Diggins wins Nordic ski gold for Team USA

Jessie Diggins and her teammate Kikkan Randall won a gold medal Friday for the U.S. Ski Team during a leg of the International Ski Federation World Cup in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.

Diggins, of Afton, Minn., and Randall, of Anchorage, Alaska, paired to secure the first ever American win in a team event, winning the Nordic Skiing team sprint race in a combined 21 minutes, 49.5 seconds.

“It was wonderful,” Deb Diggins, Jessie’s mother, said. “The U.S. women have been working really hard and to see it pay off with a gold medal today was really exciting.”

The sprint race consisted of .6-kilometer course around the city and each partner made six complete loops, switching off every 1.2 kilometers. Jessie came from behind on her final leg, surviving a near crash, and took the lead before handing off to Randall, according to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association website. Deb said that the course was very narrow.

“They skied a very tactically-sound race,” Deb said. “They made the right moves.”

Jessie, whose parents own Slumberland Furniture in Red Wing, graduated from Stillwater High School in 2010 and has been competing as a professional Nordic skier since. She was placed on the top U.S. Ski Team in the spring, according to her website.

The World Cup individual freestyle sprint takes place today at 12:15 p.m. in Quebec. The full recap can be found in Wednesday’s edition of the Republican Eagle.

Tags: red wing, sports, proam, skiing