January 04, 2017 (Oberstdorf, Germany) – The USA’s Jessie Diggins held on to fifth but lost time in the process as Kikkan Randall impressed with a 10th-place finish in the women’s 10km freestyle Pursuit on Stage 4 at the Tour de Ski in Oberstdorf.

Race leader Stina Nilsson (Swe) outfoxed her two Norwegian rivals, Heidi Weng and Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg, to claim yet another victory at the Tour as the caravan enjoys their second rest day tomorrow.

Nilsson has almost 7s on Weng and 12s on Oestberg with two stages remaining. “My tactic was not to be in the front. I wanted to be in a good position before the last downhill. I had great skis. It is amazing to win again here in Oberstdorf,” said the winner.

Krista Parmakoski of Finland could not close the gap to the three leaders and finished fourth but gained some time on Diggins who now sits 1:05 behind in 5th.

“Today wasn’t a great day for me, but that’s why it’s a stop on the tour – you keep going and you never know when it’s going to be your day,” said Diggins. “I skied completely alone the entire race and with the gusts of wind it would have been a good day to be able to team up and work together with other skiers, but that’s just how it is sometimes.”

Randall, who skied up from 19th to finish 10th, made strategic passes to move up considerably in the field. “Today was another solid race for me. I was able to catch up to a few skiers ahead of me right away on the first lap and we worked together to gradually reel in a few more skiers on the final lap.

“I had good energy up the final climb and got to the front of our train. It’s been really good to test myself over a variety of formats and the back-to-back racing is helping me sharpen my race form and my confidence.

“Plus my teammates have been skiing really strong which is so motivating for me. Not sure yet whether I will finish the tour or not.  I’d like to race the sprint and team sprint in Toblach the week after and I need to weigh my options for what will help me best continue sharpening my form towards February,” added Randall.

Sadie Bjornsen dropped one spot from 11th to 12th while Liz Stephen moved up from 35th to 28th.

Results here.
Overall here.