Last dance for Diggins: 'I just want to enjoy it'

The 2025/2026 Coop FIS Cross-Country World Cup season will be a special one in many ways for US superstar Jessie Diggins. The 34-year-old is not only chasing a third consecutive Crystal Globe as the overall World Cup winner – something only two other women, Marjo Matikainen (FIN) and Justyna Kowalczyk (POL), have achieved – but also Olympic glory at her fourth Games, Milano Cortina 2026, in February.

And with just over a week to go until the season opener in Ruka, Finland, on Friday, November 28, Diggins announced that this winter will be her last. The final stop of the season, at Lake Placid, USA, will be the farewell show for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Team Sprint champion, whose goal for the season is to cherish every minute of her last dance.

"I just want to enjoy it," she said.
"Everything since the Minneapolis World Cup (in February 2024) has felt like a victory lap and it's just been super cool.
"I don't want to sound like 'I'm just happy to be here,' but I am. I want to enjoy it, soak it in, have fun with it, and be happy and healthy. That’s my biggest goal."

Her second-biggest goal, however, is to "go after the Olympics with everything I have."

"That is the peak of the season and it’s the high point," Diggins said.

The only thing she has done differently in her preparations is to time her peak for February, when the Olympic action begins in Val di Fiemme, Italy, where she won the Team Sprint world title with Kikkan Randall in 2013.

After her historic first USA Cross-Country gold medal in PyeongChang, also teaming up with Randall, Diggins earned Sprint bronze and 30 km silver medals – both in Freestyle – at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games. Considering the circumstances, she views that silver as the proudest racing moment of her career.

"The fact that I'd battled through food poisoning and chosen to start the race, and then one minute into the race got tangled up and crashed and fell, and got up – it was just like everything had gone wrong and I’d decided to go after it anyway," she said.
"I had no business going in the breakaway and I definitely had no business skiing alone, with a body that was falling apart and cramping, but I got to that finish line and it was the biggest battle ever. I was really proud of how deep I had to dig and how positive I had to stay in my brain."

Her proudest career moment not tied to a podium, however, was the warm-up lap she skied in her hometown of Minneapolis before one of the World Cup races there in 2024.

“When you’re racing, you can feel the crowd, but when you’re warming up, you can really see the crowd and be in it with them,” she said.
“I cried like 12 times and it was the coolest moment of my entire career, being part of bringing together 20,000-plus fans.”

In her final season, she hopes to create new magical moments, as every stop will be her last. There is plenty to look forward to for the three-time Crystal Globe winner, who plans to race as much as possible.

There will, however, be tough competition for World Cup podiums, overall standings, Tour de Ski titles, and Olympic medals.

At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2025 in Trondheim, Norway, Sweden swept all six women’s gold medals. Sprint ace Jonna Sundling, who won the Sprint, Team Sprint, and 4 × 7.5 km Relay, in addition to Skiathlon bronze, will be the woman to beat in the shorter distances this season. Norway’s Kristine Stavaas Skistad, who claimed Sprint silver on home snow, will be eager to challenge her.

Sweden’s Ebba Andersson also left Trondheim with three gold medals after triumphing in the Skiathlon, the 10 km Individual Classic, and the Relay, and will be a favorite in the longer races this winter. Her teammate Frida Karlsson, however, who won the 50 km Mass Start Free world title, will also be a force. The 26-year-old did not step on snow for eight months after beating Norway’s Heidi Weng and bronze medalist Therese Johaug in the final event of the Championships, and what she lacks in snow time she hopes to make up for in eagerness.

Sprint star Linn Svahn (SWE) missed the World Championships after suffering a concussion in training in Trondheim and sat out the remainder of the season, but she has looked strong since returning to snow this winter and should challenge Olympic champion Sundling for the Sprint crown.

In the overall World Cup standings last year, however, the Swedes were nowhere near Jessie Diggins, who would move joint-second for the most overall titles in history if she wins a fifth this year. Ebba Andersson was the only Swedish skier in the top ten. Finland’s 37-year-old Kerttu Niskanen claimed overall third behind Victoria Carl (GER), while her teammate Jasmi Joensuu, 29, won the Sprint Crystal Globe and finished ninth overall.

Overall No.4, Norway’s Astrid Øyre Slind, also 37, produced an impressive season and will look for more long-distance success this winter. With only two prior World Cup podiums, Slind took her first World Cup victory in December 2024 and went on to win three more before the season ended. She reached 14 World Cup podiums, won World Championships relay silver, and finished second behind Diggins in the overall Tour de Ski standings.

Czechia’s Katerina Janatova showed excellent consistency last season to finish sixth overall and will be one to watch as she chases her first World Cup podium. The 28-year-old came close with a fourth-place finish in the 10 km Interval Start Free in Cogne, Italy.

