Tales from the Tour

After the Tour de Ski ended, the only emotion I felt more than fatigue was overwhelming happiness! It felt so good to be done with the challenge of mentally and physically racing your hardest each day, but it also felt so good to have accomplished some big, big goals of mine and the team’s. This year we had more Tour finishers than ever, with 7 healthy athletes crossing that red line in the snow on top of Alpe Cermis. We had 2 stage wins, and a lot of PR’s in the overall Tour. I was happier than a bluebird with a french fry to have made one of my big goals for the season in finishing top-10 in the tour, and to have my first World Cup win on top of that feels like the icing on the cake. Here are some of my notes from each stage of the tour…what I was feeling, what it felt like to win the first modern distance World Cup for American women in cross country, and some of the fun things we did as a team throughout the Tour.

Celebrating my first World Cup individual win! (Photo credit GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images)

Lenzerheide, Switzerland:

We arrived in the little town of Tiefencastel, Switzerland, about 10 minutes away from the venue in Lenzerheide. The day before the race we tried to take it as easy as possible, saving up our energy for the next 10 days. After all, we’d need it! Noah, Ida and I went for a little walk around town, exploring this beautiful old church on top of a hill with cobblestone streets leading up to the old iron fence. A lot of buildings in Europe have beautifully painted murals on the outside walls, and I love looking at them!

The cool old church in Tiefencastel.

Opening Ceremony march in!

Rosie and I excited to get the Tour rolling!

The tour kicked off with a skate sprint, and it was an exciting day for us with 6 qualifying; Sophie, Me, Sadie, Andy and Simi. Sophie, Sadie and I went on to make the semifinals, and Soph went all the way to the final round! I was really happy with my sprint day. It’s been a big goal of mine this year to learn how to make decisive, smart passes and moves in a sprint heat without getting pushed around or stepped on, and of course without stepping on anyone else! I felt that I did that in my quarter, making clean but smart moves to win the heat and advance to the semis. In my semifinal I got tired on the second time up the hill, and although I got my energy back in time for the final 200 meters, there just wasn’t a window for me to pass through, and I finished 9th on the day.

Racing with Sadie in the mass start! (Photo credit: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images)

The men’s 30km classic mass start (Photo credit FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images)

The 15km classic mass start was probably my second best classic race of my career! I was just thrilled. My skis were fast and had perfect kick, and I thrive on those long gradual climbs where you can just kick and glide like you’re in a postcard. My plan for the race was to get off to a fast start, because I wanted to stay clear of the mass start chaos, and from there I just settled into a rhythm and kept pushing my body to stay as close to the group in front of me as I could manage!

The final race in Lenzerheide, stage 3, was a pursuit start 5km skate. They added up the time back from the leader of the race for the previous two stages, plus an bonus seconds you had won in the bonus sprint of the 15km classic and from the sprint race finishes. Then you started the race however many seconds back from the leader, and your place when you cross the finish line is your place in the overall tour (no time of day places were awarded). I started 5 seconds back from Sadie, with Krista Parmakoski (Finland) 7 seconds back from me, and I caught Sadie right before Krista caught us both. Then Krista and I traded leads for the rest of the race, pushing the pace and working really well together. She was so much fun to ski with! I took the lead into the final downhill, and I felt confident that I would win the sprint-out at the end, but rounding the final corner I hit an ice patch that I knew was there but somehow couldn’t avoid, and skidded out wide, just managing to stay on my feet! I lost the best line and finished 8th on the day, with Sades right behind me in 9th. It was so exciting to have two Americans in the top-10 after 3 stages!

Jessica Diggins of US competes ahead of her compatriot Sadie Bjornsen during the women’s 5 km Free Pursuit race during the Tour de Ski event on January 3, 2016 in Lenzerheide. (Photo credit: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images)

Finish line hugs with Sadie! (Photo credit: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images)

Oberstdorf, Germany:

That night of the 5km skate, we drove to Oberstdorf, Germany. The following day was one of our two rest days on the tour, and everyone approached the rest day differently. Some skied at the venue, and most who skied spent time testing race skis for the next day. Some went for a jog, and some a walk. Some did some light intensity to keep the body rolling. The trick was to pick what you thought your body needed, and then be confident in going with it! We also kept up on our body care, courtesy of the very hard-working Zuzana Rogers and Meg Parker. They volunteered their time to come help us out and worked so hard each day to keep our bodies working after each hard race!

The classic sprint day in Oberstdorf is going down in history, for sure! I was just so thrilled for Sophie, proud of her, and happy for such a wonderful person winning her first ever World Cup! She was also the first US woman to win a classic sprint (our team is getting such a kick out of having the chance to write the history books!) and she skied such a smooth, smart and powerful sprint final. Watching it, I just knew she was going to get on the podium, and Ida, Cork and I were all in a state of severe anxiety watching those last 50 meters. We were hopping up and down, biting our gloves and I’m sure Ida and I were making weird noises of excitement and nerves as we watched Soph throw down an excellent lunge into first place. I’m so proud of my US and SMST2 teammate, and she deserves every single bit of praise for her amazing race!

