Industry News
Minneapolis, Minnesota, can look back on one epic weekend of cross country skiing, as the FIS Cross Country World Cup wraps up after a series of spring and distance events. The highlight for the adoring home crowd at Theodore Wirth Park was certainly the victory of Gus Schumacher, who claimed his first-ever career victory in the 10km race on Sunday, February 18. America’s favorite cross country darling, Jessie Diggins, finished the 10km distance race in third place. While the roughly 20,000 spectators had naturally hoped for a double-U.S. victory on home soil, Jessie Diggins was beaten by Sweden’s sprint specialist Jonna Sundling and Frida Karlsson, who came first and second respectively.
The weekend at Wirth consisted of a sprint event on Saturday, February 17, and a distance race on Sunday. Saturday’s women’s sprint race was won by Jonna Sundling as well and her teammate Linn Svahn in second place while Norway’s Kristine Stavaas Skistad skied into third, relegating Jessie Diggins to fourth by 2 seconds. The men’s sprint was won by Norway’s legendary cross country skier Johannes Klaebo, who claimed his 77th World Cup title. Klaebo holds the record for most cross country World Cup victories and at 27 years shows no signs of quitting. Second place went to Italy’s Federico Pellegrino while third place also went to Norway, with Haavard Solaas Taubgoel finishing just over a second behind his teammate. Gus Schumacher was the best male American cross country sprint skier in 17th place.
On Sunday, the 10km men’s race was held in the morning. The distance race was held in an interval format, meaning that Schumacher had to wait an agonizing 40-odd athletes to see if his time would hold. Skier after skier failed to beat Schumacher’s time and his eyes grew wider with every Olympic medalist and World Champion failing to oust him from the leader’s seat. The U.S. cross country team gathered around him as tears began to flow when the last racer had crossed the finish line and Schumacher realized, he had just won his first-ever World Cup.
“I felt really good and the cheering just got louder and louder, which I think helped the pacing. The second-to-last hill the fans coordinated in a ‘U-S-A’ chant and I couldn’t feel my body. I knew I was going fast, and I knew I could go faster, but I didn’t know I was going to win. I gave everything I could like I do every day, and everything just went perfectly. Thank you, Minneapolis!”
— Gus Schumacher
The crowd was ecstatic after Schumacher’s win and all eyes were then on local favorite Jessie Diggins for the women’s race. Diggins ran near the end of the start list and gave it her everything. She pushed until the finish line but it was not enough for a victory. Nevertheless, Diggins cried happy tears, stating, “It wasn’t even about the podium,” she said. “I just had the best day ever out there. No one had more fun than me, except maybe Gus because it’s his day! I’m so proud of him. It was so emotional. The whole team was over the moon for him. That was an incredible day.”
It is the first time in 23 years that Minneapolis has held a FIS World Cup event and Diggins was one of the strongest advocates for the return of cross country races to her home state Minnesota. More than 40,000 fans showed up over the two days at Wirth Park with signs, banners, and cowbells and organizers can look back on a successful return of FIS Cross Country World Cup events to the USA.
After a two-week break, the FIS Cross-Country Skiing World Cup returns on March 1 in Lahti, Finland.
