January 06, 2015 (Val Müstair, Switzerland) – The USA’s Sophie Caldwell logged a strong 7th as Marit Bjoergen (NOR) secured another victory today in the women’s 1.4km FR Sprint in Val Müstair, Switzerland on stage three of the 2015 FIS Tour de Ski, matching her top qualification result.

Bjoergen wins at Val Mustair © Nordic Focus

Caldwell, starting to look like her old self following her injuries, matched her qualification result as three of her teammates made the heats as well – Sadie Bjornsen qualified 12th, Kikkan Randall was 13th, and Jessie Diggins placed 26th.

Sophie Caldwell (USA) © Nordic Focus

In her quarterfinal, Caldwell won a tight race with Italy’s Gaia Vuerich (ITA), while Randall squeaked into the semifinals as the Lucky Loser after finishing third in her quarter behind Heidi Weng (NOR) and Maiken Caspersen Falla (FIN). Both Diggins (5th) and Bjornsen (3rd) did not advance.

(l) Sadie Bjornsen (USA) settled for third in her heat © Nordic Focus

Caldwell just missed out on making the final as she finished third in her semifinal which was the slower of the two heats ending up 7th on the day. Randall, who won here last year, looked smooth in her quarterfinal but did not have the same zip and wound up fifth in her semi, ending up 10th overall.

“I was really happy with how my day ended up today. I was a little tired waking up this morning, but I made a plan for how I wanted to ski my qualifier and I executed it well. It definitely have me a boost of confidence to qualify in 7th. In my quarter I stayed near the front of the pack to avoid crashes, but my strength was the downhill and the finish. Unfortunately my semi wasn’t fast enough to be lucky loser, but I was extremely happy with the day,” Caldwell told Trax.

Kikkan Randall (USA) © Nordic Focus

The team was quickly en route to Toblach Italy for the next stage and Randall sent the following comments on the day while in the van…

“It was fun to return to Val Müstair where I had a great performance 2 years ago.  We didn’t get to compete under the lights this time but it was sunny and beautiful and the local organizer put on another great event. The course was completely man made snow which made for some icy corners and the two lap course was quite challenging.  We had great skis today after spending quite a bit of time on careful testing.

“When I crossed the finish line of the qualifier the announcer first called that I was outside of the top 30.  That came as a complete shock because while I hadn’t felt amazing, I had at least been solid.  After a few seconds he corrected his call and put me in 9th.  I slipped a few spots but ended up qualifying 13th.  I was happy enough with that.

“I landed in the 5th quarterfinal with a couple Norwegians.  They set a hard pace the whole heat and I did my best to stay in close.  I tried to come out of the draft off the final turn but didn’t put together a great final sprint finishing in 3rd.   Thankfully it was good enough for lucky loser.

“In the semi I again chased after Norwegians.  The pace was aggressive.  I tried to move myself up in the pack on the step climb but didn’t have the gears to make any progress.  I was trailing 3rd and 4th off the downhill but again couldn’t make a dent in the final stretch.  5th in my heat meant I was out, the girls just ahead of me advanced to the final as lucky losers.  It was at least nice to be close to advancing.

“Still haven’t quite found all my gears yet but it’s good to keep getting in hard efforts and inching my way back to top form.

In a primarily Norwegian final, Bjoergen dominated her teammates. She was followed by Weng in second and Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg (NOR) in third for a podium sweep. Stina Nilsson (SWE), the only non-Norwegian in the heat, finished fourth, followed by Falla in fifth.

Bjoergen now leads the TdS overall standings by +1.11.2 ahead of second place, Weng, and third place, Therese Johaug (NOR).

Qualifications here
Final results here