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Afton native Jessie Diggins finally got World Cup skiing to Minnesota: ‘I can retire happy’

Dane Mizutani, Pioneer Press
·3 min read

Afton native Jessie Diggins has been to the top of the mountain in cross country skiing. She won a gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics. She has twice championed the Tour de Ski. She has established herself as the face of the sport over the past decade.

That said, for Diggins, the highlight of her career will come this weekend at Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis. That’s where the Loppet Cup will take place — with sprint races on Saturday and distance races on Sunday — as the World Cup officially descends upon Minnesota. It’s the first time in more than 20 years that a World Cup race will be hosted in the U.S.

“This is really emotional for me, so if I start crying, bear with me,” Diggins said Friday at an introductory press conference. “This is something I’ve wanted to do forever.”

Though she started lobbying early in her career for a Word Cup race to be held in her home state, Diggins, 32, has been extremely vocal about it since the 2018 Winter Olympics. She did something like 50 public appearances in the 100 days after winning the gold medal and constantly made it known that she wanted the World Cup to come to Minnesota.

She was relentless in her pursuit.

“I just wouldn’t shut up about it,” she said with a laugh. “I just became a real pest.”

All the prodding paid off with the World Cup initially set to arrive in Minnesota in March 2020. Then the world shut down due to the pandemic in the final week leading up to the event. There were a lot of tears in the aftermath to go along with some fears that Minnesota might have missed its chance.

That wasn’t the case. After the Loppet Foundation rallied together for another bid, Minnesota was once again awarded a World Cup race. This time around has come with its own set of struggles as unseasonably warm temperatures across the Twin Cities have made life difficult for organizers.

Asked about the hard work that went into the event, Diggins heaped praise on the Loppet Foundation for going above and beyond to make sure it happened.

“It hasn’t totally felt real because this is something I’ve been wanting for so long,” Diggins said. “I’m really hoping that I’ll be able to take in as much I can because it definitely feels like a really awesome dream.”

Not surprisingly, Diggins will have a large contingent of family members and friends in the crowd this weekend. This will be the first time a lot of them get to see her compete in person.

“It’s so special and meaningful to know that I’m going to have so much love out there,” she said. “Sometimes that makes me feel like, ‘I have to win because everybody is here watching me.’ I know I don’t. I just have to go out there and race my heart out, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

What would it mean to win a World Cup race in her home state?

“Hopefully, if I have my priorities straight, it won’t make anything different,” Diggins said. “The real win was getting to be here because this is something that we’ve wanted for so long. It would be awesome to stand atop the podium. It will be awesome no matter what.”

As she reflected on the journey to get to this point, Diggins couldn’t help but feel a sense of gratitude.

“I’m profoundly grateful,” she said. “I can retire happy.”

She laughed before clarifying herself.

“I’m not retiring,” Diggins said. “Whenever I do, I’ll be happy because I feel like this was the last thing I really wanted to do in my career.”

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