December 28, 2013 (Oberhof, GER) – The USA’s Jessie Diggins in 5th and Sophie Caldwell in 9th delivered solid top-10 performances in the women’s 3km Prologue FR as the 8th annual Tour de Ski got underway in Oberhof, Germany amidst some controversy as Norway’s Norway’s Marit Bjoergen took the win.

The controversy surrounded the no-show of  Justyna Kowalcyzk (POL), the four-time defending Tour de Ski champ, who withdrew from the Tour in protest over the format changes, which saw the originally planned 9/15km CL Pursuit on Day 2 replaced with a skate sprint, as organizers in Oberhof battled with warm weather conditions.

Kowalcyzk is strongest in classic and felt her efforts to perform well again at the Tour were now compromised and the Polish camp decided to head to the mountains to train for the rest of the World Cup races and the Sochi Games. “Yes, we withdrew. We’ll go to training camp somewhere in the mountains, just looking for a good place,” said Sport.pl women’s coach Alexander Wierietelny – read more here.

While the anticipated match up between Kowalcyzk and Bjoergen is now on hold, perhaps making for a less exciting Tour this year, the battle for Tour supremacy looks like it’ll be with Therese Johaug also from Norway who finished 11th today. But Astrid Jacobsen, who was second on the podium today is perhaps a new challenger for the throne… read her inspiring recap of her training trip to Alaska in July here. Poland’s Sylwia Jaskowlec claimed the bronze.

Unphased by these events Diggins brought her race face to the line today and dialed in a solid performance putting her in the hot seat with a stellar run. She eventually finishe 5th on the day which was a far cry from her debut Tour last year and signals that the Afton, MN skier is feeling good.

Diggins Interview

“It was a great day for our team and about 100% better than last year when I was coming off of being sick and fell during my race. The conditions were challenging but I was really psyched with my Salomon boards and our techs just nailed it. My pacing went well and it’s really good to start the Tour off on a really good note,” Diggins told Trax post race.

“This year I’ve got more experience and knew the venue and how the Tour goes and what the body needs for nurtition and recovery is a huge help. The fact that Liz and Holly have done the Tour as well is a big help to Sophie and I… we’re definitely missing the other team members but we’re all keeping in touch and we still like one big family and team together,” she added.

For Caldwell it another superb result for the TdS neophyte but she’s taking it all in stride and continues to turn heads as she skis like a verteran at her first Tour de Ski.

“We had great skis today, mine felt really fast. I didn’t have much of a strategy going into today other than trying to ski relaxed and try to pace myself well. I think if you’re able to pace relatively well in a Prologue, you can set yourself up for a good race because it’s so easy to do the opposite.

“It’s a distance we don’t race often and it’s kind of in between a distance race and a sprint race so people are always going out and blowing up or finishing and feeling like they didn’t go hard enough. If you can finish feeling somewhere in between, chances are that you’ll have a decent race! My result today exceeded any expectations I had, so I’m really happy with my first Tour experience so far! It’s a fun atmosphere and things are about to start getting really busy,” Caldwell shared with Trax post-race.

For the Team Canada Dasha Gaiazova placed 37th and Perianne Jones was 47th as they begin their TdS journey not realizing that the men’s team would soon make history with Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw going 1-2 in the men’s Prologue.

“It was a great day for our women,” commented US Head Coach Chris Grover. “And an awesome day for the Canadian men as well. The girls are on top of their game and the Prologue distance isn’t and easy one so it’s great to see such solid execution.”

Full results here.