Jesse Diggins secured victory in impressive fashion. © ANSA / PETER SCHNEIDER

An up and down for the Tour defending champions

On Saturday, the 19th edition of the Tour de Ski started in Toblach. The defending champions found themselves in two different worlds.

28 December 2024

From: never

Jessie Diggins could not have imagined a better start to the Tour de Ski. The American conjured up the best times in the quarter and semi-finals of the sprint by a wide margin, and in the final she relegated her competitors Jasmi Joensuu (Finland/+0,31 seconds) and Nadine Fähndrich (Switzerland/+0,47) to second and third places. The mission to defend the title at the Tour de Ski, which is taking place in a single country for the first time with the locations in Toblach and Val di Fiemme, is in full swing.

For the Azzurre, however, the start to the prestigious home game was less successful - despite a promising start. In the qualification, Federica Cassol set the best time of 2.55,36:4,62 minutes, and her teammate Nicole Monsorno (+XNUMX) also made it to the deciding round. However, there was nothing for the duo to gain there, both of them clearly failed in the quarter-finals.

Final stop quarter-finals for Hellweger

In Italy's men's cross-country skiing, a total of seven athletes made it to the quarter-finals, but only two-time vice world champion Federico Pellegrino managed to make the next step. In the end, the 34-year-old was only six hundredths of a second away from qualifying for the final.

One lap before Pellegrino, however, it was the end of the road for South Tyrolean Michael Hellweger. The Sarner finished fourth in his quarter-final, and to qualify as a lucky loser for the semi-finals he was only 0,25 seconds behind Norwegian Erik Valnes. Hellweger, like his teammates Simone Dapra, Giacomo Gabrielli, Martino Carollo, Davide Graz and Giovanni Ticco, had to throw in the towel early.

Johannes Hösflot Kläbo triumphed in the men's event. © ANSA / JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BOTT

The victory went to three-time Tour de Ski winner Johannes Hösflot Kläbo, ahead of Lucas Chanavat (France/+0,42) and Janik Riebli (Switzerland/+0,49). Defending champion Harald Östberg Amundsen had a bad day, unlike his female counterpart Diggins. The Norwegian was eliminated in the quarter-finals.