Jessie Diggins Ties The U.S. Record For Cross-Country Skiing World Cup Wins

Jessie Diggins takes 1st place in the women's 10 km individual event of the FIS Cross Country World Cup on Dec. 2, 2022 in Lillehammer, Norway.

Jessie Diggins skied into the U.S. record books once again on Friday when she won the women’s 10-kilometer freestyle in the cross-country world cup event in Lillehammer, Norway.

Diggins, a three-time Olympic medalist, notched her 13th individual world cup victory to tie former teammate Kikkan Randall for the most in U.S. history. She now has 41 career podium finishes on the world cup tour, including 15 victories.

In Lillehammer, the 2021 world cup overall champion finished the 3.3-kilometer loop course in 23 minutes, 49.5 seconds. She was followed by Katharina Hennig of Germany (23:53.3) and Norway’s Heidi Weng (24:04.9).

“First and foremost, I want to say thanks to the wax techs and the team,” Diggins said. “I am really proud of their effort because my skis were so awesome out there. I went into the race with the plan of trying to ski really smooth, pace it evenly, work the transitions and the corners, and push hard into the downhills and maximize every second that I could.

“My fitness and brain were in a really good place, and today I felt like when I asked my body to go deep into the pain cave, it responded.”

Diggins almost had another podium finish during Saturday’s events, as she finished fourth in the women’s sprint freestyle. Teammate Julia Kern, a 2022 Olympian, was eighth.

In the men’s sprint free final, 2022 Olympians Ben Ogden finished a career-best seventh and JC Schoonmaker was eighth.

“We had some awesome skis out there,” Diggins said. “It was so cool seeing the U.S. team as a whole having such a great day.”

Diggins capped her weekend with a ninth-place finish in Sunday’s 20-kilometer classic mass start. She finished 5.5 seconds behind winner Frida Karlsson of Sweden on the six-lap course.

“Overall, I am happy with where my body is at and where my fitness is at,” Diggins said. “There are always things I want to work on, and there are always learning opportunities out there. I definitely took some lessons away from this race that I want to apply forward to the next classic race.”

The world cup now goes to Beitostolen, Norway for a Dec. 9-11 competition, before heading to Davos, Switzerland on Dec. 17-18.