December 13, 2014 (Davos, Switzerland) – Norway’s Therese Johaug dominated the women’s 10 km classic in Davos with a 42-second margin over teammate Marit Bjoergen as Finland’s Kerttu Niskanen rounded out the podium in third.The USA’s Liz Stephen led a trio of Americans in the points finishing 20th as Jessie Diggins was 21st and Sadie Bjornsen followed in 22nd. The big story from the Canadian camp was Emily Nishikawa, of Whitehorse, 25, who earned her first World Cup points with a career-best race finishing 29th.

Women's podium (l-r) Bjoergen, Johaug, Niskanen © Nordic Focus

Despite tough weather conditions organizers ralleyed with a massive effort bringing truckloads of snow from the nearby Fluela pass to stage the event. Due to the lack of snow the 15/30 km interval start classic races were reduced to 10/15 km.

“The conditions were great, especially when you consider that on Monday the stadium had green grass,” said Stephen. “The course is a challenging one for me with lots of double pole and kick double pole and gradual terrain. Therese’s win is even more impressive on a course like this one as it really does not suit her strengths and she killed everyone. Quite amazing.

“I was focused on working each section the best I could and skiing aggressively and with a distinct plan and pointed motivation. I am really happy with the way I was able to set my goals and stick to achieving them in the ways I thought I could. I am happy with my top 20 finish as I have not been able to achieve too many points races here in Davos before, and never in a classic race here, so I am quite happy with today and yes, I have a sprint spot this year because of my super fast teammates so I get to start tomorrow,” she concluded.

Emily Nishikawa (CAN) © Nordic Focus

Diggins was happy with how her day ended up as well. “I paced it a little too conservatively on the first lap, but this is the first time racing here in Davos that I haven’t gone out too hard and blown up by 5km. So, I learned a lot from today that I can use going into next weekend’s 10km here on the same course. The organizers did a fantastic job getting snow on the trails, and it wasn’t even rocky! It was great skiing out there with hard tracks and great kicking.

“My skis were great, and I had awesome kick and really pushed hard on the flats and gradual downhills where I knew I could get a lot of time if I worked them well. I want to say a huge thank you to our staff and techs for working so hard to get us skis.”

Sadie Bjornsen was hoping for a better result. “Solid race, but really missed the picking of my skis, so I was struggling quite a bit. More days to come. Haven’t seen results yet, but sounds like a great day for North America! So fun to see!!! So happy for Nish! I knew this was coming for her. She has been looking amazing.”

Nishikawa, who has been on a steady development over the last two years, was skiing in the middle of the pack for the first two kilometres of the race before cranking up the pace to crack the elite top-30 for the first time in her life.

“I’m really happy to score my first ever World Cup points today,” said Nishikawa. “I’ve had a really great start to my season, and I’m just looking to build off of this and keep improving throughout the year. I’ve been feeling really strong on classic lately and I’ve felt better and better with each race.”

Justin Wadsworth, Head Coach Cross Country Canada told us, “Emily has been consistent with her classic this year, and good for her to know she can be in the points. Hopefully she can build on this for the future with some gained confidence.”

Full results here.