March 17, 2013 (Oslo, Norway) – The USA’s Liz Stephen dug deep for a spectacular day in the famed Holmenkollen placing 9th in women’s 30km FR for her first top-10 result at this distance. Therese Johaug was on fire again giving local fans a memorable day with a superb performance to claim gold with a 46.6-second margin over Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) in second with Russia’s Yulia Tchekaleva in third.

Therese Johaug (NOR) celebrates her win © Nordic Focus

The race started under overcast skies and a temperature of 2 degrees C with Johaug leading at the front and Kowalczyk close behind. Stephen quickly manoeuvred herself to the front as well. At around 8km Johaug decided to stretch her legs and broke the race wide open quickly distancing herself from Kowalczyk with a 15-second margin that became 27s by the 10km mark.

Behind Kowalczyk was on her own realizing she didn’t have the fight in her and at the 11.8km mark she was 48s down and soon to be caught by Charlotte Kalle (SWE) along with Stephen and four others as a 6-strong chase group formed behind Johaug.

Liz Stephen (USA) nails a PB 9th in women's 30km FR © Nordic Focus

At 13.3km Johaug changed skis but Stephen, Kristen Stormer Steira (NOR), Nicole Fessel (GER) and France’s Anouk Picon kept going and closed the gap to 24s, whereas Kowalczyk, Kalla and the others all changed skis. But Johaug was in charge and continued to expand her lead over Stephen’s group as Kowalczyk and Japan’s Masako Ishida along with Heidi Weng (NOR) lead the charge back.

At 16.3km the gap to Steira at the front of the chase pack was up to 54s as fans screamed wildly for Johaug while Kowalczyk’s group of five skiers were now only 16s back from the lead chase group. Around the 18.3km mark the four lead chasers were caught and now nine skiers advanced on Johaug who showed no signs of tiring.

Diggins at the front of her group... © Nordic Focus

Meanwhile top Swede Kalla was struggling and dropped back to lead a second chase group another 20s back. Then Fessel ran into trouble as she had to change skis at 21.6km while Johaug and the others pressed on.

Behind the USA’s Jessie Diggins and Holly Brooks kept fighting in the 30s as Canada’s Perianne Jones was having a rough day and joined some of the skiers who abandoned.

Brooks (l) and Diggins en route... © Nordic Focus

As Johaug kept the pressure on the chase group was whittled down to six with Stephen taking her turn at the front as Kowalczyk planned her attack just before the final Helmenbakken climb. At the 26.6km mark she moved to the front and was gone with a 10-second gap leaving the remaining group to fight for third.

Rising to the occasion was Tchekaleva as Weng tried to contain her while Stephen was nearly spent with Ishida and Steira also struggling. At less than 1km to go the Russian was looking strong for third.

Final women's 30km FR podium (l-r) Kowalczyk 2nd, Johaug 1st, Tchekaleva 3rd © Nordic Focus

As the finish approached Johaug grabbed a Norwegian flag, albeit what seemed a bit too early with 500m to go, as she crossed the final roller bridge into a sea of screaming fans for another huge win and an audience with the King, while Kowalczyk took the silver and Tchekaleva held on for the bronze.

Stephen gave up a bit of ground near the end to finish a stellar 9th for a remarkable day and a personal best result while Diggins also earned her best 30km result landing in the points to finish 30th. Holly Brooks sailed in soon after in 35th as the American camp was once again proud of their skiers in one of the sport’s most renowned settings.

“Yep, this is a PB for world cup 30kms (it’s also only my second one, so that makes a personal best a little easier to get!),” commented Diggins post-race. “My goals were to have fun and stay relaxed – in the spring world Cups the field is SO tough and the pace is hard from the get-go, I wanted to not worry about the field stringing out and not bury myself in the first lap. But I also wanted to enjoy the Holmenkollen experience, because it’s really one of a kind. There’s thousands of fans camped out along the course, all cheering and screaming. It’s so awesome!

“I lost the most time between 5km and 15km, but in that stretch I switched to a faster pair of skis, got with a group of two other skiers, and we worked together the rest of the race. It was super cool – we traded pulls and stayed at a really good pace.
I was psyched to get a point in a 30km race – I’m happy with the result and mostly psyched that I was able to have fun out there and truly enjoy the experience.”

While happy overall Coach Matt Whitcomb conceded that the decision to not to change skis at 13.3km came back to haunt Stephen near the end and  may have even have cost her podium. “It was a great day for Liz in many ways. She’s in top form and skiing well…but in other ways it was a bit disappointing as her body was capable of a podium but near the end her skis weren’t.

“In hindsight she’d like to have made a ski change at 13km but she took a chance and thought she could do it on one pair of boards today… overall we’re happy with 9th. Her confidence has taken a step forward and she’s made a nice jump this year. Diggins also had a good day… she’s been a little tired with distance racing and today was intended to enjoy herself at the special Holmenkollen venue. She worked hard to finish in the points and I’m proud of her performance today.”

Full results HERE.