U.S. cross-country skier Jessie Diggins captured bronze in a gutty effort during Thursday’s women’s 10km.
Dealing with bruised ribs suffered in a fall during Sunday’s 20km skiathlon, Diggins battled through the pain to finish in third with a time of 23:38.9. The Swedish duo of Frida Karlsson and Ebba Andersson won gold and silver, respectively.
“I just wanted to cross the finish line with nothing left, to control my own effort, that’s what I did out there,” Diggins told TNT Sports after the race. “I’m grateful and lucky that it was enough for bronze but I’m so proud of myself just for getting to the finish line. .. I felt like I was skiing out of my body the whole time, trying to fight for every single second and to leave it all out there. Just getting to the finish line was going feel like a gold medal, no matter what.”
The 34-year-old Diggins has won gold before with a first-place finish at the 2018 team event in Pyeongchang. Four years ago in Beijing, she took home silver in the 30km freestyle and bronze in the individual sprint.
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The three-time overall world champion has said this will be her final Olympics and retirement will be official following the season finale in Lake Placid, New York, in March. Diggins has 33 career World Cup wins and reached the podium 87 times.
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