Diggins, Patterson ski to convincing wins in Fairbanks

FAIRBANKS — A two-time medalist at this year's World Nordic Championships, Jessie Diggins gave no quarter to her competitors Monday in the opening race of the SuperTour Finals in Fairbanks.

Diggins, a 25-year-old from Afton, Minnesota, won the women's 15-kilometer skiathlon race by nearly two minutes.

"The plan was to go out and just ski hard," Diggins said. "It's the only way I know how to race."

Anchorage star Kikkan Randall finished second, 1 minute and 53 seconds behind Diggins.

"Jessie just took over and took off," Randall said. "She's had a really strong season."

Anchorage's Caitlin Patterson, a South High School standout now skiing for the Craftsbury Green Racing Project in Vermont, outsprinted Girdwood's Chelsea Holmes, Randall's teammate at the APU Nordic Ski Center, for the bronze medal.

That gave Alaskans three of the six podium spots. Scott Patterson, Caitlin's brother, won the men's 22.5K race, 24 seconds ahead of runnerup Patrick Caldwell of Vermont. The bronze medal went to Tad Elliott of Colorado,

The women's race consisted of four loops on a 3.75-kilometer loops, skiing the classic technique for the first two and the skating technique for the second two. They switched skis and poles halfway through the race.

With Sadie Bjornsen — the only American who has beaten Diggins on the World Cup this season — out with a cold, Diggins' victory was somewhat of a foregone conclusion. She is wrapping up a terrific season that included medals in both the individual and team sprint competitions at the world championships last month in Lahti, Finland.

Still, Randall, who is looking forward to celebrating her son's first birthday next month, was leading the pack coming down the first descent.

The next time the racers came into view, about three kilometers in, Diggins had a 10-second lead, and only added time from there.

Randall, 34, used her experience to hold a small but significant gap over the rest of the field.

"Kikkan crested the top of Tower (the high point of the race) much better than we did and pulled a gap that we could never close," said bronze-medalist Patterson.

Randall said she used her knowledge of the Birch Hill course to her advantage. Last winter she made a trip to Fairbanks to consult with course designer and Chief of Competition John Estle.

Randall enjoyed family support out on the trail, with her mother and son out cheering on the trails and her husband serving as the technical delegate for the race committee.

"It is pretty much business as usual," she said. "We have the whole family working out here."

While snow conditions were stable, some racers had to deal with challenges in order to make it through the course.

Jessica Yeaton of Anchorage was skiing in the top five at the halfway point but stumbled in the transition and was never able to catch back up to the chase pack.

Holmes, meanwhile, said a wax decision may have cost her a spot on the podium.

"I think I panicked and put on too much kick," she said of the grippy wax that gives classic-technique skiers traction.

Holmes fell back in the classic portion. and despite skiing the second-fastest skate leg of the day wasn't able to recoup her losses.

"I wish I had another half kilometer of uphill skiing," she said, "It was bittersweet to finish fourth."

In the men's race, Scott Patterson dropped his competition about 17 kilometers in. He said he didn't intend to lead the whole race.

"I wanted to keep the pace hot," he said, "and whenever I let someone else in front the pace cooled off."

After four laps, Eric Packer was right behind Patterson, his APU teammate. But Packer faded on the fifth lap and eventually finished eighth. It was Packer's first competition since a car accident in mid-January left him with a severe concussion.

Other Alaska men in the top 10 were APU's David Norris of Fairbank, who was sixth, and teammate Tyler Kornfield of Anchorage, who was ninth.

A shorter classic-style junior race also featured strong showings from the Alaska contingent.

Three APU skiers filled the boys podium, with Hunter Wonders taking gold, Luke Jager silver and Canyon Tobin bronze.

Hannah Halvorsen of California, who was part of an historic podium relay-race finish for the United States at the World Junior Championships in January, won the girls race. She recently announced she will join the APU team.

"It's been such a blast to have the older girls to ski and train with and learn from the best," she said of her time in Alaska.

Fourteen-year-old Kendall Kramer of Fairbanks finished third in the girls race, behind Michigan's Nicole Schneider. Jenna Difolco of Fairbanks was fourth and Anna Darnell of Anchorage fifth.

