March 21, 2016 (Craftsbury, Vermont) – Jessie Diggins of Stratton SMST2 dominated the women’s 10km Freestyle interval start at the USSA Supertour Finals in Craftsbury, Vermont, besting fellow World Cup athletes Sadie Bjornsen of APU Nordic Ski Center and guest Finnish skier Riittta Liissa Roponen by 36 seconds. Bjornsen finished just 0.5 seconds ahead of Roponen, who was another 50 seconds ahead of fourth place finisher Chelsea Holmes of APU Nordic Ski Center. “In all honesty, racing again after the Tour [Ski Tour Canada] was tough,” said Diggins, “The World Cup season took quite a lot out of me.”

Diggins, who snagged the USA’s first World Cup Stage distance win this year in Toblach, Italy at the Tour de Ski, had a ten-second lead after the first of three 3.4-kilometer laps on fast, man-made snow in northern Vermont. The race was held at one of only a few venues in the Eastern USA with any snow left after a mild winter. Despite below freezing temperatures for the last few days, the organizers were able to pull together a 3.4-kilometer loop from stockpiled snow from earlier this winter. “The volunteers and organizers here at Craftsbury have done an outstanding job preserving the snow and making a great race track that is both fun and challenging,” said Diggins.

Bjornsen decided to make the race her last for the season after a nagging sickness and shoulder injury. “Today was a challenging and fun grand finale,” she said, “I have decided to pull the plug and head back home tomorrow. When you are exhausted, it becomes a bit dangerous to race when you are sick.” Bjornsen spent the week with her parents recovering from illness after the recent Ski Tour Canada in Canmore.

Roponen came off a win most recently in the Finlandia-Hiihto World Loppet a month ago in February. The star who has five individual World Cup podiums to her name, as well as five team medals from the Olympics and World Championships, brought some international legitimacy to the race, along with Italian racer Virginia De Martin Topranin, who finished in 11th. “It brings a little bit of the World Cup charm back to the Americans, and they are both friends of our team, so it’s also fun to share ‘our world’ with them,” said Bjornsen of the two guest skiers.

Hoffman Ekes out Win over Patterson in Men’s Race

Noah Hoffman of Ski and Snowboard Club Vail took a narrow win over APU Nordic Ski Center’s Scott Patterson in the men’s 13.6km Freestyle race at the Supertour Finals winning by a mere 0.6 seconds on the four-lap course. Patrick Caldwell, skiing for Stratton SMST2 was 11.4 seconds behind in third, despite skiing most of his final lap with a snapped-off pole tip. “I was pretty surprised to find out I’d won the race,” said Hoffman, who didn’t take the lead until the final split, “I didn’t feel like I executed that well, I went out too hard, so that added to my surprise.”

Patterson led Hoffman by 5 seconds after the first lap, and had the fastest third lap as well, but faded in the final lap with only the tenth fastest time. “I got some splits near the end that made it sound like I had a bigger lead than I did,” said Patterson of Anchorage, Alaska, “Six tenths of a second – you could find it anywhere. There were a few spots where I switched to V1 earlier than I should have on a few hills. Or maybe if I had a longer leg at the finish.”

After skiing the World Cup circuit since January, Patterson said he came into the Supertour Finals feeling exhausted. “I came to Craftsbury right after Canada to hang out with my sister [today’s 7th place finisher Caitlin Patterson who skis for Craftsbury Green Racing Project]. I did some short ski jaunts, indulged at the Craftsbury dining hall, ate some desserts,” he said, “I started feeling the energy come back two days ago.”

Hoffman, the US Ski Team distance leader for the past several seasons, said he spent the preparation for Supertour Finals away from skiing, after finishing the grueling Ski Tour Canada where he finished 34th overall. “I spent the week in Boston with my title sponsor, Thoughtforms. I had a great week but you couldn’t exactly call it restful,” he said.

Caldwell, who finished up his spring term at Dartmouth College last Tuesday, said he was surprised to see his result at the finish. Caldwell, with Stratton SMST2, picked up on the Eastern NCAA Carnival Circuit in January, and last raced in mid February at the U-23 World Championships in Romania. “I did a little bit of hard running to keep the engine going,” he said of his training since his last race, over a month ago now, “There wasn’t a ton of intensity, just enough to keep the engine running.”

Despite winning the Supertour in Craftsbury at the beginning of February, Caldwell said he wasn’t sure about his shape after the first few laps. “It was definitely a shock to the system,” he said, “I got some splits that I was running in the top five. It was a shock to hear I was fighting for the podium.” Despite the broken pole, Caldwell showed the fastest final lap.

Hoffman for his part said he heard throughout his race that other skiers were skiing faster than he was. “It’s really fun to race back in the U.S. and to set a goal of winning the race as opposed to a top-20 or top-10 on the World Cup, so there’s plenty of motivation for these races,” said Hoffman of his win.

Racing continues on March 22 with the Classic Sprints.

Results here.