December 10, 2016 (Davos, SUI) – The USA’s Jessie Diggins continues climb the ladder of success with a historic 4th-place finish in the women’s 15k freestyle at round #3 of the Viessmann FIS Cross Country World Cup in Davos, Switzerland.

Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg of Norway won her first World Cup of the season and her first career victory in the 15km event. Her teammate Heidi Weng was second and remains the overall series leader with a 70-point margin over Oestberg. Finland’s Krista Parmakoski took third marking her second podium in the free technique according to FIS XC.

Diggins is on fire coming off her 5km win last weekend in Lillehammer, Norway. “I was really happy with my race today,” she said. “I had great skis and my best pacing effort to date in Davos – this is such a tricky course! It’s very hard to figure out exactly how fast you should go on each part of the course because it’s all gradual up, then all gradual down, and you need to put as much effort into the downhill as the uphill.”

Kikkan Randall continued her comeback after taking last season off for the birth of her son, finishing 33rd – just outside the points. “This was a step in the right direction,” said Randall. “Getting the right race gears back has been more challenging than I thought. But each race I do feel a little closer.”

Snow conditions had been challenging in the region, but Randall praised organizers. “The course was in the best shape it’s been all week,” she said. “The OC and the jury did a great job of preserving the sections that had been breaking down previously. The course is a challenging one with so many long gradual flat sections. ”

Emily Nishikawa led a trio of Canadian women with one of the top results of her World Cup career finishing 34th. Dahria Beatty  finished in 42nd while Cendrine Browne placed 54th.

“My race today confirms that my race shape is getting better and better each weekend,” said Nishikawa. “I’ve been feeling strong here this week, and was happy with how my body responded to racing at altitude.  It is a pretty hard course in that you are working the whole time, and there is not much rest.  I wanted to ski a consistent race and focus on smooth technique. I feel like I did a good job of that today.”

Diggins started last in the field of 60 and chased the leaders all the way in her typical all-out style. She started out the splits in fourth and fifth, before dropping into a large group through the midway section race – and falling as low as eighth – before moving steadily up in the final few kilometers.

“My plan was to ski smooth and as evenly as I could,” she added, “and although I don’t think I did it perfectly, it was much better than years past. It was an exciting race being so close in time to the girls around me and I was happy to have my best ever finish at this venue!”

The finish moved her up from ninth to seventh in the FIS Cross Country women’s overall rankings.

Results here.