Diggins wins, Brennan top 10 in first XC races of 24-25 World Cup Season

Olympian and Park City native Rosie Brennan in the 10k classic world cup race in Finland where she finished in 9th place. Photo: Nordic Focus // courtesy of U.S. Ski and Snowboard

RUKA, Finland —The 2024-25 season officially began for U.S. Ski & Snowboard with the cross country world cup with two in the top ten, including Jessie Diggins winning her 24th victory, this time in the 20k skate, and Park City native Rosie Brennan placing ninth in the 10k classic individual start.

The Finnish crowds welcomed back the best skiers in the world to their course, which included some of the steepest hills and ripping descents on the circuit. 

For the women, the U.S. athletes competing included Park City Ski and Snowboard’s Sydney Palmer-Leger, and Rosie Brennan, along with the University of Utah’s Sophia Laukli. 

First up, the 10k classic.

Through the various 10k classic race’s checkpoints on the course, the U.S. women were putting up solid splits, led by Diggins and Brennan. Brennan, who started last season with a podium result in this specific race, showed consistent times among the strong field. Then came Frida Karlsson of Sweden. 25-year-old Karlsson, coming off a competitive 2023-24 season, skied a strong race and put down split times that Diggins, Brennan, or Norwegian icon Therese Johaug couldn’t catch. 

At the finish line, Karlsson was the ultimate victor by 46 seconds, ahead of Johaug in second and Norway’s Astrid Oyere Slind in third. Diggins, whose summer training focused on classic skiing, put up a seventh-place time to secure her first top 10 of the World Cup season. Brennan was eight seconds behind Diggins, putting up a ninth-place result, notching another top 10 to her strong results list. As veterans of the Stifel U.S. Ski Team, with 331 career World Cup starts for Diggins and 247 for Brennan, today’s results further solidify their competitiveness on the world stage. For the team, with Diggins and Brennan in the top 10, Laukli followed in 31st, and Palmer-Leger 56th.

“Today felt like a decent start to the season,” said Brennan. “I felt strong but didn’t quite have the pace I knew I needed to compete with the top. There were no major red flags, so I am taking it as a good place to start, move forward, and work toward the rest of the season!” 

The following day in Ruka, Diggins clinched her 24th win on the circuit in the 20k skate race with Laukli taking 10th place and Brennan finishing in 20th with Palmer-Leger improving greatly on her previous day ending up in 35th.

“It was an epic battle,” said Diggins. “I was trying to be smart with the draft, but in the last kilometer, I saved it up, found a line, and played it well in the end. I also had amazing skis, so thank you to our wax techs,” said Diggins following her victory. 

“What I’m most happy about is that I had the confidence to make moves and take the lead in the chase a couple of times, I never really did that last year so I’m excited to ski a bit more aggressive this year,” said Laukli. “I also felt like I have never skied as technically well as I did today so that’s a huge confidence boost as well.”