The 2025/2026 World Cup circuit will visit seven nations across Europe and North America. Returning to Oberhof after a one-year absence from Germany, the World Cup will also feature the 50 km Mass Start returning to the iconic Holmenkollen venue in Oslo, Norway. The season finale in Lake Placid is perfect timing for Diggins.

“It will still only be my second World Cup weekend racing in my own country, which is pretty special, pretty magical,” she said.

There are several other courses she looks forward to skiing one last time.

“I’m really excited to rip one last really fast one in Falun (Sweden). I love that course—I think it’s really fun and exciting,” she said.
“I’ve always loved racing in Italy. I’ve always loved being in Italy in general, so Toblach and Val di Fiemme will be really cool. And then yes, the last Holmenkollen will be really exciting because it’s iconic and it’s where I had my first World Championships in 2011. I’m excited for every venue and every stop—it’s going to be cool and unique in its own way.”

To mark the 20th edition of the Tour de Ski, a new race format will debut in Stage 3 in Toblach (ITA). Known as the Heat Mass Start, around 20–25 skiers per gender—determined by the general classification, with a maximum of three athletes per team—will compete over 5 km in separate heats. As soon as one heat finishes, the next begins.

Diggins's decision to retire developed gradually. As a USA cross-country skier, much of the year is spent in Europe, and after her career she wants more time at home with her husband and loved ones.

"Besides knitting and stuff, I am really excited to have a bit of a rest," Diggins said of what comes next.
"I'm just excited to do a lot of gardening and, most of all, to be at home with my husband. He’s been the most supportive person in the whole world and now it’s going to be our time together – and for me not to be on the road for several months of the year. I’m very much looking forward to that."

As much as she has loved seeing the world through Cross-Country skiing, the many hotel nights, early flights and strict routines started to take their toll.

"When you’re 20 years old and you're not dating anyone, being on the World Cup is great – you're not leaving anyone at home. But over time you start thinking, 'this is getting harder and harder. There's the rest of my life, my family, my friends, and most importantly, my husband Wade," she said.

She is now looking forward to "being able to wash your clothes whenever they are dirty, cook the food that you want, sleep in your own bed and get up at the time that makes sense for you because you don’t have to catch your 6am flight".

Announcing her retirement, Diggins was overwhelmed by the love she received on social media.

"It was really touching. It's kind of like attending your own funeral, but in a good way, because suddenly you see all the really nice things people are saying about you," she said.

You're like, 'this is so overwhelming, but in the absolute best way ever'. It was just really humbling.

After 358 World Cup starts, 79 podiums, and 29 victories, Diggins hopes to continue inspiring people off the course through keynote speaking.

“I’ve done quite a bit of it and I found that I loved it. It’s a chance when, hopefully, it doesn’t have anything to do with my fitness—it’s all about the storytelling and leaving the audience with that little piece of you,” she said.
“I’m really passionate about keynote speaking and trying to inspire people that way, so I’m not trying to inspire people by collapsing at the finish line any longer, but hopefully by sharing my words and my story. And I want to run 100 miles at some point.”

In the future, Diggins could also see herself taking a more hands-on role in inspiring the next generation.

"I could see myself coaching, especially (skiers) at a young age," she said.

"I had so much fun forming core memories on skis, and it would be so cool to introduce kids to the sport and coach at a young level – and make sure that it’s fun."

Always a role model for speaking openly about issues including eating disorders and mental health, staying silent about her retirement was never an option.

"It did cross my mind that I could just skip off into the sunset – I don’t have to tell everybody – but at the same time, that's not my style," she said.

And while there is still plenty left to win this season, she knows perfection is not required. Having announced her retirement, she can enjoy every moment – surrounded by friends, family, and fans – in a different way.

Knowing that this is my last year and my last Olympics, I think it just frees me to enjoy it, even when it is hard, because it's the last time I'm ever going to do it," she said.

"It's not like just because it's the last time, it has to go perfectly. My career is this entire body of work, and I just want to be there and be present and enjoy every single day and every single race.

Is it a definite goodbye then? One of the big talking points one year ago was Norway's Cross-Country queen Therese Johaug coming back from retirement – and childbirth – to do one last season, with the home World Championships as the main target.

"Never say never, but I’m going to say that I’m right now at a percentage of certainty of 99.999 that I am retiring," Diggins said.

The 2025/2026 Coop FIS Cross-Country World Cup season begins with the men’s and women’s 10 km Interval Start Classic in Ruka, Finland, on November 28.

Click here for the full World Cup schedule and here to follow FIS Cross-Country on Youtube.