Tears and Glitter Flow in Minneapolis as Diggins Finally Comes Home

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MINNEAPOLIS—The suspense and the nerves built all morning at Theodore Wirth Regional Park, where America’s cross-country skiers were set to contest their first World Cup race—the sport’s top competition circuit—in 23 years.

By the time Jessie Diggins took to the course, before thousands of adoring spectators, Joan Griffin, a longtime fan of the Minnesota-grown superstar, couldn’t hold her emotions in any longer.

“I cried,” said Griffin, 58. “My kids skied, and I used to tear up when they would go by. And I kind of felt that same way.”

All 24 Americans who competed in Saturday’s sprint race in Minneapolis had friends, family members and admirers among the crowd; fans turned out from Alaska, Wyoming, Illinois, New York and New England.

But the event was a literal homecoming for Diggins, 32, who grew up in Afton, 25 miles east. And at Wirth Park, she was the undeniable star of the show, taking a victory lap with Saturday’s race winners even though she placed fourth.

Diggins was the only U.S. team member to advance past the first of the three rounds of sprint heats. A wall of noise followed her as she skied past the crowds snaking along the course. And the fans, it turns out, were not the only ones who were moved.

“I’ve cried seven times today, and all for the best reasons,” Diggins told reporters after the race. “This is the coolest day in my entire racing career.”

That superlative, mind you, comes from an athlete with three Olympic medals and a world championship in her trophy case.

But you didn’t have to look hard Saturday to see why the moment meant so much to her.

Diggins has raced her entire professional career—more than 300 times—without ever having a chance to compete in a World Cup in her home country. In spite of the circuit’s name, it’s contested almost exclusively at venues in Europe.

Spectators from the Midwest who have waited years to see Diggins in action roamed Wirth Park wearing customized bibs printed with her face on them. Dozens of sign-toting family members arrived from Boston, Canada and Arizona to cheer her on, according to Minnesota’s Star-Tribune newspaper.

Race organizers tasked volunteers with applying glitter—one of Diggins’ trademarks—to the faces of willing fans. One spectator even spread a rainbow of it, meticulously, on his beard.

“My daughter said we’ve all got to glitter up,” said Robby Callahan Schreiber, 42. “We’ve got to match up with the ski team.”

Diggins’ appeal might be most compelling for girls and young women.

“Everything we do is about Jessie,” said Lily Ward, an 18-year-old who ski raced at the same high school as Diggins. “Glitter. We do the snow dances she used to do. We love her. The whole team loves her.”

But the loyalty cuts across many demographics. Drew Ross, 60, arrived at Saturday’s event with a copy of a six-year-old photo of his daughter posing with Diggins, hoping to get it signed.

“I’m not a sports fan, typically. But Jessie’s pretty real,” he said. “I’m inexplicably moved when I watch Jessie, and read about her.”

Griffin—the fan who cried when Diggins skied past—said the Minnesotan embodies the traits that people want in a professional athlete: positivity, teamwork and perseverance.

“I watch the races. I follow her on Instagram. I follow her on Facebook. I am a little bit crazy,” Griffin said. “She’s given women opportunities to be strong and athletic, and not be out there with people looking at them for their looks.”

The races in Minneapolis—and last week’s World Cups in Canada—also underscore how Diggins’ star power and influence extend behind the scenes.

Special World Cup rules allow the U.S. additional start spots when the circuit comes to North America. So the country has fielded an extra-large team at the races this month — including a number of World Cup rookies who have looked up to Diggins since they took up the sport.

“I never thought, in my life, I’d be on the same team as her,” said Emma Albrecht, a 22-year-old who went to Diggins’ high school and who raced her first-ever World Cups in Canada this month. Diggins helped Albrecht apply her pre-race glitter, in what she called a “starstruck moment.”

Diggins and other veteran American athletes, like Rosie Brennan, 35, have also helped lead team meetings and share practical advice with the newer athletes competing in Canada and Minneapolis, said Chris Grover, the U.S. cross-country team’s program director.

“They are actually providing all those little nuggets of how to approach the World Cup from a logistical standpoint,” Grover said. Those are things like where to drop backpacks of gear, which tactics to use, key elements of the courses and tips on pre-race workouts, Grover said.

There’s also a “real effect,” Grover added, when young athletes get to see superstars like Diggins and Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo race firsthand. Watching them up close, or having them sign autographs, “makes a difference in the lives of some kids that might go on to be ski racers,” Grover said.

“It’s so hard to make it tangible and objective and put your finger on exactly what the impact is,” Grover said. “But I think it is an impact. And it’s kind of amazing that we’ve had as much success as we’ve had without that.”