Jessica Diggins

Gliding Through Fame

By Solveig

One of my fondest memories happened before most kids are old enough to remember anything. In fact, at the time, I wasn't even old enough to walk yet, just to ski. I remember getting strapped into my carrier and going for a ride on my mom's back. My parents are the kind of people that don't mind a one-year-old pulling their hair and screaming "FASTER" constantly into an open ear. Little did I know that this first ride would be the start of something huge...

Before I became a famous skier, almost 20 years before I was born, Bill Koch took home the silver medal in the 1976 Winter Olympics, that medal was the first and only in U.S. Olympic cross-country skiing history. It would be the only one for a very long time. I was born in 1991 on August 26 in St. Paul, Minn. Clearly, I wasn't born a winter kid. My family soon moved to Afton, Minn., which is where I grew up. I grew up as your average little kid. I liked pickles, razzberries and playing outside—nothing unusual.

As a kid I participated in dance, soccer, swimming, track, and violin before choosing to pursue skiing most of all. And I'm very glad I did so, because that decision led me to meet many great people and do many great things. One of the people who I met is now my teammate, Kikkan Randall. Kikkan, a five-time Winter Olympian, helped me take home the gold medal this year in the team sprint freestyle! I had the pleasure of working with her for her last Olympics, which was just this year. She was an amazing partner and I'm sure I would never have thrived as much as I did without her.

My first Olympic appearance was in the 2014 Sochi Olympics at the age of 22. My second and most recent appearance was in the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics where I competed in 6 events: The 10 km free, 7.5 km skiathlon, classic sprints, freestyle team sprint, 30 km mass start classic, and the 4x5 km relay. My main glory was in the freestyle team sprint, with Kikkan Randall. We won the gold medal—the first U.S. Olympic XC medal since 1976! Olympic skiing has opened many doors for me and helped me become interested in other things that I never would have known about otherwise.

I am currently an advocate for climate change awareness, along with other Olympic skiers from Team USA. We have found out that many of the 21 Olympic cities are too warm to ever host another games, and we need to stop global warming well we are barely ahead. We need to save winter. I am supporting the Carbon Fee and Dividend Solution, a system that charges people who put carbon into the air and returns revenue to households. I don't simply want to save winter for my sport—sure skiing plays a big part in this—but think of all those kids who will grow up without snow, never knowing what it would be like to have a white Christmas. So, I'm asking you to simply help support this system, but don't do it for me, do it for the kids.

My Sources are..


“Meet the Athletes of Team USA | USOC.” Team USA, www.teamusa.org/athletes.

“Meet the Athletes of Team USA | USOC.” Team USA, www.teamusa.org/athletes.

IOC. “Massachusetts - the Unlikely Birthplace of Basketball and Volleyball.” International Olympic Committee, IOC, 27 Apr. 2018, www.olympic.org/.

“Breaking News, World News & Multimedia.” The New York Times, The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/.

“Citizens\' Climate Lobby.” Citizens' Climate Lobby, citizensclimatelobby.org/.

Presentation Notes:  ______________________________
"Hi, everyone! It's so nice to see all the faces of my many fans and supporters after today's race. At the start of the day I never thought I'd end it a medalist, let alone a gold medalist! Growing up in small town Afton, Minnesota I hope I have proven that it doesn't matter where you come from, you can still accomplish your dreams. Thank you all for listening to this interview and to my teammate, Kikkan Randall, for getting me this far. Any questions?"