10 to watch
Cross-country skier Jessie Diggins eyes medal.
USA TODAY profiles 10 top American athletes to watch during the Pyeongchang Olympics, which begin Feb. 9.
While cross country skiing is a mostly solitary pursuit, with hours of gliding along an icy trail or running for miles in the absence of snow, it’s the team element that brings out the best in Jessie Diggins.
Diggins, 26, from Afton, Minn., is already the United States’ most decorated cross-country skier in world championship history. But she’s the first to tell you that being a good teammate, a leader and a sparkplug of sorts is what matters most to her as a competitor.
“We’ve taken this individual sport for the most part and made it all about the relay, made it all about the team and all about the ski family,” Diggins said last fall. “That’s something that you don’t always see in individual sports, where we’re trying to race for something bigger than just ourselves.”
No American woman has won an Olympic medal in cross country skiing. In fact, Bill Koch is the only American to reach the Olympic podium in the sport, winning a silver medal in the 30-kilometer event at the 1976 Innsbruck Games.
Competing in her second Winter Games, Diggins is one to watch in part because of her success at world championships, the sport’s biggest competition outside the Olympics. At last year’s worlds in Lahti, Finland, she won two medals — a silver in the freestyle sprint and bronze along with Sadie Bjornsen in the classic team sprint. In addition, teammate Kikkan Randall took bronze in the sprint.
The success in Lahti could help set the tone for the team in Pyeongchang, says U.S. Ski & Snowboard CEO Tiger Shaw. Cross country events begin Feb. 10 with the women’s skiathlon.
“It was a huge breakthrough,” Shaw said of Lahti. “And the game is performing on the day of the event, when the moment comes, how to turn yourself on and perform. They get it. That was a result of meticulous timing, of training cycles, exhaustion, recovery and being prepared so that when they got on that starting line, they were as fresh and as strong as they could be. And they learned that over time.”
Diggins has four medals from worlds, which is even more impressive considering she has 16 starts in four championships.
She’s also the relay anchor. So if the Americans were to break through for a medal in the 4x5 relay, she will likely be the one to throw down the hammer.
In perhaps a sign that the team is peaking at the right time, Diggins won her final World Cup race before the Olympics, a 10K freestyle mass start Sunday. A day earlier, teammate Sophie Caldwell won a freestyle sprint. Coming into the Games, Diggins is third in the overall World Cup standings.
Positive vibe
That the U.S. team is a close-knit family might sound cliché, but it’s one reason the skiers train so well together.
“The analogy I like to use is we’re all these different pieces of the puzzle and it only works when everyone buys in and everyone provides leadership in their own unique way,” Diggins said. “So for me, I’m the team cheerleader, I’m the instigator, the one who’s like, hey guys we’re gonna do a team video and we’re gonna learn this dance and be silly and goofy. It’s gonna be super fun and we’ll get out of our racing head space for a little while and let loose. That’s what I provide to the team is a high energy, happy vibe. Everyone else provides totally different things too.”
Finding ways to let loose and having fun is part of the team’s culture. Diggins, who is 5-feet-4 and seemingly always smiling, choreographed the team’s dance to Uptown Funk before worlds in 2015. The video on Youtube has more than 100,000 views. “It was an awesome team bonding thing,” Diggins said.
Before races Diggins brings out glitter, which she swipes across her teammates’ cheeks for a little luck.
“It kind of loosens you up and reminds you that it’s just a race and it’s no crazy thing. It’s another day of what we do, and we’re prepared for it and you can have a lot of fun in the process,” Bjornsen said.
Julia Kern, who is on the U.S. development team, turns to Diggins for advice, sometimes with questions about testing skis or pacing a course but also the little details that go into competing in Europe for several months. How does she pack? What kind of snacks does she like?
“She kind of knows how important it is to have someone to look up to, a role model,” said Kern, who also skis with Diggins on SMS T2, a club team based at Stratton Mountain, Vt. “
Gaining confidence
Diggins has been steadily improving in her skiing since winning a surprising gold medal at the 2013 world championships with Randall in the team sprint. She’s always been a strong skate (or freestyle) skier and has improved her classic skiing to become more of an all-arounder. Classic skiing is kick and glide, while skate skiing is just like it sounds, more like ice skating or roller blading.
Jason Cork, Diggins’ personal coach who also is one of the coaches for the national team, says the improvement in her classic skiing is partly because of better technique.
“We’ve spent a lot of time with video just trying to think of good cues that work for her on how to use her arms better, kick better or get into a better body position,” he said.
Cork began working with Diggins as part of the Central Cross Country elite team in 2010. He’s seen her progression from a rookie on the national team to world champion.
“The biggest change is she’s got more confidence in herself now,” Cork said. “Whereas before, ‘I’m not very good at classic skiing, I’m just going to try to get through this race. Now it’s like OK, I’ve worked really hard at this. I’m going to make this happen today.’”
Diggins was on skis by age 3 and before that she was carried around in her mom and dad’s backpacks as they skied. She skied on the Stillwater High School team (in the Twin Cities) and then deferred an academic scholarship at Northern Michigan University. During that year, she decided to pursue a skiing career and put school on hold.
She’s been on the national team for seven years, and there’s a sense that the best is yet to come.
“As cross country skiers, this endurance sport, we don’t peak until our late 20s, early 30s,” Diggins said. “I’m 26 now and a lot has changed since the last Games.”