As soon as Team USA cross-country skier Jessie Diggins crossed the finish line on Thursday, she collapsed onto the snow and screamed — then climbed the podium with her bronze medal.
The 34-year-old earned her fourth career Olympic medal in the women's 10km interval start freestyle at the Milan Cortina Games, finishing in 22 minutes, 49.2 seconds behind Sweden's Frida Karlsson. Karlsson won her second gold of the Games, with teammate Ebba Andersson taking silver 46.6 seconds back. Diggins finished 49.7 seconds behind Karlsson.
Diggins raced the entire event with bruised ribs, an injury she sustained in a crash during the opening skiathlon. The injury knocked her out of contention in the individual sprint, where she fell in the heats.
"I need a new body," Diggins joked. "It's been one heck of a painful week. Two days ago, I was like, 'I don't know how I'm going to do this.'"
She wasn't even sure how she was stacking up during the race.
"I had no idea what place I was in," she said afterwards. "It's been disconcerting and really, really painful."
The bronze adds to a career haul that already included a 2018 Olympic team sprint gold, along with a silver and bronze at the 2022 Beijing Games. Diggins announced last November that 2026 will her final season competing.
"I just felt like I was skiing out of my body the whole time," Diggins said. "Just getting to the finish line felt like a gold medal."
