Diggins Wins in Falun, Secures Overall and Distance Globe 

In a season marked with historic results, moments and victories, Diggins won the last race of the season in Falun, Sweden to take home the overall and distance FIS Cross Country World Cup Crystal Globes, cementing herself as the world’s most dominant cross country skier in the world in the 2023-24 season.

Coming into the final race of the season with only a 75 point lead for the overall Globe over Sweden’s Linn Svahn, Diggins stepped on the gas to win the 20k skate and secure the overall Crystal Globe. It was Diggins’ six individual win in the 2023-24 season, the most races an American has ever won in a single cross country season.

The 2023-24 season has been historic. But before it began, she had an openly challenging summer. This fall, the most decorated American cross country skier in history spoke candidly on a subject often taboo in many sports: her mental health. Before the season began, her eating disorder resurfaced after more than 12 years of recovery. Going into the season, she was unsure if she would even race or what the future of her career held. “Race by race, day by day” became her season mantra. She never shared her goals, but just focused on getting to the start line with a smile and focusing on what she could control. 

"My only goal was to have the most fun," said Diggins after the race. "I wanted to ski a brave race and put my whole heart out there and that’s what I did. I’m really proud of how the season ended, but I’m even more proud of my team for being there for me. It’s been a lot of ups and downs and it hasn’t been easy. It’s been a hard year and that’s why it’s so special that we did it together. It was very cool to win the globes but it was even more important that I had fun today. "

Diggins took her new-found motivation into this season, podiuming 12 times and winning six races, which all started with her first victory coming in a gutsy 10k skate in Gällivare, Sweden. Just before Gällivare, she was on her first podium of the season in Ruka, alongside teammate Rosie Brennan, where she defeated all odds by losing a pole and a glove and was hit in the face, while still managing to cross the line in second. 

It is no surprise that Diggins gives it her all, in every race, every discipline, week after week. Winning the overall Crystal Globe is no easy feat. The globe is a testament to a skier who can excel in each discipline, both classic and skate, distance and sprint. This showed spectacularly at the Tour de Ski, a seven-stage, nine-day series of races that takes teams to three different venues. At the Tour, Diggins was once again unsure if she would be able to compete, after a difficult period of racing where her mental health was at the forefront. Yet, she maintained her mindset and intentions set at the beginning of the season and took it race by race. She won the Toblach 20k skate, podiumed in three other races and took home the Tour trophy for the second time in her career – a feat never achieved by another American. 

Diggins’ second overall Crystal Globe and second discipline Globe are also historic. She won the overall in 2021, but prior to her, the last American to win an overall Globe was Bill Koch in 1982. Kikkan Randall – Diggins’ counterpart in the infamous 2018 Olympic Winter Games gold medal team sprint – was the only other American to take home a Globe with three in the sprint discipline. 

Diggins’ success this season trumps all the rest. Though she just closed out the most successful World Cup season of her career, her biggest success may not be the overall Crystal Globe, but rather, it may have been crossing that last finish line in Falun with the biggest smile across her face.

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