Senior women's 15K skiathlon

1) Jessica Diggins 42:42.5; 2) Kikkan Randall 44:35.4; 3) Caitlin Patterson 44:51.5; 4) Chelsea Holmes 44:53.2; 5) Elizabeth Stephen 45:02.3; 6) Kaitlynn Miller 45:32.5; 7) Jessica Yeaton 45:55.8; 8) Caitlin Gregg 46:12.9; 9) Anne Hart 46:15.6; 10) Rosie Frankowski 46:26.0; 11) Becca Rorabaugh 46:51.9; 12) Sophie Caldwell 47:17.0; 13) Kelsey Phinney 47:18.8; 14) Erika Flowers 47:20.2; 15) Mary Rose 47:22.6; 16) Annie Pokorny 47:31.2; 17) Ida Sargent 48:29.3; 18) Vivian Hett 48:36.3; 19) Kristen Bourne 48:59.2; 20) Deedra Irwin 49:18.0; 21) Felicia Gesior 49:40.3; 22) Caroline Brisbois 49:44.5; 23) Corey Stock 50:45.2; 24) Sophie Schimpl 51:29.4; 25) Sophie McDonald 51:59.6; 26) Anikken Alnaes 52:05.7; 27) Renae Anderson 52:37.5; 28) Hannah Rowland 52:39.7; 29) Abigail Jarzin 53:15.4; 30) Kelly Koch 53:26.8; 31) Dottie Anderson 54:06.5; 32) Luci Anderson 54:57.4; 33) Anja Maijala 55:09.6.

Senior men's 22.5K skiathlon

1) Scott Patterson 14:28.6; 2) Patrick Caldwell 14:52.8; 3) Tad Elliott 14:55.4; 4) Benjamin Lustgarten 15:09.4; 5) Adam Martin 15:17.5;6) David Norris 15:23.4; 7) Kris Freeman 15:23.7; 8) Eric Packer 15:29.9; 9) Tyler Kornfield 15:40.4; 10) Simeon Hamilton 16:03.1; 11) Brian Gregg 16:06.1; 12) Matthew Phillip Gelso 16:06.5; 13) Logan Hanneman 17:38.1; 14) Kyle Bratrud 18:19.4; 15) Cole Morgan 18:20.1; 16) Thomas O'Harra 18:33.0; 17) Michael Fehrenbach 18:50.5; 18) Haakon Hjelstuen 19:08.2; 19) Rogan Brown 19:11.7; 20) Max Lachance 19:23.5; 21) Benjamin Saxton 19:38.6; 22) Max Donaldson 19:40.0; 23) Akeo Maifeld-Carucci 20:04.6; 24) Samuel Elfstrom 20:12.7; 25) Fredrick Schwencke 20:14.1; 26) Jan Cech 20:18.6; 27) Silas Talbot 20:19.9; 28) Reese Hanneman 20:35.4; 29) Alexander Eckert 20:52.1; 30) Forrest Mahlen 20:52.6; 31) Toomas Kollo 21:10.8; 32) Pietro Mosconi 21:21.2; 33) Seiji Takagi 22:00.7; 34) Jack Novak 22:18.8; 35) Tristan Sayre 22:22.2; 36) Oscar Friedman 23:24.1; 37) Paul Kovacs 23:28.9; 38) Nicholas Power 23:35.9; 39) Luk Platil 23:56.7; 40) Mathias Rolid 24:12.6; 41) William Kerker 24:16.6; 42) Nick Lovett 26:06.2; 43) Dan Serventi 26:06.5; 44) Skyler Kenna 31:42.7.

Junior girls 7.5K classic — 1) Hannah Halvorsen 24:26.0; 2) Nicole Schneider 24:56.9; 3) Kendall Kramer 25:02.3; 4) Jenna DiFolco 25:23.1; 5) Anna Darnell 26:00.0; 6) Ryan Terry 26:17.2; 7) Sadie Fox 26:29.5; 8) Annika Hanestad 26:36.7; 9) Alyeska Daniels 27:47.9; 10) Tjarn Bross 28:27.4; 11) Maggie Whitaker 29:58.7; 12) Lupua Oba 30:20.2; 13) Savannah Ulrich 32:51.6.

Junior boys 11.25K classic — 1) Hunter Wonders 46:55.9; 2) Luke Jager 47:21.7; 3) Canyon Tobin 48:01.0; 4) Lars Soensterud 48:24.9; 5) Zak Ketterson 48:42.3; 6) Ti Donaldson 49:32.7; 7) Ari Endestad 50:14.6; 8) Conner Truskowski 51:51.0; 9) Logan Mowry 51:52.2; 10) Robert Schoff 52:48.6; 11) Andrew Hanneman 57:28.8.

Lex Treinen is a skier with the APU Nordic Ski Center. He didn't compete this season because of an injury.