Confirmed: Jessie Diggins will retire after this season

U.S. cross-country skier Jessie Diggins, 34, has confirmed she will retire at the end of this season. She shared the decision on Instagram, saying that while stopping is difficult, it also feels like the right choice for her.

Earlier in the autumn, FIS race director Simon Caprini had indicated the decision was coming, but the confirmation has now arrived from Diggins herself. She reflected that skiing has given her more joy, challenges, courage and community than she could have imagined, and that she is excited to open a new chapter in her life.

Diggins is one of the most successful skiers of the past decade and a major star in the United States, especially renowned for her strength in freestyle events. Over her career she has won Olympic gold in the team sprint and World Championship titles in the team sprint and the 10 km freestyle individual start. In total, she has three Olympic medals and seven World Championship medals.

She has also won the overall World Cup three times and the Tour de Ski twice, debuting in the World Cup in the 2011–12 season. Diggins says she intends to make the most of this final campaign all the way through the last World Cup races. The cross-country World Cup begins in Ruka at the turn of November–December and ends in March with races in the United States.