How to watch Jessie Diggins ski at the Loppet Cup this weekend in Minneapolis

The Loppet Cup, a World Cup cross-country skiing event at Theodore Wirth Park on Saturday and Sunday, has been six years in the making, and canceled once by the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, Afton’s Jessie Diggins has been dreaming about competing again in her home state since 2011.

Diggins, who currently leads the World Cup standings, is expected to compete in Saturday’s sprint race and Sunday’s 10-kilometer race.

Women’s qualification heats for the sprint race begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, with the final rounds starting at 12:30 p.m. The men’s event begins at 10:30 a.m., with the final rounds starting at 1 p.m. Diggins could ski the 1.3k-course four times if she reaches the final.

The men’s individual 10k begins at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, with the women following at 12:45 p.m. It is a staggered start rather than a mass start. The racers will go off at 30-second intervals, with the top 15 skiers in the rankings, including Diggins, slotted in at one-minute intervals from one another. The fastest time wins.

Diggins is scheduled to start Sunday at 1:14 p.m. All five of Diggins’ wins this season have come in distance events of 10k or longer. She has typically finished her sprints in under three minutes. Her 10k times vary, but between 25-30 minutes is the norm.

Course maps | Skiers to watch

If you want to watch Diggins in person at Wirth Park, you are probably out of luck. General admission and grandstand tickets were snapped up long ago. Some $500 VIP tickets for Sunday remain; those tickets include seats in the grandstand at the start/finish area and access to a heated tent with food and drink.

If you are going to event and want to know where to park and what you can bring, the Loppet Cup has put together this spectator FAQ.

Here are some other ways to watch the races.

Saturday’s finals and Sunday’s races are streaming on Outside Watch. Tape-delayed coverage will be available Sunday, with the sprint races on CNBC and Peacock at 11:30 a.m. and the 10k on NBC and Peacock at 3 p.m.

Live results are on the FIS website.

General admission tickets were free and reserved almost instantaneously when they were released last year. Grandstand tickets were sold for $35-$150 and are also gone. The VIP packages mentioned above remain. Secondary ticket sites like StubHub and SeatGeek don’t have any tickets available to the event. Craigslist has several posts with people seeking tickets, but any posts selling tickets — one was listed on Thursday with four general admission tickets for $150 apiece — are quick to disappear. On Friday morning, there were no tickets for sale.

Utepils Brewing, near the park at 225 Thomas Ave. N, is hosting an official watch party from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday.

For a more high-end experience, Mara at the Four Seasons in downtown Minneapolis is hosting watch party brunches both days beginning at 10 a.m.

The Loppet Cup website also offers guidance on how to host your own watch party.

From 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Monday, you can ski the sprint course the pros used as part of the Loppet Cup Citizens Challenge. Registration has closed for that event. The trails are expected to re-open to the public after this race.

From 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday, there are a free indoor and outdoor family activities planned at Wirth Park, called Share Winter Playday. Some of the athletes will be available for selfies and autographs at The Trailhead from 10 a.m.-11 a.m.