America’s most decorated cross-country skier, Jessie Diggins, has announced that she will retire at the end of the 2025–26 season, closing the chapter on one of the most influential careers in U.S. skiing history. The 34-year-old Minnesota native shared her decision less than 80 days before the Milan-Cortina Olympic Winter Games, where she is expected to make her fourth—and final—Olympic appearance.
”Skiing has given me more joy, challenge, courage and community than I could have ever imagined, which is why I want to take you all on this final year with me.“
— Jessie Diggins
Diggins’ retirement comes on the heels of a dominant 2024–25 campaign, a season that will now be remembered as her second-to-last. Last winter, she once again rewrote the record books, claiming her third overall World Cup title and completing her second consecutive sweep of both the overall and distance Crystal Globes. She led the World Cup standings from start to end, wearing the yellow leader’s bib from the first race weekend to the finale, and delivered six victories and seven podiums—including her first-ever classic race win in the 15-kilometer (9-mile) stage of the Tour de Ski.
Her season was defined not only by excellence but also by resilience. Diggins raced through plantar fasciitis and a partially torn ligament in her foot, missing only a handful of races yet still winning the distance title by a razor-thin two-point margin. At the 2025 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, she earned silver in the team sprint with Julia Kern, bringing her career total to seven World Championship medals. “I could win the overall Crystal Globe in a place of being really happy and mentally healthy,” Diggins said after sealing last season’s title. “There was more joy in the process, and there was less stress overall.” That mindset—joy, openness, and relentless drive—has been a defining part of her legacy.
Across her 15 years at the sport’s top level, Diggins amassed three Olympic medals, including the historic 2018 team sprint gold with Kikkan Randall, the first Olympic cross-country gold ever won by Americans. She earned 29 individual World Cup victories and stood on 79 World Cup podiums, achievements that make her the most successful U.S. cross-country skier of all time. In 2021, she became only the second American to win the overall FIS Crystal Globe, and remains the only non-European athlete to have won the overall FIS Crystal Globe three times.
Her impact, however, reached far beyond results. Diggins helped reshape the image of American cross-country skiing, turning the U.S. women’s team into a global force and inspiring an entire generation to imagine themselves on the World Cup circuit. She has long emphasized the importance of visibility in a sport historically dominated by Europeans, telling young athletes, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” She has been instrumental in bringing the FIS Cross-Country World Cup to Minneapolis in the 2024-25 season.
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Her advocacy extended well outside the racecourse. Diggins became a leading voice for mental-health awareness, speaking candidly about her own struggles with eating disorders and partnering with The Emily Program to educate the public about eating disorders. She also emerged as one of the most prominent climate advocates in winter sports, working with Protect Our Winters to spotlight how climate change threatens snow sports and alpine communities.
Diggins’ final season will begin later this month in Ruka, Finland, and conclude with the World Cup Finals in Lake Placid, New York, in March 2026. The Milan-Cortina Olympics will be the centerpiece of her farewell tour—an opportunity to close her career on the sport’s biggest stage, surrounded by teammates, fans, and a legacy she helped build.
“It’s going to be hard to step away from this sport and team that I love so much, but it also feels right in my heart, and I’m so excited to open a new chapter in my life!”
— Jessie Diggins
For an athlete who led with heart, joy, courage, and glitter, her final lap will be celebrated not just for the medals she won, but for transforming the significance of cross-country in America.
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