Skiers, including Jessie Diggins, adjust to using wax without PFAS
MINNEAPOLIS — This weekend Minneapolis will host the first World Cup cross country ski race on U.S. soil in more than 20 years.
While snowy weather finally showed up, changing and unpredictable winters aren't just inconvenient, they're an existential threat to the sport itself.
That's pushing some of the sport's leading voices to call for action to protect not just the environment but the sport itself.
When Olympic gold medalist Jessie Diggins pushed for the world's best to descend on Minneapolis for a world cup race, this warm winter wasn't the scene she had in mind. But thankfully, snow arrived just in the nick of time.
Still, warmer winters are a symptom of climate change in Minnesota, and that's a threat to the sport that put the Afton native on the map.
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"Skiers are like canaries in the coal mine. We're really seeing it firsthand and experiencing it because it's our lives, it's our job," Diggins explained.
Seeing winter soften before her eyes pushed her to team up with Protect Our Winters - a nonprofit focused on bipartisan solutions to bolster against climate change.
"Over the last eight years it's been a huge shift to that where most of the time you're not racing on only real snow," she said.
After winning her fifth World Cup race this season, Diggins thanked her wax techs for her "silly fast skis."
They did it without the very thing that's been used for decades to help athletes go faster. Waxes known as "fluoros" that have "forever chemicals" known as PFAS in them.
Researchers have found the harmful wax stays in the snow, melting into the groundwater.This is the first year the toxic waxes are banned from World Cup racing, a sign the sport is getting serious about stewarding the environment it relies on.
Diggins says it takes a minute or two longer to finish a 12 mile race, and they're most helpful when conditions are sloppy and wet.
To enforce the ban, skis are tested before races - sort of like how athletes are tested for performance enhancing drugs.
Chris Harvey with the Loppet Nordic Race team coaches some of the best young skiers in the U.S.
This is the third season they've been PFAS free.
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"It's really a good thing. Because it's helping to level the field. Teams don't have to spend as much money on these expensive waxes," Harvey says.
"When I retire, I want to look back and think, yes, I did what I could with the time I had and the platform I earned," Diggins said. "Just, I'm going to try and make a difference."
Diggins is coming into this world cup with the most wins in one single season. She's the most decorated skier in U.S. history.
She tells WCCO she's very excited that her whole family will be able to watch her race - a rarity considering she's usually abroad for these types of races.
