PHOTO: Bildbyrån
New eating disorder problems jeopardized Jessie Diggins’ entire season. But the American cross-country star hasn’t just competed – she’s been the best of them all.
– It has been a real fight to get here, says Diggins ahead of the first World Cup competitions in the USA in over 20 years.
Diggins bubbles with enthusiasm when she explains what it means to be able to compete at home in Minnesota, where she herself took her first pole vault. When she was little, the only contact with the world’s best cross-country skiers was a number of VHS tapes of old World Cup competitions.
– It feels absolutely incredible. We had a TV in the basement and VHS tapes, that’s how I watched the World Cup, and just “oh, cool, I wonder who’s going to win today, the competition was decided three years ago”. It was so funny watching these old tapes with skaters like Bjørn Dæhlie. It was the only access I had to competitions at that level, says Jessie Diggins.
The pandemic stopped
The World Cup was supposed to return to the USA as early as 2020, but the competitions had to be canceled due to the corona pandemic. Now it’s finally time, starting in Canadian Canmore on Friday and ending in the USA and Minneapolis on the weekend of February 17-18.
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The last time it set foot on American soil was in 2001, in Soldier Hollow.
– I am so psyched. I just noted that I will be making my 300th World Cup start in Canmore. So I will have done 300 races in every possible country – except my own – before I finally get to race in the USA. It’s pretty crazy. But that just makes it even more special, says Diggins.
Open with problems
The 32-year-old American comes with a very strong winter behind her, with victory in the Tour de Ski and a clear lead in the overall World Cup. It was the few who tipped at the beginning of autumn.
Two months before the premiere, Diggins said that “after twelve good years” she had relapsed into her eating disorder. At the time, she didn’t know if she would even start in the World Cup.
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That she is instead heading towards her best season ever does not surprise her in the least.
– No one is more surprised than me. But I can be surprised and still enjoy it at the same time.
– It was a very hard summer, so every time I come to a competition I feel so happy to even be able to compete. When I compete, I feel strong and full of confidence, and I feel like I know what I’m doing. This is not always the case in everyday life, so it feels very special for that reason.
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