The 20th FIS Tour de Ski kicked off in Toblach, Italy after a holiday break from competition since Dec. 14 for the skiers. The Tour de Ski encompasses eight days of events and always is a major highlight on the cross-country skiing World Cup schedule.
Stage one began with the women's and men's sprint free competitions on fast, mostly man-made snow and Norway absolutely dominated the field.
Norway's Kristine Stavaas Skistad took home the 13th victory of her career, after she raced to the finish in 2:49.79 to win the women's sprint free. The Norwegian is the overall Tour de Ski leader after day one and will wear the gold bib.
Coletta Rydzek of Germany claimed second place and sprinted across the line just 0.24 seconds behind Skistad.
Sweden's Maja Dahlqvist raced just 0.11 seconds behind Rydzek to secure the final spot on the podium, ahead of Team USA's Jessie Diggins.
Diggins crossed the line just less than a second behind Dahlqvist to miss the podium, but she secured her best sprint finish of the season so far. She's won the Tour de Ski twice in her career and sits as the overall World Cup leader.
"It’s fun to see that my speed is coming and the race sharpness is starting to come into place. And I am just excited for one last Tour de Ski!" Diggins said after the race.
A fall early on in the race by Sweden's Johanna Hagstroem greatly shook up the sprint competition. Hagstroem had the top qualifying time on the day going into the final, but ended up finishing 16.7 seconds behind the winner after the tumble.
U.S. skier Julia Kern reached the quarterfinals and finished 17th overall on the day in the sprint.
In the men's sprint free race, it was Norway all the way as they swept the podium.
The overall World Cup leader, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo of Norway, grabbed the 102nd victory of his career and the gold bib, after he crossed the finish line in 2:28.82.
Norwegian teammate Lars Heggen snagged second place on the podium, after he finished just 0.13 seconds behind Klaebo.
Oskar Opstad Vike completed the podium sweep for Norway and clinched third place, 0.80 seconds out of the top spot.
For the U.S., Gus Schumacher raced to 11th overall. Ben Ogden and Kevin Bolger took 13th and 15th, respectively.
Competition continues in Toblach with stage two of the Tour de Ski, featuring the men's and women's 10km interval start classic events.