USA’s best, Jessie Diggins, retires after her Cross Country Ski World Cup in Lake Placid

Jessie Diggins retired after her Lake Placid Cross Country World Cup race on Sunday. Photo: courtesy of Lake Placid Legacy Sites

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Four-time Olympic medalist Jessie Diggins, the U.S. Ski Team athlete who’s the most accomplished cross country ski racer in America’s history, skied in the last World Cup of her career, retiring in Lake Placid, New York, on Sunday.

She won the most points thus far this season, the season-long FIS Overall Crystal Globe for Distance. It was her third year in a row taking home one of the highly coveted trophies.

In the 20k Mass Start Women’s Free, Diggins was the top American finisher, crossing the line in 12th place. She was mostly in 4th, then 5th, then 6th, and at one brief point, 1st place in the laps when unfortunately for the massive crowds who’d flown in from around the country, alongside the droves of sign waving locals, she fell down as she rounded a downhill turn in rainy snow conditions in the final minute of the approximately 45 minute-long race. No one else was caught up in her crash, and she was able to get up immediately and sprint to the finish line, raising her arms as she skied over it in a gesture of respect to the audience clapping for her efforts throughout the day and the decades.

Nine other USA women crossed the line before Park City’s Rosie Brennan, who finished in 57th.

Diggins, 34, from Minnesota, was 9th in the Sprint Final on Saturday, and on Friday, she was 5th in the 10k Classic Interval Start.

This was a Men’s Cross Country World Cup, and one of the notable U.S. skiers was Reid Goble, who had won two gold medals as the Guide to visually impaired cross-country skier Jake Adicoff at the Milan-Cortina Paralympics.

Billy Demong, two-time Olympic medalist for Nordic combined, was the P.A. Announcer for this World Cup. The long-time Park City resident grew up in Lake Placid, honing his craft on that very cross-country course. Also at the New York World Cup from Park City was Kris Severson, working as the Venue Producer.

Before saying to anyone who asked that her day revolved around not her result but her gratitude for the Diggins, she hugged her husband after she crossed the final finish line, followed by her dad, mom, and sister, before joining her teammates in a celebratory rain of champagne.