March 17, 2018 (Falun, Sweden) – The USA’s Jessie Diggins finished 8th in the women’s 10km CL mass start and remains third overall with one race to go as Krista Parmakoski of Finland took the win over Marit Bjoergen (NOR) in the final 100 meters. Norway’s Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg finished third.

Sadie Bjornsen was 11th as Diggins, from Afton, Minn., is poised to become only the second American woman to finish the season ranked in the top three. Kikkan Randall (Anchorage) was third in 2013. The top Canadian was Emily Nishikawa in 36th.

“Today was an ok race for me, not my best feeling, which tells me how far I’ve come when 8th in a classic World Cup doesn’t bring the same fireworks anymore,” said Diggins. “Today I just went as hard as my body would let me and it was good to only lose 15 seconds on the winner of the day, because in a mini-tour every second counts.”

Diggins set the early pace before Bjoergen and Oestberg took control. Near the midway point, Norway’s Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen and Heidi Weng joined the leaders while Diggins dropped back with the chase pack.

Just past the halfway mark, Parmakoski moved quickly to challenge. In the final stages, Bjoergen, Oestberg and Parmakoski were in charge with Parmakoski charging past Bjoergen to take the win.

“I’m really excited for tomorrow – a pursuit style skate race is one of my favorite formats and my strategy is pretty simple. Just go chase down as many seconds as I can and race the course as fast as I can! I’ll be starting bib #3 around some awesome girls, so I’m hoping we can work together to keep us moving at a fast pace,” said Diggins.

Results here.