February 16, 2019 (Cogne, ITA) – USA star, Jessie Diggins, claimed a stellar win taking home her first World Cup Sprint victory on Saturday as she chased down Germany’s Sandra Ringwald in the finishing straight and out-lunged her for the win in Cogne, Italy.

Sweden’s Johanna Hagstroem was third while Sadie Bjornsen also made the final finishing 5th. Fellow American Julia Kern posted a career-best World Cup result finishing 11th.

Diggins advanced through the quarterfinal and the semi-final heats in the lucky loser position to advance to the finals. “It was really fun to earn my first sprint victory in the sunshine and beautiful mountains! The atmosphere here was incredible, and today was a good reminder for myself that it’s never over until you cross the finish line – man I’m glad they do lucky loser.  Honestly, there have been lots of ups and downs this year but you have to believe in yourself.

“Today my focus was on skiing strong and smart, looking for places to make my move and trying to finish the race strong as it was a long course at high altitude and hot sun! It’s a great confidence boost to know I’m in good shape as we are less than a week out from the World Champs. Huge thanks to our hardworking staff for getting us some great skis, and I’m super proud of our team as we really showed our depth today with 10 skiers qualifying for the heats,” said Diggins.

“I was really thrilled to have finished fifth today,” said Bjornsen. “After a long camp of solid training in Davos, (Switzerland)  it feels good to know my plan to ‘focus my top form on the Championships’ is working out. Any time I make a sprint final means I’m in a place to fight for the podium. A few more days of sharpening up and a mind that is ready to dig even deeper is exactly what I was dreaming of for this time of year.”

For rookie Kern it was as good as it gets. “Cogne it absolutely beautiful! The course is in in a sloped open area that is surrounded by mountains towering in all directions. The snow was fairly slow for the qualifier since the sun hadn’t come around the mountain yet, but it sped up quite a bit after the sun hit all of the course for the heats.

“The course was challenging with a long sustained climb out of the start that lasted 1.5- 2 minutes and then a long downhill which we had to tuck skate a lot of. It was a long course (1.6km) and at altitude, so it skied a lot harder than a normal sprint. My skis felt good, the staff was working really hard to give us the best possible skis.

“The fans were absolutely amazing! There were so many people out cheering, including some Americans, and we were getting loud cheers from all around. This has been one of the best crowds I have seen in the World Cups I have done.

“I had watched the first three heats on the jumbotron before my quarterfinal to see what tactics were working. My teammates who had already skied their heat and our staff noticed that you didn’t want to get stuck near the back since people were getting boxed in. I had last lane choice so I was in the back at the start, but quickly made a move to the front since I wanted to push the pace and put myself in a good position. I skied to the front and sent it as hard as I could, but definitely got a little tired by the end from the leading the whole heat. I was very excited to hold on to second in the lunge and move on to the semi finals for my first time ever.

“I burned a lot of matches leading and pushing the pace in the quarterfinal so my legs and lungs were pretty blown going into the semi. I tried to hang on but got slightly gapped at the top of the hill and lost the draft and couldn’t ski my way back into it,” Kern concluded.

Sophie Caldwell (USA) was 17th, Ida Sargent (USA) was 24th, Rosie Brennan (USA) placed 27th, Kelsey Phinney (USA) was 33rd, and Dahria Beatty was the top Canuck in 38th. Cendrine Browne (Can) was 48th, while Maya Macisaac-Jones (Can) was 49th, and Katherine Stewart-Jones (Can) finished 51st.

The women have one final classic distance race in Cogne before heading to the World Championships in Seefeld, Austria, Monday.

Results here.