In a dominant statement heading into the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, Team USA’s Jessie Diggins has won the 2025–26 Tour de Ski—her third Tour de Ski victory after previously winning the 2020-21 and the 2023-24 race. The final two stages of this season’s tour were held in the 2026 Olympic venue Val di Fiemme, boding well for Diggins’ bid for Olympic medals.
The Tour de Ski is an annual multi-stage cross-country skiing competition and one of the most prestigious events in the sport. Modeled after cycling’s Tour de France, it takes place over several days around New Year and features a series of races held at different locations across Europe. It is part of the FIS Cross-Country World Cup calendar and is considered a test of endurance, versatility, and tactical skill. The Tour features six races over eight days at iconic cross-country venues in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and Czechia, with Val di Fiemme traditionally serving as the finale. This year, however, the Tour is being held entirely in Italy, with Toblach hosting four events and Val di Fiemme the final two. Similar to the Tour de France, if an athlete does not finish a stage or drops out, they cannot continue in the Tour.
This year’s Tour de Ski opened in Toblach, Italy, on December 28, 2025, and concluded in Val di Fiemme on January 4, 2026. On Sunday, skiers faced the iconic Final Climb up Alpe Cermis—a brutal uphill pursuit that often determines the overall standings.
Diggins entered the final stage with a commanding lead—more than a minute ahead of her rivals—and skied a smart race on the 10 km mass start freestyle to secure the title with a total time of 2:11:26.1. Although she finished second on the day behind Norway’s Karoline Simpson-Larsen, her overall margin was decisive, finishing 2:17.7 ahead of Austria’s Teresa Stadlober in the final standings. Norway’s Heidi Weng completed the podium.
This marks Diggins’ third Tour de Ski victory, cementing her place among the sport’s all-time greats. She remains the only American—male or female—to win the Tour de Ski overall, a testament to her resilience and consistency across stages and formats. “This is one of the hardest things to win,” Diggins said of the Tour’s challenge, where athletes must deliver top-level performances day after day with little recovery. “Training, team support, great skis every day — it really takes everything from everyone.”
U.S. Team success extended beyond Diggins. On the men’s side, Gus Schumacher delivered a breakthrough Tour performance, finishing seventh overall, the best finish by an American man in Tour de Ski history. Schumacher also notched strong individual results through the week, including a World Cup stage win in Toblach, underscoring the growing depth of U.S. Nordic skiing.
As Diggins prepares for what she has announced will be her final season on the World Cup circuit, this Tour de Ski victory comes at a perfect moment—both as a personal milestone and as a major confidence boost ahead of the Olympic Games in Val di Fiemme next month. With the Olympics on the same terrain where she claimed this historic win, American fans now have even more reason to anticipate a strong showing from one of their greatest winter sports champions.
