Latest news with #JessieDiggins
New York Times
16-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Jessie Diggins clinches third overall World Cup cross-country title, extending her U.S. record
American cross-country skiing star Jessie Diggins clinched her third overall World Cup title on Sunday, extending her own U.S. record and adding another major accolade to her decorated career. Diggins, 33, finished sixth Sunday in a 10-kilometer skate race on the Holmenkollen mountain in Oslo, Norway, to extend her lead over Germany's Victoria Carl in the overall standings — which combines performances in the sprint and distance events — to 430 points. Individual World Cup races award 100 points to the winner, making Diggins' lead mathematically insurmountable over the remaining three individual races. Advertisement It's the third overall World Cup title for Diggins. In the 2020-21 season, she became the first American since Bill Koch in 1982 to win it, then was the first U.S. multiple-time winner when she did it again last season. Diggins has long been setting records for U.S. cross-country skiing. She's a two-time world champion — in the team sprint in 2013 and the 10km skate in 2023, which was the first-ever American gold medal in an individual cross-country event at worlds. At the 2018 Olympics, she teamed with Kikkan Randall to win gold in the sprint event — the first Olympic gold for any American cross-country skiers. At the 2022 Games, she became the first American to win an Olympic medal in an individual sprint, taking bronze. She also took second in the 30km skate in Beijing, joining Koch as the only U.S. cross-country skiers with individual Olympic silver medals. Now in her 14th World Cup season, Diggins is having one of her best years. She has six World Cup wins — her second most in a single season, behind 2023-24 — and placed third overall in the Tour de Ski, the sport's most grueling event, in January. This despite having an additional challenge this year — she was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of tissue in the foot, in January. 'I am super proud of how mentally tough I was,' Diggins said of Sunday's race in an audio message sent to media members. 'I really felt like I was just super-focused and engaged and just pushing so hard for even every half a second, and that always feels good when you cross a finish line and you really know, that was everything I had with this day and my body.' The World Cup tour's final two stops are in Talinn, Estonia, on Wednesday for a sprint race and Lahti, Finland, next weekend for two individual races, a team sprint, and the official crowning of the season's champions. Team races don't award points for the individual standings. Advertisement Diggins also leads in the distance standings by 95 points over Norway's Astrid Øyre Slind with just one race left and is sixth in the sprint standings. On Sunday, Diggins reached the finish line in 25 minutes, 49.3 seconds and fell to the snow to catch her breath. She was in second at the time in the interval start race, behind Norwegian great Therese Johaug. Moments later, Sweden's Moa Ilar crossed the line in 25:24.6, 24.7 seconds faster than Diggins. That time would hold up, and Ilar eventually topped the podium ahead of Norway's Heidi Weng, 1.6 seconds back, and Carl, 10 seconds back. But the day's biggest prize went to Diggins, who said she delighted in watching her coach and wax technician, Jason Cork — whose birthday was Sunday — 'crunch the numbers' and figure out she'd won the title. 'Today, that was the big highlight,' she said.
