Jessie Diggins, Olympic gold medalist in US cross country skiing, to retire after 2025-26 season

American cross country skier Jessie Diggins says she’ll retire at the end of the 2025-26 season.

Diggins, 34, has won three Olympic medals, including the first cross country Olympic gold medal for the United States with teammate Kikkan Randall in 2018. She won three FIS Crystal Globes and has seven World Championship medals and 29 World Cup victories.

The skier from Afton, Minnesota, will start her final season Nov. 28 in Ruka, Finland. She’ll compete in the Winter Olympics next year and end her career at the Stifel Lake Placid Finals in Lake Placid, New York, March 19-22.

“I hope I’m remembered not just for the pain cave and ability to suffer deeply for a team that I love and a sport I care about so much, but for the joy, sense of fun on snow, heart-on-sleeve racing, deep vulnerability and openness that I’ve brought to everything I do,” Diggins said.

Diggins first made the national team in 2011. She won her first individual World Cup race in 2016. Her upcoming Olympic trip will be her fourth.

“Firstly, I want to congratulate Jessie on such a historic career,” said Sophie Goldschmidt, president and CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard. “As an organization, we are thankful for the culture she has helped build on the Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team alongside the excellent coaching staff and athletes, and the impact she has had on the world of ski racing.”

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