November 21, 2015 (Gällivare, Sweden) – Jessie Diggins led Team USA with a victory in the Women’s 1.2km CL Sprint as teammate Sophie Caldwell, the top qualifier, claimed second while Canada’s Emily Nishikawa made the final as well finishing 6th at the Gällivare Premier FIS competitions. Diggins, who was second in the qualifications, was all smiles at the finish. Karolina Grohova of the Czech Republic took the bronze while the USA’s Caitlin Gregg was 7th and Liz Stephen was 9th.

“I was really happy with today’s race! The techs and coaches did a great job and I’m really happy with how well everything worked out – the testing, the race prep, the training leading into today’s competition,” said Diggins. “I feel like my body is in a good place and I’m super excited to start the World Cup races next weekend in Kuusamo.”

Caldwell was stoked to share the podium with her teammate. “I was happy with the race today and it was especially fun to share the podium with Jessie. Even though it was a small field, I wanted to give my qualifier the same effort I would on the World Cup and I was really happy with how it went. I felt that I skied it well and that I had great skis. The heats were fun and each one got progressively faster and harder. I came away knowing what my strengths are and where I still have room to improve and that was exactly what I wanted from a warm up race for the World Cup,” she commented.

Whitehorse skier, Nishikawa, 26, who was 5th in the qualifications and is better known for her strengths as a distance skier, won her opening heat to advance to the finals. “I was happy to start the season with a good race! I’ve had a good summer of training and feeling strong coming into the race season so I was really excited to race today,” said Nishikawa. “I felt strong in my quarter- and semifinal, but not as good in the final.  I made some poor lane choices at the start and got myself boxed out on the first climb and wasn’t able to really do much after that.  Overall, I was really happy with how I skied today. I’m looking forward to tomorrow and the start of the World Cup season next weekend.”

In the men’s 1.4km CL fellow American Andy Newell skied to second place landing his first podium of the season behind Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov in first with Evgeniy Belov, also from Russia, in third.

Alex Harvey was the top Canadian in 7th, finishing just ahead of Erik Bjornsen (USA) in 8th with three-time Olympian Devon Kershaw 9th and Toronto’s Lenny Valjas in 10th.

“I’m pretty stoked with the way things went today for the first sprint race of the season. It’s always fun to start the season with a podium but more importantly I’m happy with the way my speed and fitness felt. It’s always a little unknown how your body will respond to the first hard race on snow and things felt great. I’m definitely already at a higher level of speed and fitness than I was at any point last season so I’m fired up to get back on the World Cup,” said Newell.

Newell’s teammate Simi Hamilton finished 13th overall while Graeme Killick (CAN) was 19th followed by Ivan Babikov and Jesse Cockney in 25th and 27th respectively. The USA’s Noah Hoffman ended up 29th.

“It wasn’t a super tactical race which was nice, so there was just a lot of good hammering on the uphills and hard finishes. Conditions were fair and consistent and the Russians are always good at pushing a fast pace in the heats so it turned out to be a tough fitness race as well as speed,” Newell continued.

“This sprint was a prefect warm up race for next weekend in Kuusamo (FIN) because they are both classic sprints. Last year we were caught off guard a little bit in Kuusamo because we weren’t able to get in a high level FIS race before hand. This year we will be much more prepared to have strong results at the opening World Cup weekend,” he concluded.

Matt Whitcomb, Head Women’s Coach was enthused to see the team off to a solid start. “We are very happy with our start to the season. Week one is always a wildcard with some athletes feeling great and others still trying to adjust. To take three of six podiums is fun regardless of the race, and to do it with some strong World Cup skiers here – especially in the men’s field, gives us confidence. The important thing is that we had three skiers still skiing exceptionally well in the final.

“Today was the best classic sprint result we’ve ever seen out of Jessie, so Kuusamo will be exciting. I have a lot of confidence in the way she is skiing right now, and to see her hit full-gas in the finish stretch was awesome.  For Andy, he gave up a gap to Ustiugov out of the start and up the first climb, but was quickly tracking him down on the final climb and chased his tails into the finish. Today is a big boost for the team.

“While today wasn’t the most difficult day to make good skis, sometimes these days are the most important to make the great ones. Our skis were awesome, which is exciting because we have four new faces on our service staff for Period 1 of the World Cup. The service team worked very well today, even though we have a very interesting combination of heavy French and Estonian accents,” he quipped.

Results

LADIES’ Sprint C – Final

1. Diggins Jessica USA 3:04.01
2. Caldwell Sophie USA +1.37
3. Karolina Grohovoa CZE +6.74
4. Novakova, Petra CZE +7.27
5. Svendsen Anna NOR +8.95
6. Nishikawa, Emily CAN +13.72

Complete ladies’ results HERE.
Qualifications HERE.

MEN’S Sprint C – Final

1. Ustiugov Sergey RUS 2:45.95
2. Newell Andrew USA +1.63
3. Belov Evgeniy RUS +2.63
4. Starega Maciej POL +4.96
5. Volzhentsev Stanislav RUS +6.36
6. Haeggstroem Johan SWE +13.07

Complete men’s results HERE.
Qualifications HERE.