Ida, Sophie and I just thrilled with Sophie’s awesome win!

My race, personally, was a mixed bag, and a dramatic day! I had my best classic sprint ever, qualifying in 11th…without a pole basket! Right out of the start gate in the qualifier I felt like my right arm was sinking unusually deep into the snow, and I glanced down and noticed that my pole basket had come off in the deep slush! I just though “well, shoot, I’d better lay down the best race I possibly can now, because it’ll take a miracle for me to qualify!” so I powered through it and ended up with the best classic sprint qualifier in my life. Funny how that works sometimes. Racing like I have nothing to lose can sometimes make me race better than when I feel I actually have something to lose. In the sprint heats, I felt great in my quarterfinal. I moved into first place over the top of the first big hill into the downhill, and although there was a deep slushy left hand corner coming up, I had practiced bombing down it in warmup and wasn’t scared. However, it didn’t matter if I was ready for that downhill…nobody else in my heat was. The Swedish girl behind me busted into a snowplow and when she fell, she swiped her ski tip across the back of my skis and took me out from behind. I curled into a ball after I fell, trying not to take anyone else out and mess up their race, but the damage to my own day was done. I was really disappointed, not going to lie. It sucks when you feel great and you’re ready to move on to the next round, and someone else crashes into you. There’s nothing you can do, though, because that’s sprint racing! I moved on with my cool down, cheered on Soph, and got ready for the next day.

Racing up the first hill in my quarterfinal (photo by Marcel Hilger)

Well…that happened! Right before Hanna took me down.

The following day I was feeling a little bit like “hey, wait, why do we have to race today? Can’t we get a day to celebrate and gush over Sophie’s win?” but the Tour de Ski never stops moving. We had a mass start 10km classic, and it wasn’t a super amazing day for me. I felt great physically, but it was tricky trying to nail the balance between great glide and enough kick wax, and I made the mistake of not asking for enough kick. I ended up doing a lot of slipping on the climbs, and while I was frustrated by that, I kept my head in the game and kept fighting for every second I could get. I also had a chance to ski the downhills and corners the way I knew I could, so that was a little bit of redemption for me!

Toblach, Italy:

The 5km individual skate race in Toblach was one of the best races of my career. I just love those individual start races, because there’s no tactics, no games, no strategy other than just going out there and skiing your heart out. And my goal was to do just that – leave every ounce of energy I had out on that course and ski every inch of it as well as I possibly could. I knew it was a course designed for me, because of all the V2 sections and those winding downhill sections where you could either sit in a tuck, or continue skating and working the downhill and keep looking for the best line around every corner. I was an earlier starter, so I wasn’t getting splits on the other top 5 girls in the race…they were getting splits on me. But to me, that didn’t matter, because I was going to ski as hard as I possibly could anyways! A split wouldn’t change my effort or energy output in a 5km race. What did help a ton was all the crazy excited cheering that was coming from the woods. My teammates that were retiring from the Tour to save energy for the sprint weekend in Slovenia (Sophie, Ida, Simi and Andy) were all out there yelling and freaking out. The coaches were jumping up and down. It was such a boost of adrenaline every time I heard them!

Cartoon by Thomas Zipfel!

I also had a really great morning testing skis with Jason Cork, my tech and my personal coach for the last 6 years. He and I have worked together for so long now that we just have our little system nailed down. He knows when I start making bad jokes and dancing to the stadium music that I’m in my happy place, and I’m ready to go crush a race. The day before, our off day from racing, I had the most fun skiing around with him and testing skis. I remember saying “Wow! You know what? I just really LOVE skiing!” I was having fun, and when I’m happy like that, that’s when I tend to ski my best. I got into this whole thing for the love of the sport, and that’s what keeps me in it (that, and being part of such a fun, dynamic team).

The biggest hug ever for Jason Cork, my coach and tech (photo from Caitlin)

Podium girls! (photo credit Salomon/Nordic Focus)

So, what did the win mean for us? Distance skiing for the US cross country women had remained a barrier that we hadn’t yet broken down. In 1978, Alison Owen-Spencer won a World Cup distance skate race in Telemark, Wisconsin. FIS called it a “test event”, but you know what? She was racing against the best in the World, and she won, so who cares what they call it – in my opinion, it counts! Since then, no American woman had won a distance world cup event, until last week. We are always standing on the shoulders of the pioneers in sport that worked so hard before us. And yes, while I was the one who skied the race and attacked every inch of the course, there is a huge support team of people that have attacked every other aspect of the race, making sure it was possible for me to have the best skis, the best training, the best teammates, and opportunity to win. Nobody ever accomplishes anything alone. It’s impossible. You always need a team, and I’m so lucky to be a part of the most supportive team I could ever hope for! So this win, this distance breakthrough, doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to about a thousand different people, all working hard to keep skiing in the US moving forward. So thanks so much everyone for all the cheering and kind notes! More photos from the day can be found here: http://fasterskier.com/blog/article/diggins-diggins-diggins-a-photo-gallery/

