classification.
Monday is a rest day on the Tour de Ski. The next race is an individual 20-kilometre skateboard race on New Year’s Eve.
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