Nordic

Diggins Doubles Up at SuperTour Finals

by
USSA
2016-03-22 17:39
 

CRAFTSBURY, VT (March 22, 2016) – Day two of competition continued at the 2016 USSA SuperTour Finals and L.L. Bean U.S. Long Distance National Championships on Tuesday, with a 1.5k classic sprint. Jessie Diggins (Afton, MN, U.S. Ski Team/SMS T2) snagged her second win of the SuperTour Finals while Erik Bjornsen (Winthrop, WA, U.S. Ski Team/APU Nordic Ski Center) grabbed the win for the men. 

 

Women's top 3
Women’s top three: second-place finisher Ida Sargent (2); winner Jessie Diggins (1); third place Rosie Brennan (3). (Reese Brown)

 

“The atmosphere here is definitely more relaxed than a World Cup, with less pressure, which makes it just a lot of fun, and Spring Series is supposed to be fun!” said Diggins. “Again, I’m so impressed with the volunteers and organizers here at Craftsbury and they have worked hard to bring us a great race series.” 

 

Diggins started the day on top, winning the qualifiers and continued to dominate throughout the heats advancing her to the finals. 

 

“During the heats I focused on skiing smoothly and experimenting with how much kick to add (or not add),” explained Diggins. “It was a good opportunity to work on making confident wax calls in a less stressful environment.”

 

It was a strong final heat, as Diggins, Ida Sargent (Orleans, VT, U.S. Ski Team/Craftsbury GR) Rosie Brennan (Park City, UT, U.S. Ski Team/APU Nordic Ski Center) Anne Hart (Stillwater, MN, SMS T2) Sophie Caldwell (Peru, VT, U.S. Ski Team/SMS T2) and Jennie Bender (Johnson, VT Bridger Ski Foundation) battled for the podium. In the final stretch of the sprint, Diggins edged Sargent by 0.73 seconds for the win, followed by Brennan who finished third.  

 

“The final today was hard, and it felt good to dig deep,” said Diggins. “It was fun skiing in those red, white and blue SMS T2 suits again and especially awesome to have half the final with my club teammates.”  

 

Men's semi-final

Tyler Kornfield (110) leads the men’s semi-final. (Reese Brown)

After qualifying sixth in the men’s classic sprint, Bjornsen ruled his heats through to the finals. In the final heat, Bjornsen showed no sign of slowing down, as he skied to a convincing victory 1.28 seconds ahead of Reese Hanneman (Fairbanks, AK, APU Nordic Ski Center) and Logan Hanneman (Fairbanks, AK, APU Nordic Ski Center) who finished third. Bjornsen posted the fastest time of the day in the final heat, with a time of 3:02.04. 

 

Men's top 3
Men’s top three: third-place finisher Logan Hanneman (101); winner Erik Bjornson (106); second-place finisher Reese Hanneman (102). (Reese Brown)

Competition continues Thursday with a mixed relay (2x5k classic, 2x5k freestyle). Races begin at 9 a.m. EDT.

 

2016 USSA SuperTour Finals Schedule (times EDT)

 

Thursday, March 24 – SuperTour Finals

9:00 a.m. - Mixed relay (2x5k classic, 2x5k freestyle)

 

Saturday, March 26 – SuperTour Finals, Long Distance National Championships

9:00 a.m. - Men’s 50k classic, Junior Men 20k classic

12:30 p.m. - Women’s 30k classic, Junior Women 15k classic

 

HIGHLIGHTS 

  • After qualifications, the junior women went right to an A Final. Mae Chalmers (Stratton Mountain School) dominated the race, finishing 6.68 seconds ahead of teammate Mackenzie Rizio and Brenna Egan (University of New Hampshire) who was third. 
  • In the junior men’s sprint finals, Niklas Rombock (University of New Hampshire) snatched first, 0.34 seconds ahead of Kamran Husain (Stratton Mountain School) and Casey Shannon (Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation) who finished third. 

 

QUOTES 

 

Jessie Diggins 

The final today was hard, and it felt good to dig deep! It was fun skiing in those red, white and blue SMST2 suits again and especially awesome to have half the final with my club teammates.

 

During the heats I focused on skiing smoothly and experimenting with how much kick to add (or not add). It was a good opportunity to work on making confident wax calls in a less stressful environment.

 

The atmosphere here is definitely more relaxed than a world cup, with less pressure, which makes it just a lot of fun, and spring series is supposed to be fun! Again, I’m so impressed with the volunteers and organizers here at Craftsbury and they have worked hard to bring us a great race series. 

 

RESULTS 

Men’s Classic Sprint

Women’s Classic Sprint

 

 


 


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