MILAN — Jessie Diggins, the most decorated cross-country skier in U.S. history, is adding to her collection of Olympic hardware.
Following two disappointing results to start the 2026 Winter Olympics, Diggins returned to the podium and claimed a bronze medal in the women’s 10km freestyle interval start on Thursday following a gutsy performance that ended with her wailing in pain.
The 34-year-old competed with bruised ribs suffered in a ‘big crash’ on Saturday, which made it difficult to breathe and ski, Diggins told NBC. Diggins collapsed in exhaustion after crossing the finish line in bronze-medal position with a time of 23:38.9. Her effort secured her fourth career Olympic medal in her fourth and final Games.
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Diggins immediately grabbed at the right side of her abdomen after she collapsed in the snow. She remained down for several minutes as American teammate Hailey Swirbul took off her skis and consoled her. Swirbul eventually helped Diggins to her feet and they shared an embrace, before Diggins’ signature smile emerged.
Diggins had to dig deep into the pain cave during the race, a “special place” she goes when things get tough.
“It’s metaphorical,” she explained to USA TODAY Sports in November. “When everything hurts, your whole body is screaming at you to stop, your lungs are on fire, your muscles are seizing up, and you just figure out how to keep moving forward anyway. So then you’re in the pain cave, you’re slogging through it.”
Sweden’s Frida Karlsson (22:49.2) and Ebba Andersson (23:35.8) finished in first and second place. Sweden has dominated the women’s cross-country events so far at the 2026 Winter Games. Karlsson and Andersson finished first and second in the 10km + 10km skiathlon and the Swedes swept the podium in the women’s sprint classic.
Thursday’s result marks Diggins’ best Olympic finish in the 10km freestyle after previously finishing fifth at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and eighth at the 2022 Beijing Games. Her medal follows U.S. skier Ben Ogden’s silver medal finish in the men’s sprint classic on Tuesday.
Diggins bounced back from a disappointing start to the 2026 Winter Games. She finished in fifth place in the women’s 10km + 10km skiathlon on Saturday after the crash and failed to qualify for the women’s sprint classic quarterfinals on Tuesday, the same event she medaled in at the 2022 Beijing Games. The women’s sprint classic result ended Diggins’ streak of finishing in the top 10 in all six women’s events in both the 2018 and 2022 Games.
Despite the injury, Diggins was all smiles before pushing out the starting gate from the 44th position in the women’s 10km freestyle. She sported purple sparkles on her cheeks, continuing a pre-race ritual she’s done for as long as she can remember.
Her parents Clay and Debra Diggins were in the stands to cheer her on as she jumped for joy on the podium at the medal ceremony. Chants of ‘Jes-sie! Jes-sie!’ broke out among the crowd.
Diggins credits her parents with sparking her passion for skiing, reminiscing of riding in a backpack on her father’s back as her parents skied every weekend. ‘Some of my formative memories (are) pulling on my dad’s hair and yelling at him to go faster,’ she told USA TODAY Sports with a smile.
Diggins won Team USA’s first Olympic gold in cross country skiing in the team sprint alongside Kikkan Randall at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. She claimed bronze in the sprint classic at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and Diggins added to her set with a silver in the 30k freestyle at the Beijing Games.
In the 10km interval start free, skiers start one by one at 30-second intervals. The freestyle technique, where skiers makes lateral movements relative to the direction of travel, is used throughout the race.
In addition to Diggins, Americans Novie McCabe (finished 31st; 25:12.8), Kendall Kramer (37th; 25:34.9) and Hailey Swirbul (38th; 24:45.3) were also in the field.
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