New heat-based 5 km free Tour de Ski race divides opinions — Diggins and Schumacher win

Tour de Ski on Wednesday experimented with a race format not previously used in World Cup events: a 5-kilometre freestyle heat mass-start. Skiers were split into four heats of roughly 25 athletes; the overall winner was the competitor with the fastest time across heats.

Both the women's and men's races were won by Americans — Jessie Diggins, who also leads the Tour overall, topped the women's list, while Gus Schumacher took the men's victory. Best Finns were Johanna Matintalo (13th among women) and Niilo Moilanen (7th among men).

Reaction to the new format was mixed. Some competitors found the heat mass-start interesting and entertaining; others were less enthusiastic about the novelty.

“I'm not going to criticise the concept after the first time. It was fun. Very fast group skiing and there was a sprint at the end,” Niilo Moilanen said after the race. He explained that in the group you needed to ski as relaxed as possible while staying alert, and that the group slowed at times so decisions had to be made during the race.

The event was not available for viewing from outside the host country.

Some athletes struggled with incidents that affected their view of the format. Lauri Vuorinen broke a pole and Joni Mäki fell, so neither wanted to give a strong verdict on the format — Vuorinen said he couldn't form an opinion after his race, and Mäki said he enjoyed skiing up until his crash and regretted not seeing how fast he might have been.

Perttu Hyvärinen jokingly admitted afterwards that he had no idea who had actually won; he believed he'd skied well but finished far down the order. “It was an experiment. I don't really know if it suits the Tour. I have said that the best should win this race — but will they? I'm not sure. Whoever performs best and is in best shape should be able to win,” Hyvärinen said.

Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, who finished 12th in his heat though he leads the Tour overall, questioned whether outcomes were entirely in the athletes’ own hands.

“I don't think so. You need good team tactics and everyone needs to work together. We didn't work together at the end today,” Klæbo said.

Cooperation inside heats

Competitors stressed that cooperation in a heat can cross national team boundaries — riders in the same heat can cooperate to produce the fastest time against other heats.

“I'm really excited I got to cooperate with the other girls in my heat. We had a plan to work together and everybody did their part. It was amazing and fun,” Diggins said in an interview with the International Ski Federation. Emma Ribom (Sweden), who worked with Diggins, echoed the praise: “Sweden has a strong team, but it was nice to cooperate with Jessie.”

Jasmi Joensuu heard before her heat that Swedes and Germans had arranged tactics in advance. “They told me ahead of time because here you also fight against other heats and of course you want to do well against them as well,” Joensuu said.

Iivo Niskanen lamented a slow start in his heat that left him far from the front.

“In a group it's very easy to get stuck and I ran out of energy at the end, but you just couldn't get past. Let's say it didn't tire me out a huge amount. There should be team tactics and turns pulling in front. The placement in the heat doesn't really matter that much, but I'm not sure. At least I got to ski,” Niskanen reflected.

Kerttu Niskanen would like the Tour de Ski to become tougher again

Kerttu Niskanen said she would prefer a more demanding Tour de Ski. She and Krista Pärmäkoski had discussed the new format before the race and joked they’d like the old days back when the Tour comprised more venues and a larger total racing distance.

“I think the Tour used to be a very hard battle and a tough stretch. At one point I skied nine races and spent 8–9 hours in cars moving between countries. You don't miss the travel, but there were more races. The Tour has gone in a worse direction in my view, but maybe that's modern times,” Kerttu Niskanen said.

Correction: The Tour de Ski total distance is under 50 kilometres, not a little over 50 kilometres.

Photos

Image 1: Johannes Høsflot Klæbo skiing near the front in a Toblach heat; Klæbo said the heat format needs team tactics. (Photo: Andrea Solero/EPA)

Image 2: Swedes Emma Ribom and Moa Ilar smiling on the podium; Ribom and Ilar collaborated with Jessie Diggins and finished second and third.

Overall the trial sparked debate: some athletes enjoyed the teamwork and fast, tactical group racing, while others missed the traditional, endurance-heavy Tour de Ski format.