With the first period of the World Cup schedule behind her, Jessie Diggins has yet to reach the top of the podium. In an Olympic year, that goal becomes secondary.
Instead, the objective is to peak for the Winter Games in February, and Diggins' results in the first two months of cross-country skiing competition were good enough to secure her spot at the Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea. The Afton native qualified for her second Olympic team by recording three top-eight finishes in December in events that are part of the Winter Games program. Monday, she earned her first World Cup medal of the season, finishing third in the 10-kilometer freestyle pursuit at the Tour de Ski in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
Sadie Bjornsen and Sophie Caldwell are among the early other qualifiers for the U.S. Olympic cross-country team.
"Qualifying in the first period of the World Cup feels great,'' Diggins said Wednesday via e-mail from Germany. "I'm on track, and my results are right where I want them to be. … I always want to race well on the World Cup circuit, but my biggest goals have been set for the Olympics.''
A 2014 Olympian, Diggins, 26, has nine top-10 finishes on the World Cup circuit this season and is sixth in the overall standings.
In December, Diggins placed sixth in a classic sprint and fifth in a skiathlon in Lillehammer, Norway, then was seventh in a 10K freestyle race in Toblach, Italy. She will race in multiple events at the Olympics.
Diggins finished second Wednesday in the qualifying heats for a classic sprint in Oberstdorf, Germany, before the finals were canceled because of bad weather. She is in third place in the Tour de Ski, a six-stage race that concludes Sunday in Italy.
The full U.S. Olympic cross-country team will be named Jan. 25.
