January 01, 2019 (Val Mustair, SUI) – The USA’s Sophie Caldwell and Jessie Diggins landed on the final podium tied for second in the women’s 1.4km FR Sprint on Stage 3 of the Tour de Ski at Val Mustair, Switzerland as Diggins secured the overall race lead making history yet again. Sweden’s Stina Nilsson took the win.

The only other North American to ever wear the Tour de Ski leader’s bib is legendary Kikkan Randall who won the opening 3km FR prologue back in 2012. No Canadian has ever worn it.

“It’s so exciting to be putting on that blue leaders bib after today! We had great skis thanks to our team and it was so cool skiing with Sophie in the final! The course was really tough as it’s at altitude and a longer course, with a really steep hill in the middle, so positioning was pretty important today. I was happy with how I skied the corners and rollers today and happy to be feeling good at this stage of the Tour,” said Diggins.

Caldwell was equally ecstatic about the duo’s performance. “Today was an amazing day for our team. It was a long, hard course at altitude so it was pretty different from some of the shorter sprints we’ve been doing. My strategy in the final was to conserve as much energy as possible while maintaining good position and then give it everything I had up and over the top of the second hill while still saving a bit of legs for the downhills and sprint finish.

“It was so much fun to share the podium with Jessie and crazy how close of a photo finish it was. I think it must have come down to my Salomon boots being one size bigger than hers! We both had great skis and this course had some new downhill features like a jump and rollers that were pretty fun to work through. I’m finished with the Tour now, but I’m psyched to cheer my teammates on for the rest of it and it’s pretty awesome Jess is the leader after today,” shared Caldwell.

Sadie Bjornsen finished 13th and was hoping for more. “What an exciting day for the American Team! I wish I could have been out there participating,” said Bjornsen. “It was a near miss day for me. I made the tactical mistake of leading the heat in a strong head wind, and lost some energy when it came to the second lap. I tried as hard as I could to push the downhills, and came within striking distance of second place, only missing lucky loser by .05, which was just too close. I was happy to find better feelings in my body than two days ago, so I am really looking forward to tomorrow, and channeling some frustration into some classic racing in Germany.

Simi Hamilton (USA) was the lone North American qualifier in the 1.4km FR Men’s Sprint and did not advance past the quarterfinals ending up 13th for the day. Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo of Norway raced to victory again over Italy’s Federico Pellegrino in second with Sergey Ustiugov of Russia completing the podium in third.

Women’s results
Men’s results