VAL DI FIEMME, ITALY — Afton’s Jessie Diggins clinched a dominant third title in cross-country skiing’s Tour de Ski on Sunday, just over a month before the start of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Diggins began the sixth and final stage of the competition — raced entirely in Italy this year — with a 79-second lead.
The 34-year-old Diggins was second in the 10-kilometer leg that ended with a grueling climb up Mount Cermis, less than nine seconds behind stage winner Karoline Simpson-Larsen, to claim the title with an overall time of 2 hours, 11 minutes, 26.1 seconds.
“Honestly, the Tour de Ski is one of the hardest things to win,” Diggins told U.S. Ski and Snowboard. “When we won the Olympics, it’s amazing, it’s really special, but that’s one race and the Tour is day after day after day after day after day. You have to put it together back to back, you have to be on, and you have to keep together under cumulative pressure, and that is really hard. It’s hard on you and it’s hard on the team, and I am so proud of the team for winning.”
Diggins finished two minutes and 17.7 seconds ahead of Austria’s Teresa Stadlober in Val di Fiemme, the region that will host cross-country skiing at the Winter Olympics.
Heidi Weng of Norway was third overall, 2:31.6 behind Diggins.
In 20 years of the marathon competition, Diggins’ victories in 2021 and 2023 and her third place in 2019 and last year are the only other podium finishes by an American man or woman. Diggins announced before the season began that she will retire this year.
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo of Norway won the men’s tour for a record fifth time, ahead of compatriot Mattis Stenshagen, who crossed the line first at the top of Alpe Cermis to finish 30.1 behind his teammate.
