December 02, 2016 (Lillehammer (Norway) – American Sadie Bjornsen lit up the scoreboard topping the women’s qualifications in the CL Sprint in Lillehammer at round #2 of the FIS World Cup as four US women qualified including Jessie Diggins, Sophie Caldwell and Ida Sargent.

When the dust settled it was Heidi Weng of Norway taking her first ever World Cup victory in a sprint competition after recording 10 sprint podiums in previous World Cups. In second place for the second weekend in a row was teammate Maiken Caspersen Falla with Hanna Falk of Sweden took third. This was Falk’s first podium since Jan 2011 where she placed second in the FR Sprint in Liberec, CZE.

Diggins and Bjornsen drew the same quarter final and were eliminated finishing third and fourth respectively ending up 14th and 17th on the day. Caldwell was 5th in her heat while Sargent did not advance either finishing 6th. It was similar to their results in Ruka, Finland which was their first competition on snow.

None of the Canadian women advanced as Emily Nishikawa was the top Canuck in 62nd, Dahria Beatty was 66th and Cendrine Brown crossed the finish line in 67th.

“It was an amazing, and slightly frustrating day today. It feels incredible to be able to win a qualifier, and gives me a lot of confidence with my fitness, and my classic skiing coming back,” said Bjornsen who’s brother qualified 30th in the men’s race.

“I went into the heats with a plan to stay in the front of the group, and make a move towards the end of the race, because I was feeling strong on that final climb and finish. Unfortunately I made a bit of a tactical mistake at the beginning, and struggled to find a place to really push my strengths where I needed to.

“That is sprint racing, and you can’t ever read into anything too much, because small mistakes can have large costly prices. I learned a little something, and am already excited to channel that frustration towards day 2 of this tour! After 3 races in a row of classic skiing, I can’t wait to strap on my skate skis, and see what I can do on those big climbs of Lillehammer,” shared Bjornsen.

 

Results

Women’s 1.3km Qualifications here
Women’s 1.3km Final here
Women’s Overall here