Diggins completes hat-trick of Tour de Ski titles: ‘By far my best ever’

Jessie Diggins (USA) won her third Tour de Ski title on Sunday, capping the six‑stage Tour with a podium in the Women’s Mass Start 10 km Free at the Coop FIS Cross‑Country World Cup in Val di Fiemme, Italy.

The 34‑year‑old defending champion retained her title by a comfortable margin. Austria’s Teresa Stadlober finished second overall more than 2:17 behind Diggins, while two‑time Tour winner Heidi Weng was third in the final standings, 2:31.6 adrift.

“It’s a really cool feeling,” said Diggins, who will retire from cross‑country skiing after this season. “This was really, really fun. I think this was by far my best Tour ever, where everything came together.”

The victory makes the Minnesota skier the third most successful woman in the Tour’s history; only Therese Johaug and Justyna Kowalczyk have more titles (four each).

Diggins reflected on the special endurance test that is the Tour: “When you win the Olympics, that’s amazing, but that’s one race. The Tour is day after day. You have to put it together and you have to be on – and that’s a lot of pressure on you and the team. You have to keep it fun – it’s really hard.”

Diggins thanked her staff and wax team for providing competitive skis each day. She won two stages (the 20 km pursuit classic and the Tour‑debuting 5 km heat mass start free), finished on the podium in four stages, and collected consistency points across sprint and climber standings. She was second in the Climber standings and fourth in the Sprint standings.

Before the final day Diggins held a 1:19 lead over Jasmin Joensuu (FIN) and 1:38 over Moa Ilar (SWE). On the legendary Final Climb up Alpe Cermis she refused to back off: with 2.5 km to go she was fifth, 2.8 seconds behind leader Karoline Simpson‑Larsen (NOR). Diggins produced a last push on the final 500 m and moved into second on the stage to secure the overall title.

“ I was trying to be smart and safe in terms of the overall Tour, but when it was safe enough, I thought, ‘right, now I can empty the tank’,” Diggins said. “I have paced it badly before, where you blow up, and those (last) 600 m are the slowest of your life, so I was trying to ski it smart so that I was dying at the right moment.”

The USA’s alpine team joined the crowd to cheer Diggins on the slopes, adding to the emotion as she completed the Tour for the last time.

Diggins now adds 300 World Cup points to her season total, taking her to 1,216 points — 184 ahead of Sweden’s Moa Ilar in the Overall World Cup. With the Tour now behind her, Diggins heads to Milano‑Cortina 2026 for her fourth and final Olympic Games.

Final overall places: Jessie Diggins (USA) 1st, Teresa Stadlober (AUT) 2nd, Heidi Weng (NOR) 3rd. Sweden’s Ebba Andersson finished fourth overall, Julie Bjervig Drivenes (NOR) fifth, Johanna Matintalo (FIN) sixth. The Overall top‑10 also included Ilar, Joensuu and Dariya Nepryayeva.

The next World Cup stage is in Oberhof, Germany on 17–18 January.

Full results from the Women’s 10 km Mass Start Free and the Women’s Overall Tour de Ski standings are available on the FIS results pages, and FIS Cross‑Country videos are on the FIS Cross‑Country YouTube channel.