February 03, 2016 (Drammen, Norway) – American Jessie Diggins took home a solid 13th place finish  in the 1.2k CL sprints as Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla claimed her third consecutive win at Drammen in a close finish between teammate Ingvild Oestberg and Russia’s Natalia Matveeva who was third.

Diggins was the top North American qualifier as well in 7th tweeting “First time qualifying in Drammen…and PSYCHED about it!!”. Her teammates Sadie Bjornsen and Sophie Caldwell also made the heats but all three were eliminated in their quarter finals. The lone Canadian on the start line, Andrea Dupont, finished 59th.

In a dramatic finish Falla, who returned to the World Cup from illness, battled her teammate and the top qualifier Oestberg to the line taking the outside lane and surprise everyone with a brilliant finish to claim the win.

“I was really happy with my race today. I had great skis and my fitness is perhaps better than it’s ever been. I made some technique errors in my quarterfinal and slipped a few too many times near the top of the course, letting a gap form between myself and the leaders,” said Diggins.

“I caught back up at the end but by then I had run out of track! But overall I’m really satisfied with my race and my shape. And to finish right behind the girls in my quarter who ended up 3rd and 4th overall is never a bad spot to be in. Racing in Drammen is always super fun and exciting. It was sunny, it’s a cool course on city streets and the fans were awesome.”

Bjornsen also skied well qualifying 10th and ended up 18th.

“Drammen I never really have a whole lot of strategy. I just go as hard as I can, hang on as long as I can, and see what can happen. My qualifier went well. I felt like I had more to give, so I was looking forward to some heats. I ended up in a pretty stacked heat, with some girls that qualified low, but were obviously really good skiers, but I tried to look forward without intimidation.

“Things were going super well until the final drag into the finish when I went on the wide track, which was super icy, and a big slip over the bump cost me a few meters on those three girls… and I wasn’t able to catch back up. I have spent the last week at high altitude, so I felt like my top gear suffered a bit today, but I am looking forward to 30k of that fun old classic skiing on Sunday. Big thanks to the team for some awesome skis out there today. I think the American Team had great skis under our feet today,” Bjornsen told Trax.

Caldwell, who recently won the USA’s first CL World Cup podium in Obertsdorf, Germany in early Jan., was stoked to qualify as well in Drammen – a first for her as well. She looked strong in her quarterfinal and was leading but couldn’t finish it off ending up 19th.

“I had incredible skis today. I think my skis were some of the fastest and definitely had the best kick in my quarter final. I was really happy to qualify 11th today. I’ve never qualified in Drammen. In fact, I’ve never even been close to qualifying in Drammen, so to qualify in 11th today was a huge step in the right direction. I think gradual terrain in classic sprinting is still one of my weaknesses. There’s a lot of room for improvement, but my result today showed that I’ve made some gains.

“I had a bit of a slow start in my quarter final, but I moved into second place on the steeper uphill and pushed hard over the top. I had fast skis and was in the draft of the girl in front of me, so I skied an aggressive corner and moved into first. I came into the finish stretch battling for first, but it’s a really long finish stretch and I got a little bogged down and frantic and was passed by several people.

“I wish I could have had a stronger finish, but like I said before, this is by far the best result I’ve ever had on this sprint course and I know what I need to work on. I will be racing in Stockholm next week and then hopefully doing a distance race in Falun before the final sprint in Europe in Lahti and then heading back to the US,” she commented.

Qualifications here.
Results here.