Jessie Diggins won the women’s race and Gus Schumacher placed second in the men’s race for the best combined day in U.S. cross-country skiing World Cup history on Sunday.
Diggins earned her sixth individual race victory this season, taking the 20km freestyle mass start in Falun, Sweden. It’s her 25th career individual race win on the World Cup.
She prevailed by seven tenths of a second over Norwegian Heidi Weng to extend her lead in the World Cup standings, moving closer to her third overall season title.
Diggins leads by 472 points over German Victoria Carl with five races left, a nearly insurmountable advantage.
Earlier, Schumacher placed second in the men’s 20km, three tenths of a second behind Norwegian Paal Golberg.
“Julia (Kern) and I were like jumping up and down on the bed screaming at the TV,” Diggins said of Schumacher’s result. “So it definitely got me really excited and also really sweaty. I was like, I’m warmed up, let’s go.”
Sunday marked the fourth time a U.S. female and male cross-country skier made an individual World Cup podium on the same day — and the first time they were first- and second-place finishes.
On Jan. 17, Diggins won and Ben Ogden placed third in 10km free races.
Last Feb. 18, Schumacher won and Diggins placed third in 10km frees in Minneapolis -- the first World Cup held in the U.S. in 23 years.
In 2016, Diggins and Simi Hamilton each placed third in sprints in Canada.
The cross-country World Cup now takes a break for the World Nordic Skiing Championships in Trondheim, Norway, from Feb. 26-March 9.
“I’m excited to taper,” Diggins said. “I’ve been pushing a massive training load.”
