Jessie Diggins talks Olympic pressure
Olympic medalist Jessie Diggins shares how she manages expectations and pressure heading into Italy as a cross-country skier.
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MILAN — Cross-country skiing is one of the longest-standing Winter Olympic sports.
While alpine skiing primarily focuses on speed and technique, cross-country skiing is all about distance and endurance. Cross-country skiing courses are relatively flat with some climbs and descents mixed in, but even the shortest race can be exhausting for athletes, who often collapse at the finish line after emptying their tank.
American Jessie Diggins is the most decorated cross-country skier in U.S. history. She’ll look to add to her hardware in her fourth and final Games in Milano Cortina. Meanwhile, the U.S. men are looking to end a nearly 50-year Olympic medal drought. American Bill Koch won a silver medal in 30km at the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Olympics, marking the country’s first and only Olympic cross-country skiing medal in a men’s event.
All cross-country skiing events will be held at the Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium in Val di Fiemme, Italy.
When did cross-country skiing become a Winter Olympic sport?
Cross-country skiing is the oldest form of skiing and dates back to the first Olympic Games in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The women’s events were added to the program at the 1952 Oslo Winter Olympics.
How does Olympic cross-country skiing work?
Cross-country skiing includes a total of 12 events and for the first time in Olympic history, men and women will race the same distances. Cross-country skiing is divided by technique: classic and free. In the classic technique, the skier glides along tracks etched in the snow, while in the free technique, the skier makes lateral movements relative to the direction of travel. Both men and women compete in each of these events:
- 10km + 10km skiathlon: Every skier starts at the same time in this event, which features a combination of classic and free technique. Skiers start using the classic technique, before switching to free at the halfway point. The first athlete to cross the finish line wins.
- Sprint classic: Skiers start one by one at 15-second intervals. The classic technique is used throughout the race. The top 30 finishers through qualifying rounds advance to the quarterfinals, where five groups of six athletes compete. The top two finishers from each group, plus two “lucky losers” with the fastest time that didn’t already qualify, advance to the semifinals. The top two from each heat, in addition to two “lucky losers,” advance to the final. The first skier to cross the finish line wins.
- Team sprint free: Each team is made up of two athletes who alternate laps. The qualifying rounds feature two total laps (one for each team member), with teams starting at 30-second intervals. In the final round, teams start at the same time and complete six total laps (three per team member). Whoever crosses the finish line first wins.
- 4×7.5km relay: Each team — which is made up of four athletes — starts at the same time. Each member of the team races the same distance and whoever crosses the finish line first wins.
- 10km interval start free: Skiers start one by one using the freestyle technique.
- 50km mass start classic: Every skier starts at the same time. The first across the finish line wins.
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Top Team USA athletes
- Jessie Diggins: The 34-year-old has three Olympic medals. She won Team USA’s first Olympic gold in cross country alongside Kikkan Randall, when the duo won the team sprint in 2018 at Pyeongchang. Diggins won a silver in the 30k freestyle at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and became the first American to win an individual sprint medal with a bronze in women’s sprint. She finished in the top 10 in all six women’s events in both 2018 and 2022. Milano Cortina will mark Diggins’ fourth and final Winter Olympic Games, she announced in November.
- Gus Schumacher: Schumacher, 25, earned his first World Cup win in the 10km freestyle in February 2024, becoming the first U.S. man to win a World Cup individual distance race in 41 years. Schumacher followed with a second-place finish in the 20km freestyle mass start in February 2025.
- Ben Ogden: Ogden, who turns 26 on Feb. 13, picked up his second career World Cup podium finish with a bronze in the 10 km freestyle in January 2025.
- Julia Kern: Kern and Diggins took silver in team sprint at the 2025 World Ski Championships in March 2025. It was an upgrade from the duo’s bronze-medal finish at the 2023 World Championships.
International landscape
Norway swept all of the men’s events at the 2025 World Championships, led by five-time Olympic gold medalist Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, who topped the podium in all six events. Klaebo enters Milano Cortina as the two-time Olympic sprint and team sprint champion and is going for a three-peat in both events. He’s the most decorated male cross-country skier of all time with seven Olympic medals and 18 World Championship medals.
On the other side of the spectrum, all the women’s events at the 2025 World Championships were swept by Sweden. Swedish skiers Ebba Andersson, Jonna Sundling and Frida Karlsson have a combined six Olympic medals and 32 World Championship medals.
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