American Jessie Diggins fights
injury to take bronze in race dominated by Sweden at Winter Olympics
[February 13, 2026]
By DEREK GATOPOULOS
TESERO, Italy (AP) — Jessie Diggins of the United States battled
through injury to claim bronze Thursday in the women’s 10‑kilometer
interval start, a race dominated by Sweden’s Frida Karlsson as she
won her second gold medal at the Winter Olympics.
Diggins, racing in her final season, collapsed to the ground,
shouting out in pain after finishing the freestyle race at the Milan
Cortina Games and adding to her gold, silver and bronze career medal
tally.
The 34-year-old American finished 49.7 seconds behind a Swedish
one-two, with Karlsson clocking 22 minutes, 49.2 seconds. Ebba
Andersson was second, 46.6 seconds behind the leader.
Diggins fell in the opening race, the Skiathlon, and bruised her
ribs. The injury hurt her following performance in the individual
sprint where she was eliminated in the heats.
“I need a new body,” Diggins said. “Honestly, I think I’m the
happiest, most grateful bronze medallist in the whole world. It’s
been one heck of a painful week. Two days ago, I was like, I don’t
know how I’m going to do this.”
She hugged her Swedish rivals before stepping onto the podium to
chants of “Jessie! Jessie!” from a crowd that included a large
traveling group of her family and friends.
“I just felt like I was skiing out of my body the whole time. And I
was just trying to fight for every single second and to leave it all
out there,” Diggins said. “I’ve been up at night with my ribs
clicking in and out of place. It’s just really been hard.”
Her medal is the second for the U.S. team in cross country at the
Games, following Ben Ogden's silver medal sprint in the men's
competition. But Diggins said the pain of racing Thursday made her
unaware of her position in the standings.
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Silver medalist Ebba Andersson, of Sweden, from left, gold medalist
Frida Karlsson, of Sweden, and bronze medalist Jessie Diggins, of
the United States, pose after finishing the cross country skiing
women's 10km interval start free at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in
Tesero, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty
Wigglesworth)
“I had no idea what place I was in,” she said.
“It's been disconcerting and really, really painful.”
Showing emotion, Diggins said she had received video messages of
support from elderly relatives unable to make the trip, adding: “I
saw my husband and got a big smooch before the start and that really
helped me out.”
Sweden's women have now won seven out of the nine medals handed out
in cross country skiing at Milan Cortina. Karlsson said she felt
confident of victory after a strong hill climb before the finish,
adding that she would celebrate with teammates later with a victory
cake provided for podium performances by the team chefs.
“I was bursting with energy,” she said, giggling. “I felt the pain
but it was after the finish line. The good feeling came on the last
hill.”
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