NBC Sports
16-03-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Jessie Diggins clinches third cross-country skiing World Cup overall title
Jessie Diggins will finish an at times painful and tearful season in the same place as she did last year — as the World Cup overall champion. Diggins, a 33-year-old from Minnesota, mathematically clinched her third career overall title on Sunday with three races left in the 31-race, November-to-March season. The World Cup overall title goes each year to the skier who accumulates the most points based off results across all events — from sprints to distance races in the classic and freestyle techniques. Diggins' lead over German Victoria Carl is 430 points, an insurmountable gap over the last three races through next Sunday. In 2020-21, Diggins became the second American woman or man (after Bill Koch) and the first non-European woman to win an overall title in cross-country skiing. In 2023-24, she became the first North American woman or man to win a second title. Diggins has won six individual races this World Cup season, three after a Jan. 5 MRI showed she had a partially torn plantar fascia. 'It felt like I was tearing my foot in half,' she said. At the World Championships from Feb. 26 to March 9, Diggins won her seventh world medal, a team sprint silver with Julia Kern, to add to her Olympic medals of every color. She had individual results of 13th, 22nd and 23rd at worlds in Trondheim, Norway, and was in tears after her last race there. 'Thanks everyone for all the unconditional love and support after what was overall a hard World Championships for me emotionally,' she posted going into this weekend's races. 'Although it had some incredible parts to it that I'll never forget, like the epic cheering and the team sprint day with Julia and the whole team! 'I think it's important that last weekend the world got to see me cry, instead of smile, for once. Athletes are humans first, and everyone you've ever watched on TV or looked up to has gone through hard moments and felt the whole range of emotions, whether or not you actually saw it. 'It's also important to say that even if you fail spectacularly to meet the expectations of others in front of the whole world, you can pick yourself back up and get back to baseline.' Diggins is working toward a fourth Olympics in 2026. She is already the most decorated U.S. cross-country skier in Olympic history, World Championships history and World Cup history. Events alternate between freestyle and classic at every biennial worlds and quadrennial Olympics. So Diggins goes into the 10km freestyle race at the Milan Cortina Games as the reigning world champion from 2023. Nick Zaccardi,
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo wins all 6 gold medals at cross-country skiing world championships
Norway's Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo completed an unprecedented sweep of all six cross-country skiing gold medals at the World Championships, capping it in Saturday's grueling 50km race in front of tens of thousands in his hometown. Klaebo, the world's top male skier for much of the last decade, won the 50km freestyle (at 31 miles, longer than a marathon) in 1 hour, 57 minutes, 47.1 seconds. He pulled away from Swede William Poromaa in the closing sprint by 2.1 seconds at Granasen Ski Center in Trondheim, about 10 minutes from where he lives. Commentator Chad Salmela said around 50,000 fans were expected to line the course. Klaebo, 28, became the first cross-country skier to win all six events at worlds since the program was expanded from five events to six starting in 2001 for men and 2003 for women. Russian Yelena Välbe won all five events at the 1997 Worlds, also in Trondheim. Klaebo began worlds by winning the sprint (a race less than three minutes) for a fourth consecutive worlds, then the 20km skiathlon (combining classic and freestyle skiing) and the 10km interval start. He then anchored Norway's team sprint and relay to gold. Klaebo's race Saturday was his toughest. His best event is the shortest. He had never won the 50km — the longest race — at a major championship, though he did cross the finish line first in 2021 before being disqualified for obstruction. Klaebo became the third skier to win both the sprint and the longest race at worlds since the sprint debuted in 2001. The others were Norway's Marit Bjoergen (2013) and Petter Northug (2015). Klaebo's 15 career World Championships gold medals across all events are second only to Bjoergen's 18. Next up for Klaebo is the finish of the World Cup season. He leads the World Cup overall standings and can win a fifth career overall season title, one shy of countryman Bjorn Daehlie's record. More history beckons next February. Klaebo already owns five Olympic titles from 2018 and 2022. He is three shy of the career Winter Olympic gold medals record across all sports. 'I'm not thinking much about 2026 right now,' Klaebo said last week. 'The main goal now is what we are doing here now, and what we're trying to accomplish here.' NBC Sports' Dan Meyer contributed to this report from Trondheim. Jessie Diggins, Julia Kern take silver in cross-country skiing world championships team sprint Jessie Diggins and Julia Kern won a team sprint medal for a second consecutive world championships. Nick Zaccardi, Nick Zaccardi,
