Jessie Diggins was cross-country skiing before she could walk, hitching a ride in her Dad’s backpack, pulling his hair and telling him to ‘Mush!’ The apple didn’t fall far from the tree, and by three years old she was on skis of her own, sharing Dad’s passion for the sport. Little did they know at the time that a ferocious, ground-breaking competitor was in the making.
Jessie is known for two things, being able to “go deep into the pain cave”, ski-speak for pushing herself to the edge and beyond, and doing it with style, with a smile and with sparkles. Jessie began the team’s tradition of painting their faces on race day and finishing it up with a dusting of sparkles.
From Afton, MN, with a background in dance, swimming and soccer, Jessie was a nine-time Junior National Champion on skis. Within the senior ranks, she’s responsible for numerous American firsts:
•At 20, she was the youngest woman to finish top-5 in a World Cup distance race.
•In 2013, at just 21, she became the youngest American World Champion and the first U.S. Woman to win a Championship title (with teammate Kikkan Randall).
•At 22, she won silver at the U-23 World Championships, and went on to finish 8th at the Olympic Games in Sochi –tying the best-ever placement by an American woman at an Olympic Games in a distance event.
•During the 2015 season she ended a 33-year drought in championship level distance medals for Team USA by winning the silver medal at the World Championships in 10km skate.
•In 2015-16 she became the first American Woman to win a modern distance World Cup in the 5km skate individual race.
•In 2016-17 she won 5 World Cup medals & added both silver and bronze medals at the 2017 World Championships.
•In 2018, she and teammate Kikkan Randall became the first-ever winners of Olympic Gold.
Jessie Diggins
