Jessie Diggins Continues Strong Tour De Ski Start With Third-Place Finish In Mass Start
by Todd Kortemeier
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/usopc-prod/image/upload/v1684892393/TeamUSA%20Assets/Migration/Pages/diggins_jessie_012620_1440x810_.jpg)
Jessica Diggins competes during the women's cross country sprint quarterfinal at the FIS nordic world cup Oberstdorf on Jan. 26, 2020 in Oberstdorf, Germany.
Make it two podiums in two days to open 2021 for Jessie Diggins.
The Olympic gold medalist held off Sweden’s Frida Karlsson to finish third in Saturday’s 10-kilometer mass start in Val Müstair, Switzerland. Diggins’ time of 30:10.7 was just a tenth off second-place Yulia Stupka of Russia, who was 0.7 seconds behind winner Linn Svahn of Sweden.
The 10th stop on the 2020-21 FIS World Cup calendar is also the second event in the 2021 Tour de Ski, a 10-day, eight-stage event that again opens the new year. Diggins now ranks second in the overall Tour de Ski standings thanks to her second-place sprint result in Friday’s opener. Diggins has historically had success in the Tour de Ski, becoming the first American to finish on the podium in 2018. She finished ninth in the 2020 edition.
As for the world cup standings, Diggins remains seventh overall behind fellow American Rosie Brennan, who ran sixth on Saturday, 2.6 seconds behind Diggins. Diggins’ career-best world cup finish came in 2018 when she was second overall.
In the men’s race, Gus Schumacher was the top U.S. finisher in 37th, followed by Olympians Scott Patterson in 44th and Simi Hamilton in 47th.
The Tour de Ski continues with a pursuit race for its final stage in Val Müsair on Sunday before shifting to Toblach, Italy, for two stages Jan. 5 and 6. The tour concludes with three stages in Val di Femme, Italy, Jan. 8-10.
Todd Kortemeier
Todd Kortemeier is a sportswriter, editor and children’s book author from Minneapolis. He is a contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.