In the individual sprint events on Tuesday, Jessie Diggins will return to the starting line after a crash in the skiathlon, and Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo will seek his seventh Olympic gold medal as he continues his quest to become the most decorated cross-country skier. 

Clocking in at about three minutes, this is the shortest cross-country race at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. Athletes will ski one lap in classic-style around a 1.5km (.9-mile) course. The athletes must qualify with the top fastest time in several qualifying rounds that narrow down the competitive field down to six skiers by the finals.

At the 2022 Beijing Games, Diggins became the first U.S. woman to win a medal in an individual cross-country skiing event when she won took bronze. In Italy, Diggins and teammate Julia Kern, who both have top 10-finishes in the sprint, will use their momentum to propel them to the semifinals and possibly the finals. Also watch out for the Olympic debut of Team USA’s Sammy Smith, who wrote on Instagram that she is “incredibly grateful for the people who’ve helped get me here.” 

The women’s race will highlight the heated rivalry between Sweden and Norway, the strongest cross-country sprinters who consistently win championships. The competitors to watch are Sweden's Jonna Sundling — she's the defending Olympic gold medalist but hasn’t had any recent sprint classic wins — and Norway's Kristine Stavaas Skistad, the 2025 world silver medalist who has had more recent wins.

"I’m not going to do anything to stop them," Diggins said about competing against Sweden. "When I race, I have the opposite of a competitive mindset. It’s not about trying to beat anyone else, it’s trying to get the most out of me."

On the men’s side in the individual sprint, it would be a huge upset if Klaebo of Norway did not win. Coming off his gold medal in skiathlon, Klaebo is a two-time defending Olympic champion and four-time world champion in the classic sprint.

Frederico Pellegrino of Italy, who plans to retire after Milan Cortina, is skiing to make the podium again for the host country. At the last three Games, he won silver in the sprint classic final behind Klaebo.

“If something then happens on the day, if the train comes, I want to be on the platform and get on it,” Pellegrino said.

Another competitor to watch is Klaebo’s teammate, Norwegian sprinter Erik Valnes, who won gold with him in the team sprint in 2022. The Americans expected to compete are Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher.