Jessie Diggins Announces Planned Retirement Following End Of 2025-26 Season
Jessie Diggins, Stifel U.S. Cross Country Team member and the most decorated cross country skier in U.S. history, formally announces her retirement from cross country ski racing following the end of the 2025-26 season. It will be the Afton, Minnesota-born skier’s final season, beginning with the first race in Ruka, Finland, Nov. 28, through Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina and concluding at the Stifel Lake Placid Finals in Lake Placid, New York, March 19-22, 2026.
Diggins, now 34, has won nearly every title possible in ski racing, including three Olympic medals, including Team USA’s first cross country Olympic gold medal in 2018 with teammate Kikkan Randall, seven World Championship medals, 29 World Cup victories, 79 World Cup podiums, two overall Tour de Ski trophies, three distance FIS Crystal Globes and three coveted overall FIS Crystal Globes, marking her the #1 skier in the world. Her relentless ability to give no less than 100 percent is her signature, and it has propelled her to the top of the sport. Still, it’s not the accolades that define Diggins’ career; it's her unwavering commitment to leaving the sport better than she found it.
“I hope I’m remembered not just for the pain cave and ability to suffer deeply for a team that I love and a sport I care about so much, but for the joy, sense of fun on snow, heart-on-sleeve racing, deep vulnerability and openness that I’ve brought to everything I do,” said Diggins.
Skiing has always been a part of Diggins’ life. When she was younger, her parents would trek around the midwestern backwoods with their daughter in a backpack. Fast forward to high school and the backwoods pursuits turned competitive. The young girl from Minnesota quickly became one to watch—winning state championships, earning the title of top-ranked high school skier in Minnesota and capturing Junior National titles before catching the attention of the U.S. Ski Team coaches. She made the national team in 2011 but broke through at the 2016 Tour de Ski, where she won her first individual World Cup race, foreshadowing the success to come. 14 years later, Diggins now leads the Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team as the veteran, guiding a decorated women’s group and the strongest men’s team in history, and holds the title as the most successful American cross country skier of all time.
“Firstly, I want to congratulate Jessie on such a historic career,” said Sophie Goldchmidt, President & CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard. “As an organization, we are thankful for the culture she has helped build on the Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team alongside the excellent coaching staff and athletes, and the impact she has had on the world of ski racing. And as a person, I count myself lucky to have been at U.S. Ski & Snowboard at the same time as this remarkable role model, to have watched her compete, stand up for what she believes in and make us all better in the process. As said many times in the last couple of seasons, when Jessie wins, we all win. And we will continue cheering her this season and with her post-athletic next endeavors.”
But an athlete is never alone in their success. Since the beginning of her professional career, Diggins has worked with World Cup coach and wax technician Jason Cork. “It’s been really gratifying to work with Jessie for going on 16 seasons,” said Cork. “She’s had tons of success, which has made me look good, but just getting results has never been the goal.” Two decades later, Cork and Diggins are still working together. “I’m proud that throughout her career, she has accomplished so much in the right way – through hard, smart training, constantly setting goals, taking care of herself, and doing it all cleanly,” he added. The duo will continue for one more winter, until the final lunge across the finish line in March.
Diggins' influence on the sport goes far beyond the snow. While her achievements were the main headlines, she had been quietly working to make an impact off the course ever since she entered the professional circuit at 19.
“I’m proud of how hard I’ve worked to lead a team as well as how I’ve worked to help change an entire sport’s culture around mental health — how we talk about it, how we’re allowed to ask for help and how we help athletes in need. I’ve tried to become the advocate and role model that 18-year-old Jessie needed. Whether or not I’ve succeeded in that, I am deeply proud of having the courage to put my own life story out there to bring about the change I wanted to see.”
Through her work with organizations like Share Winter, Protect Our Winters or the Emily Program, Diggins was steadfast in her efforts to get more young kids involved in winter sports, educating her followers about the effects of climate change, and developing awareness around mental health and eating disorders, a topic to which she has a deep personal connection.
With the start of her last World Cup season just days away, Diggins is continuing to rewrite the narrative, reminding us that it's not all about the wins, but about what happens before and after the result. Through her 15-year professional career, countless storylines may define it, but one stands above the rest: with glitter on your face and a commitment to leaving everything on the snow, you can be the best in the world and still find joy in the process.
Jessie will conclude her illustrious career fittingly at home in the United States. The Stifel Lake Placid Finals, March 19-22, 2026, in Lake Placid, NY, with three races: a skate sprint, 10k classic and 20k skate.