Me, having a moment. (photo credit Salomon/Nordic Focus)

I was so excited about this win because it not only proved to myself that I am capable of skiing with the best in the World, but that every little kid growing up in the US is, too. Because I’m not a special person. I’m not the strongest, and I don’t have crazy raw speed or talent. I don’t always make great tactical decisions, and my technique has a long way to go. But I ski with a lot of heart, and I know how to push my body as far as it will go, and then a little farther. I grew up skiing in the Minnesota Youth Ski League club, and I raced with my high school team in Stillwater. I didn’t do anything crazy or special, just loved to ski with my friends. So if I can do it, you can, too! And that’s the best message I can possibly send home…that it’s possible for young skiers in the US to keep dreaming those impossibly big dreams, because they’re coming true right now.

Val di Fiemme, Italy:

The last 2 stages of the tour! We are so close! Driving to Predazzo, the town we always stay in and only 15 minutes away from the venue, we saw the alpine hill on Alpe Cermis and my stomach twisted itself into a little knot. The first race in Val di Fiemme was another mass start 10km classic, and it was another exceedingly tricky wax day. Skis were icing up, and slowing down, and it was another day for me where I felt pretty frustrated, because I didn’t have the skis I needed to compete as well as I knew I could in that field. But that happens sometimes, and the best way to deal with it is to not get hung up on it but to look forward to the next race, and learn what you can from it!

Course profile for the climb. Yikes.

The final climb is just one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen. It’s so, so hard. The course profile is ridiculous and makes me laugh every time I see it. And one section of the climb is 28% grade! I’m pretty used to crawling deep into the pain cave. Pretty sure there’s a prickly little lawn chair in the back with my name on it. But in Sunday’s hill climb, I pushed myself harder than I ever have before. I was seeing stars long before I collapsed after the finish line. I physically couldn’t lift myself off the snow for 5 minutes after the race, and I was in a haze for the next 30 minutes. I’m actually pretty certain that if the finish line was another 200 meters up the hill, I might not have made it. I think my body was just really tired, but I kept denying it and forcing my brain to energize my body for that last race of the Tour because I wanted to hang onto that top-10 so badly! So I put my head down, and on the flats before the climb I caught up to Mononen, another Finnish skier. We worked together the next few kilometers before she dropped me on the climb, and I somehow got my head to keep my legs moving forward. It was the biggest relief to be finished with the Tour – as much as I love ski racing, it can really take a toll on your body when you’re waking up nervous to race every day. Food didn’t taste good after stage 3, and my body was wearing down, but that’s just a part of Tour racing…finding ways to recover and keep moving forward is just as important as the racing itself! And now…we’re done!

This is exactly how I felt after the hill climb. (image found on memes.com)

Caitlin, Liz, Me, Sadie and Rosie – the girls tour finishers! (photo from Zuzana)

Zuzana and I after the hill climb, cheering for the boys.

Giving Sadie a congratulatory kiss for her first full Tour de Ski.

We got the biggest laugh ever from a little statue re-arranging we did in Val di Fiemme. The roundabout right in front of the venue has all these cross country skiers painted with the flags of different countries. And we were outraged to see the US skier off the back of the pack! WHAT?!? What is this nonsense? So after the 10km classic, Caitlin and I jumped out of the van while Liz drove in circles around the roundabout with the whole van laughing as Caitlin and I proceeded to unhook the American skier and run with it to the front of the pack, where we planted it. Italians were honking and laughing and cheering us on as we did it. We later realized a cop car was also watching us (and cheering us on).

Leading the pack!

My other fun little moment came after the Tour finished. We stayed on the hill to cheer for the boys, and while we were waiting I made friends with the cutest little Italian baby girl in the whole world. Her mom wanted me to hold her for a photo, and she translated that the little girl wanted to stay with me and cheer. It was pretty awesome.

Getting a high-five from the cutest little Italian baby. (photo from Zuzana)

Cheering on the boys in the most brutal race ever.

All in all, I was so happy with my Tour de Ski. Especially in a year with 15km more classic than skate, I was proud of myself for getting my head wrapped around classic racing (in the nick of time!) and keeping my head in the game day after day. One of my biggest goals for the year was to be consistent in all forms of racing – classic, skate, sprint and distance – so to have a 10th place in the Tour feels like validation for all of the hard work we’ve been doing for years!

It felt so great to finally finish the tour with my teammates and now we’re having a great recovery and training camp in Seiser Alm, Italy. More details from one of my favorite places on earth coming soon!

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