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo is having a cross-country skiing world championships for the ages
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, the world's top male cross-country skier for much of the last decade, went into the world championships in his hometown of Trondheim with a shot at the greatest major competition performance in the sport's modern history. Klaebo is now just one (very long) race away from perfection. He has five gold medals in five events after anchoring the Norwegian men's relay to gold on Thursday with King Harald and Queen Sonja in attendance. "Just look at the atmosphere here and all the spectators," Klaebo, who lives 10 minutes from the Granasen Ski Center, said last week after being cheered on by 25,000 strong. "It's for sure something else and by far the coolest experience of my life." There is one event left for Klaebo to complete the first six-for-six world championships: the 50km on Saturday, a 31-mile endurance test and the only event that Klaebo has never won at an Olympics or world championships. Klaebo took 50km silver at the last worlds in 2023, one second behind countryman Pal Golberg after two hours on the snow. In 2021, Klaebo crossed the 50km finish line first, then was disqualified for obstructing another skier near the start of the final straight. Verdens Gang, Norway's largest tabloid newspaper, set (or echoed) the tone for these worlds after Klaebo won the first event, the sprint, last Thursday. On the sports section cover was Klaebo, standing on the top step of the podium, with a checklist graphic underneath him: One race down, five to go. That graphic was updated with second, third and fourth green checks on front pages following Klaebo's wins in the 20km skiathlon on Saturday, the 10km on Tuesday and the team sprint on Wednesday. Klaebo said he was 'living in a dream right now," according to the International Ski and Snowboard Federation. Then in Thursday's relay, he broke a tie with Petter Northug, Klaebo's predecessor as the sport's Norwegian king, for the most world titles for a male cross-country skier with the 14th of his career. He also became the second cross-country skier — male or female — to win five golds at a single worlds. Nobody has gone six for six since the program was expanded from five events to six starting in 2001 for men and 2003 for women. Klaebo, a 28-year-old coached by his grandfather, already owns five Olympic titles from 2018 and 2022. He is three shy of the career Winter Olympic gold medals record across all sports. It is too early to start dreaming about the Milan Cortina Games. He still has 31 miles left to ski at a world championships for the ages. "I'm not thinking much about 2026 right now," Klaebo said last week. "The main goal now is what we are doing here now, and what we're trying to accomplish here." NBC Sports' Dan Meyer contributed to this report from Trondheim. Jessie Diggins, Julia Kern take silver in cross-country skiing world championships team sprint Jessie Diggins and Julia Kern won a team sprint medal for a second consecutive world championships. Nick Zaccardi, Nick Zaccardi,
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Hardy Diggins leads next generation into cross-country's ‘wall of sound'
Competing in a Nordic world ski championships is always special, but doing so in the heartland of cross-country skiing elevates the experience to a whole different level. This year's edition kicks off in earnest on Thursday with the first medal events in Trondheim, the picturesque university town seated on the lip of a fjord in central Norway. More than 190,000 tickets have already been sold and the sport's most passionate fans will spend the next week and a half packed into vertigo-triggering grandstands around the finishing area. The intensity and tradition of ski racing in Norway create an intoxicating backdrop for any athlete, a challenge an upstart American contingent is keen to embrace. Cross-country skiing schedule All times EST. All events live and on-demand on Thu 27 Feb • Men's Skate Sprint, 6.30am • Women's Skate Sprint, 6.30am Sun 1 Mar • Men's 20k Skiathlon, 8am Mon 2 Mar • Women's 20k Skiathlon, 8am Wed 4 Mar • Men's 10k Classic, 7am • Women's 10k Classic, 9.30am Thu 5 Mar • Men's Classic Team Sprint, 8.30am • Women's Classic Team Sprint, 8.30am Fri 6 Mar • Women's 4x7.5k Relay, 6.30am Sat 7 Mar • Men's 4x7.5k Relay, 8am Sun 8 Mar • Men's 50k Skate, 5.30am Mon 9 Mar • Women's 50k Skate, 6.30am Jessie Diggins knows what's coming and what's required to meet the moment better than anyone. Reflecting on her first world championships at Oslo's storied Holmenkollen when Norway last hosted, she recalled Tuesday in a conference call with reporters, 'It's quite painful for me to watch my technique [in 2011], but I skied with a lot of guts and that has not changed.' She was just 19 then, still seven years away from her historic Olympic gold at Pyeongchang. Now 33, Diggins has built a legacy unlike any other American in the sport's history, but as she heads into this year's worlds, her famous tolerance for discomfort will be put to the test like rarely before. Related: 'I've seen winters change': Olympic champion Jessie Diggins refuses to shut up and ski Six weeks ago, an ache in her foot turned into searing pain. The diagnosis was plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of the tissue at the bottom of the foot. 