March 02, 2019 (Seefeld, Austria) – The USA’s Jessie Diggins was in the medal hunt from the get-go and finished a fab 4th in the women’s 30km FR Mass Start won by Therese Johaug (Nor) who claimed her 3rd title at the 2019 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Seefeld, Austria.

Americans Sadie Bjornsen and Rosie Brennan finished 15th and 16th respectively while Canada’s Katherine Stewart-Jones had the race of her life delivering a career-best 28th result.

The podium was decided on the final lap as Ingvild Flugstad Ostberg (Nor) and 19-year-old Frida Karlsson of Sweden duked it out with the Norwegian finally gapping her rival on the last downhill into the stadium for the silver.

“That was really fun and we had some of the best skis out there,” said Diggins. “I went to the front to take the lead as I could see that the chase group was starting to make time. I started working there and was steadily pinning it at the max I could sustain. I was working with Ingvild which was fun, but she started to go, and my body said nope, as I was struggling a bit with cramping.”

“When Ingvild started to go, my body said nope, as I was struggling a bit with cramping,” continued Diggins. “I was trying to ski as technically well as I could at about 2k to go and put all my energy into the snow. I was thinking I have got to make it to the finish line. When I crossed the finish line it was such a good feeling because I know I couldn’t have given it anything else.”

Post-race Interview with Jessie Diggins

“It was a ferocious and fun way to end the Championships today. After focusing the majority of my season on this week, I didn’t feel like I had much to show for it. So I decided to take on the 30k with no expectations other than to try to find some “fight”. With a wicked hot pace from the start, I was able to hang for about 7k, and then I mentally hit a wall,” said Bjornsen. “I finally made it back into a good place, and found good company skiing with Sedova. Looking back, I wish I would have pushed the pace more rather than settling into position with her. I felt great on my skis and have some great memories from this week here. I didn’t reach the goals I was hoping for, but there are three more weeks left of this season to find the best physical and mental version of myself. Thanks for all the cheers throughout these Championships!

“It was a day for toughness out there,” said Brennan. “We started out at a very fast clip and with some fatigue from a week of racing, I was not feeling like I could sustain that pace for 30k. I settled back and found a good group of girls to race with and things slowly turned around. We were able to pick up a few people that faded from the group in front and I was able to have a strong sprint finish. I am really proud of my finish, but wish I had it in me to stick with the group in front.”

It was Stewart-Jones first top-30. “I’m super stoked to get my first top-30 finish and surprised to get it in the 30-kilometre skate,” said the 23-year-old Canadian. “My strategy was just to try and stay in a pack from the start because I knew it would be really hard to ski alone,” added Stewart-Jones, who also skied a strong opening leg on Thursday’s 4×5 kilometre relay. “I ended up drifting back during the race, but when I switched skis at 18.75 kilometres I felt a lot more relaxed and was able to gain back some positions. It is really satisfying to end the week this way. The other two individual distance races at World Champs have been pretty disappointing so if feels great to finish with a strong performance.”

The USA’s Caitlin Patterson finished 34th, Emily Nishikawa (Can) was 39th, Dahria Beatty (Can) finished 41st and Canada’s Cendrine Browne skied to 46th spot.

Results here.