Three-time U.S. Olympian Jessie Diggins, 31, set another American Nordic skiing record Sunday, Dec. 18 on a bluebird day at Davos, Switzerland, where the FIS Cross Country World Cup was staged.
Diggins, 31, from St. Paul, Minnesota, captured her 14th World Cup victory and thus became the most decorated American cross-country skier in history. She led 49 skiers to the finish line in the 20-kilometer interval start freestyle race with a final time of 48:43, the day’s best by five seconds.
The 5-4, 128-pound U.S. Nordic Ski Team leader broke the World Cup race winning record that she had shared with her 2018 Olympic champion teammate Kikkan Randall. And Diggins improved her prize money earnings to $52,575 this season, which ranks second on the tour.
The FIS World Cup overall winner in 2021, Diggins moved into second place in the 2022-23 World Cup standings with 738 points trailing only Norway’s 26-year-old Tiril Udnes Weng through 10 of the season’s 34 scheduled race events.
The Davos races ended the tour’s first of four periods for the 2022-23 campaign. Diggins is one of four different women with two World Cup wins so far this season.
She was quoted in a U.S. Ski and Snowboard race report as saying, “I felt really good today, and felt I could push really hard. I was just trying to ski my own race and ski as smart and powerful as I could. This win means a lot, as it breaks an American record for the number of World Cup wins, which is super exciting and fun!”
Sharing Sunday’s podium with Diggins was 11th-year U.S. Nordic Ski Team teammate Rosie Brennan, 34, from Park City, Utah, and Alaska Pacific University. Brennan finished third overall in 48:54, 11 seconds off the winning pace of Diggins.
Davos has become a special place for Brennan. Two years ago, in December 2020, Brennan won her first two World Cup races there, taking the 1.5k freestyle sprint and, the next day, winning the 10k interval start freestyle event.
The Americans had a solid day of racing overall Sunday at Davos.
It was the first podium featuring two Americans since Diggins and Brennan finished 1-2 in back-to-back Tour de Ski stages in January 2021.
Among the top 50 racers earning World Cup points was University of Utah racer Sophia Laukli, who placed 17th overall and second among the U23 racers in the field. 
Post a comment as anonymous
Report
Watch this discussion.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In