Neal: Jessie Diggins, Afton’s real-life Ethan Hunt, coming close to Olympic finish line

Four years ago, I stood among reporters in the mountains of Zhangjiakou, China, interviewing an exhausted Jessie Diggins, who had just skied the anchor leg of the 4x5km relay. It was the fourth of six races she was scheduled to participate in at the 2022 Olympics.

Diggins was asked about the workload, if she had two more races in her.

“I’m stoked,” she replied. “Bring it!”

She didn’t know at the time what would be required of her. Her final race was the 30km freestyle, the longest event on the program. The night before, Diggins came down with food poisoning, unable to keep anything down. Yet she eventually ate soup and oatmeal and willed herself to the starting line on a windy day with 5-degree temperatures. Then came cramps. Then Diggins got confused about what lap she was on and had to ask one of her coaches. Then her vision blurred.

Her body was telling her to give up. Her mind told her body to shut up.

She collapsed at the finish, with someone rushing over with a blanket — and a U.S. flag. Diggins had won a silver medal, tying the highest finish by an American in an individual cross-country skiing race.

“That might have been the best race of my life,” she told reporters afterward. “I’m not going to lie. It also may be the hardest race of my entire life.”

On Saturday, Feb. 14, Diggins anchored the women’s 4x7.5km relay. Team USA was in sixth when Diggins took off. They ended up finishing fifth, tying their best Olympic result in the event.

Never mind that Diggins is still suffering from bruised ribs following a spill early in the 20km skiathlon on Feb. 7. Her right side was searing with pain, her breathing irritating the injury. At the 3.3km mark — after the crash — she was 21st. She surged to finish eighth. On Feb. 10, she placed 17th in the sprint classic, unable to advance out of the quarterfinals.

Two days later came the 10k freestyle, considered her best chance at a medal. Diggins smiled seconds before beginning her run. It was a hint that, ribs be darned, she was about to bring it.

She panted in pain as she crossed the finish line, needing help from a teammate. But Diggins finished with a bronze medal, which will be one of the enduring memories of these Olympics. She would later say it was the most pain she’s ever dealt with during a race.

“I thought I was going to maybe pass out or die,” Diggins said immediately afterward. “It would have been nicer if I could have passed out.”

It has been mesmerizing to watch two Minnesotan Olympians in particular this month.

One is Diggins, who opted not to wait until the Olympics and ski season were over to announce her retirement. She did it at the beginning of the season and, since then, has allowed fans, volunteers and anyone around her to enjoy her farewell tour. She’s taking mental snapshots during her final races, and so are we.

The other is Burnsville’s Lindsey Vonn, 41, who made the Olympic team decisively after coming out of retirement and did not let a knee injury she suffered right before the Olympics keep her from competing. It didn’t end well, as she clipped a gate on her downhill run, tumbled and suffered leg fractures that have required multiple surgeries.

Two women pushing the pain threshold. Two athletes who squeezed everything out of their careers.

Diggins has two more races, the team sprint freestyle on Feb. 18 and the 50km mass start on Feb. 22. Maybe her ribs will be better by the time she lines up for the final event. Maybe they won’t.

Either way, it won’t matter for one of Minnesota’s greatest athletes.

Violently ill one day, followed by silver in China.

Painful ribs making it hurt to breathe, followed by bronze in Italy.