Jessie’s Olympic Dilemma

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In 2025, Jessie Diggins won the World Cup overall title for a third time—and for the second year in a row. How can such a terrific achievement end up creating a dilemma? Here’s how . . .

American media has numerous and gaping blind spots when it comes to winter sports. Skiing, skating, bobsled, luge, skeleton, biathlon, ski jumping, Nordic combined: Olympic and World Cup competitions are typically dominated by European sports-powers. And in coverage of those events, American sports journalists are notorious for not doing enough homework. They are overly simplistic in their understanding of winter sport events, seeming to assume that all events are the same, and that whomever wins one will win them all. American sportswriters often fail to consider race distance, event technique, conditions, equipment, and seasonality; factors that weigh heavily on the results in any cross-country skiing event. They just figure that skis are skis, and whomever is the best skier will win everything.

In taking on such a narrow focus, the American media—and, by association, American viewers—creates a unique dilemma for Jessie Diggins in their expectations for her Olympic performances. She’s three-time Overall World Cup Champion and three-time Olympic medalist. She is a truly accomplished cross-country skier. What those accomplishments decidedly do not prove is that Diggins is the best skier in the world (in the simplistic, pigeon-holing way that the American media would prefer). She’s absolutely one of the very best, but she’s definitely not the only one (as Diggins, herself, would be quick to remind us). When it comes to consideration of specific races on certain days, Diggins is likely to be considered a solid gold-medal favorite in only one Olympic event: the 10 k Freestyle Interval Start (an event she has regularly won on the World Cup circuit over the past few seasons). Even in this, her best event, Diggins is only one of the significant favorites. Therese Johaug (NOR), Jonna Sundling (SWE), Frida Karlsson (SWE), Ebba Andersson (SWE)—are all excellent skaters, and all are entirely capable of running away with the 10 k in Val di Fiemme. There are many contenders in these Women’s events, and that’s before the Russians even show up. Diggins can certainly win this race. On the other hand, the talents and heroics of other contenders could also result in Diggins finishing well off the podium. If that were to happen, the media would certainly express disappointment. That’s the dilemma that the media creates for Jessie Diggins.

In other races, Diggins has the potential to pop onto the podium—perhaps even to win a mass-start event—but this particular Olympic schedule is not structured in Diggins’ favor. In 2026, the Sprint will be a mass start event, but it’s Classic. The 50 k is a mass start event, but it’s Classic. Another chance for a Diggins medal exists in the Team Sprint, a Freestyle event in which she is likely to pair with teammate, Julia Kern, who showed such excellent form at the end of the 2025 season. The problem is that the American sports-media will trumpet the fact that America is home to the three-time World Cup Overall champion . . . a title that suggests (to the un-initiated) that such a champion should be capable of medaling in any event. Maybe even win them all! Three medals? Four medals? Five? Of course such results are possible, but it’s also a distinct unkindness to the athlete to suggest that we should expect such largess, to manufacture a situation in which we’ll be disappointed with anything less.

Jessie Diggins is the most accomplished cross-country skier who has ever worn the USA uniform. She races with unmatched intensity, and has refined both her fitness and her technique to degrees that make her a contender in virtually every event (as she has repeatedly proven). She follows the directions of an experienced team of coaches and technicians who remain firmly and expertly committed to her performance. And she has shown that she has the ability to win under even the brightest spotlights. The Olympic races in Val di Fiemme will be a chance for her to shine once more. Our hope is that American fans will be smart enough, and appreciative enough, and loyal enough to cheer her loudly, to praise her performances, and to join in the singing of the anthem whenever fitness and form and grit and luck produce the opportunity. When it does happen, it will likely be Jessie Diggins who has provided the opportunity for us.