Jessie Diggins seals extraordinary fourth World Cup title before retirement on home snow
Jessie Diggins clinched another cross-country skiing World Cup overall title on Friday with a fifth-place finish in the 10km classic at the World Cup finals in Lake Placid, New York. Photograph: Action Press/Shutterstock No woman from outside Europe had ever captured the cross-country skiing World Cup overall title until Jessie Diggins in 2021. Now she’s won it four times.
Diggins clinched yet another crystal globe in the twilight of her glittering career on Friday, securing the season crown with a fifth-place finish in the 10km classic at the World Cup finals in Lake Placid, New York. The Minnesota-born star locked up the title with two races remaining in the season-ending weekend, giving her a third consecutive overall title and fourth in total. Diggins entered the finals with a 342-point lead over Sweden’s Moa Ilar.
With a maximum of 345 points available across the three races, Ilar needed to sweep the weekend program and have Diggins finish near the back of the field to have any chance of overtaking her. Instead, Diggins’ result on Friday eliminated whatever doubt remained. She finished in 29min 36.
9sec in snowy conditions in the Adirondacks. Ilar, who started earlier in the interval race, faded to eighth. Sweden’s Linn Svahn won in 29min 4.
4sec, followed by Frida Karlsson, with Norway’s Heidi Weng third. The result also secured the distance title for Diggins. Diggins becomes the first woman to win three straight overall World Cup titles – cross-country skiing’s biggest prize – since Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk from 2009 to 2011.