Team Toyota’s Jessie Diggins Becomes First American Woman to Medal in Olympic Long-Distance Cross-Country Race

BEIJING (Feb. 21, 2022) – At 30 years old, Team Toyota’s Jessie Diggins won her third-career Olympic medal, taking second place in the women’s cross-country skiing 30km freestyle mass start at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. Diggins became the first American woman to medal in an Olympic long-distance cross-country race with her silver medal performance on Sunday.

“It’s really emotional,” said Diggins to TeamUSA.org. “That’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my whole life, especially because I had food poisoning 30 hours ago, which is why I thought I was going to die at the finish line. It was so special to see my family and my fiancé right afterwards on video. My legs were cramping the whole last 17 kilometers. I don’t know how I made it to the finish. It was amazing.”

With a time of 1:26:37.3, Diggins’ podium appearance marks her second individual Olympic medal of the Games and her first-career silver medal, which she received at the Olympic Winter Games Closing Ceremony. The medal also makes Diggins the first non-European skier to win a medal in this specific event and the first American to win multiple cross-country medals in the same Olympics. Diggins is now the most decorated American in cross-country skiing.

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