By Gavin Kentch
Is Jessie Diggins retiring from professional skiing following the Lake Placid races in March 2026 that close out next year’s World Cup season? Yes, says FIS race director Simon Caprini in a recent podcast. Probably yes, says USST head coach Chris Grover in a different podcast. No confirmation on this, says a USST spokesperson. Read on for more.
On the one hand, Caprini stated in a recent podcast that next year, “pour finir notre saison de Coupe du Monde avec le départ en fin d’année de Jessie Diggins qui va arrêter sa carrière” (this is an auto-transcription).
Which translates as, roughly, we will “finish our World Cup season with the departure at the end of the year of Jessie Diggins, who will be ending her career.” Caprini added, in auto-translated comments, “It’s also a little treat for her to be able to finish with her home crowd. It wasn’t set up for that, though. That’s the little extra.”
(Again, note that this is an auto-translation of an auto-transcription. My French is good enough that this is clearly just about what is going on here, but I want to make clear the two levels of computers involved in getting you this “quote.”)
On the other hand, when asked whether the national team could either confirm or deny this, USST spokesperson Leann Bentley earlier today wrote, “U.S. Ski & Snowboard cannot confirm this, as Jessie has not stated that this season will be her last. We’re looking forward to racing here in just over a month in Ruka!”
This news was first reported by Langrenn.com earlier today. Hilariously, the podcast episode in question came out three days ago, meaning that no one — me included — stumbled across this until now.
[Update: Speaking of media members not listening to podcasts: My sincere thanks to the half-dozen or so readers who subsequently alerted me to USST head coach Chris Grover’s recent appearance on Race Ready, the Andy Newell vehicle that somehow comes out every single week with good content. In the September 21 episode of this podcast, Grover says of Diggins, “She’s most likely going to be gone from World Cup racing after this year.” He continues by asking, “What does happen when Jessie is gone?” and talking about the next generation of skiers who could contribute.]
Bentley gave a similar quote to Norwegian outlet TV2 earlier today. It appears that no outlet has a specific comment from Diggins directly at this time.
I am sharing this update not only because it is news, but also because it is plausible: Diggins is 34, would like to start a family, and has spent months at a time in Europe for well over a decade now. She has won nearly everything there is to win in this sport. She is currently fourth on the list of all-time women’s World Cup starts, and should take over the top spot from Aino-Kaisa Saarinen before the midpoint of this season.
I will update this article when or if there are more comments from Diggins directly.
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This was also alluded to in a recent Race Ready podcast where they interviewed Chris Grover!