February 19, 2017 (Otepaa, Estonia) – Jessie Diggins claimed a fab 5th in the women’s 1.3km free technique sprint and Kikkan Randall signaled she’s back qualifying third and finishing 9th as Stina Nilsson of Sweden toppled Norway’s Maiken Caspersen Falla for the win on Saturday. Fellow Norge Heidi Weng was third.

“I had awesome skis and my body is feeling like it knows something big is coming up next week! I was feeling tired in my legs coming into today but every time I skied they felt better and better! It was a good confidence-building day to see where my fitness is at and know that my training plan has been working out,” said Diggins.

One of the key stories of the day was the continued emergence of Randall who skied aggressively and made moves in both the quarter finals and semifinals towards the lead.

“I was pleasantly surprised with the fast qualifier position today,” said Randall. “I felt good, but not exceptional during my race. To be able to lay down a fast qualifier like that gives me confidence that I’ve made it one step closer to the kind of race form I had when I was contending for wins and podiums in every skate sprint.”

Sophie Caldwell qualified just behind Randall in fourth, with Ida Sargent 10th, Diggins 12th and Sadie Bjornsen 25th. “The final results were solid, but what we really take away from today as we head into World Championships is confidence,” said Coach Matt Whitcomb. “We qualified very fast today.”

In the quarterfinals, Caldwell opened with a strong heat, making a big move on the downhill into the stadium, then taking second with a perfectly timed lunge to advance and ended up 10th. Showing confidence from her PyeongChang podium two weeks ago, Sargent skied strong, battling elbow to elbow, but just missed making it to semis finishing 13th.

In Randall’s quarterfinal, she skied aggressively, looking like her World Cup title form of three years ago. Coming into the stadium, Randall, standing third, made a tactical move to cut inside on a corner with sufficient momentum that would have carried her into the lead. But she was pinched down and lost speed to finish third and just outside the Lucky Loser position. She caught a break when officials relegated heat winner Natalia Matveeva to last on an obstruction charge, bumping Randall into second and on to the semifinals.

Diggins had full command of her heat from start to finish, save a short segment when she fell in behind Sweden’s Ida Ingemarsdotter, before taking the lead back and winning handily.

Diggins and Randall were both in the second semifinal heat – an aggressive battle from start to finish. Diggins took on Norway’s Weng and Sweden’s Hanna Falk in a heated battle, with Randall right in the mix. Around 200 meters from the finish, Randall got caught up in the battle and went down. Diggins went on to win by over a second.

“I was definitely bummed have missed out on the chance to test myself against the best in the final today, but I am really encouraged with how I felt all day” Randall said. “Right after Jessie passed me I was taking the inside line into the corner and then lost my balance on an ice patch and my weight went out the back. Thought I almost saved it for a split second and then my skis came out from under me.  It was totally my fault but a real bummer. I was feeling strong and ready to be in the final.”

Coming out of an intense battle in the second heat of semis, Diggins had little time to recover and was not able to match the pace set by race winner Nilsson of Norway.

“In the final I struggled with my technique on that steep headwall since it required a totally different kind of climbing and I had burned quite a bit of gas doing some leading early on in the day to ensure a place in the final. Luckily for me the course next week in Lahti suits my strengths and I’m really looking forward to racing there,” said Diggins.

“Jessie carried the flag for us into the finals after skiing two very impressive rounds,” added Whitcomb. “But at the end of the day didn’t quite have the giddy-up on the last climb, which was deep and steep.

Qualifications here.
Results here.