Jessie Diggins becomes first US cross-country skier to win individual world title

Jessie Diggins skied to the first individual gold medal in US cross-country skiing history on Tuesday in Planica, Slovenia.

The three-time Olympic medalist from Afron, Minnesota, won the 10km freestyle world title in a time of 23min 40sec, edging a pair of Swedes in Frida Karlsson by 14sec, who earned silver, and Ebba Andersson by 19.5sec, who took bronze.

“That was so emotional, that was amazing,” a teary-eyed Diggins said afterward. “I’ve just got to say thank you to the team.”

She added: “That was one of the best races of my whole life and I knew I felt good and I was in a good shape, but you also have to have great skis and good wax. And I had everything I needed today. They worked so hard to make this possible, I’m just so happy.”

The landmark win came two days after Diggins won bronze alongside Julia Kern in the team sprint.

American cross-country skiers had previous won 13 world championship or Olympic medals dating to 1976, but Diggins’ win on Tuesday marked the country’s first gold medal in an individual event.

Jessie Diggins won the first individual gold medal in US cross-country skiing history on Tuesday.

“It’s wonderful to have a monkey off your back, even for an athlete as decorated as Jessie,” US coach Matt Whitcomb told NRK. “She probably couldn’t tell you all the stats about herself. All she can tell you is that you give her a course like this, and she knows she can at least be tied for the lead with regards to going the hardest. That’s really the attribute of Jessie that’s most admirable. She can just go out there and suffer.”

Over her storied career, the 31-year-old Diggins has won 14 World Cup races, including a 20km individual start in Switzerland two months ago, with teammate Rosie Brennan taking third.

She has captured Olympic medals of every color, too – gold from the team sprint at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games beside Kikkan Randall, along with silver (sprint freestyle) and bronze (30km mass start) last February at the Beijing Olympics.

Diggins, who finished second in the event in 2015, became the first non-European since 2017 to win a gold medal at the world championships.