'It was hard for me to walk,' she admitted. 'I felt like I was tearing my foot in half. … [But] I'm really lucky that my healing process has been freakishly fast.' With that injury in mind, she is taking a measured approach to the 10-day event, saying her race schedule will 'evolve' as things unfold. 'We'll check in after the skiathlon,' she said, adding that she will not race every event, a necessary precaution as she manages her recovery. Despite the injury, Diggins has been in stellar form. This season, the Minnesota native has already won six World Cup races, half of them since the onset of her foot pain, along with a bronze medal and a third-place finish in the marquee Tour de Ski. That's put her on course for a third overall crystal globe, cross-country skiing's biggest prize, something no woman from outside Europe had won even once until Diggins four years ago. But results, she insists, aren't everything. 'My big goal is to realize that I'm not my results and to separate my self-worth from the number next to my name on a piece of paper,' she said. 'I'm not really thinking about the outcome; it's more about who I want to be within the team. … And just crossing the finish line satisfied with what I've put out there.' While Diggins remains the centerpiece of Team USA, the emergence of Gus Schumacher and Ben Ogden is shaping the future of the American cross-country program. The 24-year-olds have taken enormous strides forward over the past two seasons and are looking to make their mark in Trondheim. Schumacher, a former junior world champion from Alaska who last year became the first American male to win a distance event since 1983, sees this event as an opportunity to showcase his team's potential. 'We're capable of winning,' he said. 'We may not be the favorites, but that doesn't mean we should count ourselves out.' His mindset, he says, has shifted from simply being in the pack to actively racing for the podium. Related: One year to the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics: Twenty athletes from Team USA to watch Ogden, a three-time NCAA champion at the University of Vermont known for his explosive racing style and easygoing nature, also enters worlds with mounting confidence after scoring his first career World Cup distance podium last month. Though he's battled illness in the weeks leading up to the event, he is focused on making an impact in select races. 'I had the flu recently, which wasn't ideal, but it beats getting sick now,' he said with a laugh. 'This season, my focus has been on targeting one or two races where I can really make an impact rather than spreading myself too thin.' For both Schumacher and Ogden, the camaraderie of the US men's team has been instrumental in their development. 'We all grew up racing each other,' Ogden said. 'There was nothing more motivating than beating Gus at junior nationals. Now it's about all of us pushing each other to get better. We want to take this team to the next level.' Strategic race selection will be key for all three American contenders, with multiple events spanning nearly two weeks. 'There's no bonus for doing medium-well in every race,' Ogden said. 'You have to pick your spots, recover well, and go all in when it matters.' Schumacher agreed, emphasizing the need to balance endurance and peak performance. 'There are three races in a row: the 10k, the team sprint, and the relay,' he said. 'We have to be smart about which ones we go all in for.' For Diggins, the US team's chief vibes officer whose trademark glitter-flecked cheeks and almost nuclear positivity have become her signatures, it's a lesson she has learned firsthand. Looking back on her 2023 world championships in Slovenia, where she captured a history-making 10km freestyle gold, she admitted she had blown past her limits. 'I was flying close to the sun – I was either going to win or burn out,' she said. 'This time, I'm trying to stay on the safer side of that line while still giving it everything I've got.' The excitement around the American camp has been palpable in the final run-up. The success of Diggins, Schumacher and Ogden has helped elevate US cross-country skiing to new heights, proving that Americans can compete with the traditionally dominant European countries. It's a movement Diggins, the author of so many US firsts, is especially proud to bear witness to. 'My job is to make sure these guys can take it further than I ever have,' she said. 'I want them to eclipse anything I've done.' The added significance of bringing their fight to cross-country's spiritual home is not lost on the US athletes, who know they are racing before some of the most knowledgeable and fervent spectators in the world. The party is right around the corner and the veteran Diggins is certain they will be ready for the cauldron. 'When you drop into the stadium, you'll be greeted by a wall of sound from 20,000 fans,' Diggins said. 'That's something you don't forget, and I'm going to soak it all in.'
