BEIJING – Jessie Diggins fought to the finish and collapsed from exhaustion, physically spent after claiming Team USA's final Olympic medal of the Beijing Games, a silver in the women's 30-kilometer race Sunday.
The podium seemed out of reach just 30 hours earlier, when Diggins said she was sick from food poisoning "which is why I thought I was going to die at the finish line."
Competing in the longest distance for women at the Olympics, Diggins revealed that her legs were cramping late in the race that took her 1 hour, 26 minutes and 37 seconds to complete. The 30-year-old from Afton, Minnesota, finished 1 minute, 43 seconds behind Therese Johaug of Norway, who claimed her third gold in Beijing.
"Every last drop of energy went into that race, that’s for sure," Diggins said. "The last two laps my legs were cramping so I just kept trying to drink as much as I could. We had amazing cheering out there, and I was like 'I just can’t give up. I have to put everything I have into the snow today and finish with nothing left. Maybe I can hold on to a medal, maybe not, but I have to try.' "
American Rosie Brennan finished sixth, capping a successful Olympics for her after finishing fourth in the women's sprint.
"Luckily, I've spent the last decade training in Alaska," said Brennan, 33, who was competing in her second Olympics. "We've had some pretty miserable days training, so I tried to think about those and remind myself that I'm tough enough to handle it all and that everyone's out there facing the same conditions."
Diggins' silver was the 25th Olympic medal for the U.S. team in Beijing, topping the 23 the Americans won four years ago in Pyeongchang.
This is the third career medal for Diggins, who cemented her status as the most successful American skier in her sport in Olympic history, now with gold-silver-bronze to her name. She is the first non-European skier to win an Olympic medal in the women's 30K.
Four years ago, Diggins teamed with Kikkan Randall in the team sprint to become the first Americans to win Olympic gold in cross country skiing. Bill Koch is the only other American to win an Olympic individual medal, claiming silver in the men’s 30K at the 1976 Innsbruck Olympics.
Diggins won bronze Feb. 8 in the women's sprint, her first individual Olympic medal. But on Feb. 16 she struggled in the team sprint with Brennan, saying she wasn't feeling well and fading down the stretch.
“It was so cool to see Rosie just crushing,” Diggins said after that race. “I went as hard as I could and there’s no doubt in my mind I could have possibly tried harder. I finished with zero sugars left and was dizzy and sick. And I’m currently wearing all the clothes of Team USA."
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Sunday she showed no signs of wearing down. After 3K she was among the top three and stayed in that position for the remainder of the race.
Johaug pulled away from the leaders at about 10 kilometers, with Diggins and Ebba Andersson of Sweden chasing.
"I just tried to ski smart and then I wanted to ski a gutsy race, so when Therese went, I tried to go with her and I couldn't stay," Diggins said. "So then I thought I would just put my head down and ski my own race.
"That might have been the best race of my entire life, I'm not going to lie."
Contributing: Associated Press
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