Jessie Diggins of the United States pushed through the pain of bruised ribs on Thursday to claim bronze in the women’s 10km free race at Milan Cortina 2026.
Frida Karlsson of Sweden flew through the women's 10km free race to claim her second gold medal of the Winter Games, and her teammate Ebba Andersson won her second silver medal of the games at about 46 seconds behind. The two repeated their wins from the skiathlon on Saturday, the same event where Diggins was injured in a crash.
"I’m the happiest bronze medalist in the world. I’m so grateful for everyone getting me here," Diggins said.
Diggins sprang out of the gate with her game face and was ready for her best discipline. Coming off two disappointing results from her injuries, she was motivated to get to the podium and raced her hardest until she collapsed at the finish line at a time of 23 minutes 38 seconds. This individual bronze medal was her fourth Olympic medal as a legendary Team USA skier competing in her final Olympic Games.
As the race results came in, it was a battle for bronze between Diggins and Heidi Weng of Norway. Diggins trailed Weng's time during her race as she fought through visible pain to cross the finish line seven seconds faster than Weng.
“You can block out the pain to some degree while you’re racing, but when you finish, it all comes flooding in," Diggins said. "I knew that was going to happen, but I was only going to let that in once I’d crossed the finishing line.”
Salt was added to the challenging Tesero course ahead of the race to help firm up the snow. And the course played to the strengths of Karlsson, who can dominate when she's at her best but has been inconsistent in the past.
“I had so much fun out there, so I didn’t really feel like I was tired until I crossed the finish line. Then I was lying there saying, ‘oh it’s painful,'" Karlsson said.
For the women's 10km freestyle race, athletes ski three laps around a 3.3km course starting at staggered times for the fastest time.
Team USA's Kendall Kramer, who made her Olympic debut, placed 38th. Hailey Swirbul placed 39th and Novie McCabe came in 31st.
FULL RESULTS