Therese Johaug won, but USA’s Jessie Diggins delivers and makes the women’s 10-kilometer skate race in Davos a thriller to the bitter end.

Norway’s Therese Johaug won the 10-kilometer skate race by 14.5 seconds, and beat her Swedish nemesis Frida Karlsson by 17 seconds. 

Diggins delivers
However, Jessie Diggins (USA) in second place was possibly the happiest of the podium finishers. But only after regaining the strength to stand up. 

“It was really, really hard, and really painful. It never feels good to race here at this altitude. …But it’s great to know that the plan is working, and my fitness is there,” Diggins says. 

The 32-year-old signed off with a monster performance in the last few kilometers. She finished only 14 seconds behind Johaug. 

“What happened? What happened was really fast skis. I am really thankful to our team for that,” Diggins explains. 

Karlsson has given Johaug a headache
Karlsson has beat Johaug on more than one occasion this season, which had the Norwegian queen of cross-country skiing slightly worried. 

“I am definitely satisfied with my performance today. I have been more insecure this season (than previous years), and have had a feeling that things just aren’t quite right. So, it was really nice to have that good feeling back,” Johaug said after her race.  

Karlsson on her part recognized that she was too slow off the start. 

“It was a decent race, but it took me a while to really get going in the race, so I gave away too many seconds in the start of the race,” she said. 

Top 3 women, 10km F Davos
1. Therese Johaug, Norway, 
2. Jessie Diggins, USA, 
3. Frida Karlsson, Sweden, 

Complete results

Next weekend, the FIS World Cup now moves on to Dresden, Germany.