Diggins makes the most of homecoming

It’s not the Olympics. It’s not the World Championships.

But for Jessie Diggins, a 2010 Stillwater Area High School graduate, skiing at last weekend’s Stifel Loppet Cup at Theodore Wirth Park in Golden Valley was a career highlight.

The Afton native said she could “retire happy now,” but quickly clarified “I’m not retiring. But when I do, I’ll be happy because I feel like this was the last thing that I really wanted to do in my career.”

Diggins finished the weekend on the podium. She took third in the 10-kilometer freestyle race on Sunday, Feb. 18. She cried tears of happiness while surrounded by friends and family, which is a rarity on the World Cup circuit.

It was the first time the three-time Olympian has raced in Minnesota since she was 19 years old.

“It’s been a long time,” she said. “And this is something that I wanted to do forever, for me and for this team, but also for all of the families who were going to finally get a chance to see me compete.”

She’s had many memorable races in Minnesota, including three individual state pursuit titles.

But ever since high school, Diggins has raced the World Cup circuit, World Championships, and Olympics as a professional skier. She captured a gold, silver, and bronze medal from the past two Olympics. She has also collected two World Championship gold medals and – after placing third on Sunday – has achieved 20 wins and 59 World Cup podiums since 2011.

Almost all of those races occurred at international locations. The stop at Theodore Wirth on Feb. 17-18 marked the first FIS World Cup races in the United States in 23 years.

American cross country ski fans were ready.

An estimated 20,000 spectators came to Theodore Wirth Park each day to watch Diggins and the world’s best cross country skiers compete in the freestyle sprint races on Saturday and the 10k on Sunday.

It was a memorable weekend for Team USA. Diggins was also there to lift up fellow Team USA member and Alaskan native Gus Schumacher after his surprise victory in the 10K race, becoming the first American male to win a World Cup distance event since 1983 and only the third to ever win a World Cup race.

Diggins placed fourth in the sprint with a time of 3:11.39, just a few seconds shy of a podium spot.

She said she began advocating for a World Cup race as soon as she had a voice in the cross country skiing community.

“First of all, the credit goes to the Loppet and shareholders and all the partners for making this happen,” Diggins said. “But I just wouldn’t shut up about it. And every single one of the 50 events I did in the 100 days following (winning that Olympic gold medal), I said ‘This is the one thing that I want. I think it would be amazing for the community.’”

The excitement wasn’t lost on her teammate and two-time Olympian Rosie Brennan, who said she rarely races in front of a favorable crowd.

Brennan said her mom was able to attend the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, but spectators were not allowed at the 2022 Olympics in Zhangjiakou, China, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I honestly have not done a race where there’s this many people cheering for me and know who I am,” Brennen said. “I hear them for sure, especially the people that are close to me. You recognize those voices. And sometimes that can be the difference of just getting that last little bit out of yourself.”

The world has taken notice in the past six years.

Julia Kern, Diggins’ teammate on Team USA, noted that the United States had 33 athletes at the World Cup at Theodore Wirth.

“(We’ve competed for) four-and-a-half months straight — it becomes a family,” Kern said. “We’re running third right now in the world. And we’ve never been ranked third.”

It wasn’t lost on Diggins either.

“My first World Cup was in 2009,” she said. “I got that opportunity because we had World Cups in Canada … Kikkan [Randall, Diggins’ teammate in the gold medal-winning team sprint from 2018] was more or less the only woman on the World Cup at that time. And now we have 30-some athletes here.”

After tearing up the course at Theodore Wirth, Diggins said she plans on resting up this week. She said she did recommend the Juicy Lucy to her teammates, but she’ll spend much of the week with loved ones after competing in Europe the past several months.

“I haven’t seen (my husband) since November, so mostly I’m just excited to spend time with him,” she said. “That’s my number 1 priority for the next week, just enjoy that time together and get to share this whole experience with him and see my family.”

She’s also planning to compete at this weekend’s American Birkebeiner in Cable, Wis., along with many of her teammates from Team USA.

Montana State University senior Emma Albrecht, a 2019 Stillwater Area High School graduate, competed for Team USA in four of the six recent World Cup races held in North America but did not race in the Minnesota events.

Albrecht placed 40th in the 15-kilometer freestyle race held in Canmore, Alberta, on Feb. 9. She followed with a 46th-place finish in the freestyle sprint on Feb. 10 and a 39th-place showing in the 20-kilometer classic race on Feb. 11. She ranked 48th in qualifying for the classic sprint finals on Feb. 13.

Andy Rogers is senior editor of APG’s Sun papers.

Stuart Groskreutz contributed to this story.