Jessie Diggins already had more world championship medals than any American cross-country skier in history. Sunday, the Afton native added another, teaming with Julia Kern to take bronze in the women's freestyle team sprint at the FIS Nordic world ski championships in Planica, Slovenia.
The medal was the fifth in world championships competition for Diggins, a three-time Olympic medalist. She and Kern were the top team in the qualifying round and led for much of the final. They were in first place when Diggins handed off to Kern for the last 1.4-kilometer lap, but Sweden and Norway skied masterfully on the final hill climbs to overtake the Americans.
Sweden's Emma Ribom and Jonna Sundling won in a time of 19 minutes, 40.73 seconds. Norway's Anne Kjersti Kalvaa and Tiril Udnes Weng were second in 19:43.15, with Diggins and Kern third in 19:46.06.
"I love team sprinting,'' Diggins said. "Any time you race for the team as a whole, you really bring your best, and that is what we did [Sunday]. It was really special.''
Next up for Diggins is the women's 10k freestyle on Tuesday, a race in which she will be among the favorites.
RACHEL BLOUNT
Whitecaps lose fourth in row
Dominika Laskova and Shiann Darkangelo each had two goals and Michela Cava had a goal and two assists to lead the Toronto Six to a 7-1 victory over the Minnesota Whitecaps in a Premier Hockey Federation game on Sunday at Richfield Ice Arena.
The loss was the fourth in a row for the Whitecaps, who lost to Toronto 1-0 on Saturday. With the sweep, Toronto, which outshot the Whitecaps 40-23, took over first place in the PHF standings.
