Jessie Diggins opened her bid for a third Tour de Ski title by earning her first World Cup sprint victory in three years and her 25th career World Cup victory overall.
Diggins won a 1.4km freestyle sprint in Toblach, Italy, by 31 hundredths over Finland’s Jasmi Joensuu on Saturday.
“I kind of thought I was getting old and not ready to have another sprint victory in my life so this was an amazing surprise,” Diggins said.
Defending champion, @jessiediggins 🇺🇸 takes the Tour de Ski leader golden bib 😍 How classy! #fiscrosscountry #wintersport #tourdeski pic.twitter.com/f4VrLDRSHK
— FIS Cross-Country (@FISCrossCountry) December 28, 2024
It marked the first stage of the Tour de Ski, an annual Tour de France-like event with seven races over nine days at various distances in the freestyle and classic techniques.
It is an all-around test for cross-country skiers. In 2021, Diggins became the first man or woman from outside Europe to win a Tour. Last season, she won it for a second time.
Both seasons, Diggins also won the season-long World Cup overall title, crowning her the world’s top cross-country skier.
Eighteen of Diggins’ 21 career individual World Cup race wins have come in distance events. She also has one World Cup victory each in a relay and a team sprint, plus her two Tour de Ski titles count as World Cup wins.
The Tour de Ski continues Sunday with a 15km classic mass start in Toblach.
