Jessie Diggins wins Falun mass start to regain Cross-Country World Cup overall title
The American took the season finale in Sweden to claim the overall Crystal Globe which she won previously in 2021.
Cross-Country Skiing
For the second time, Jessie Diggins is the Cross-Country World Cup overall champion.
The American ended the season in style with victory in the 20km mass start free in Falun, Sweden on Sunday (17 March).
That saw her collect the distance and overall Crystal Globes, repeating her successful season of 2021 when she became the first non-European woman to win either of the two World Cup crowns.
Fellow American Kikkan Randall, who won gold with Diggins in the team sprint at PyeongChang 2018, is the only other non-European winner of a women's Cross-Country World Cup with three sprint titles from 2012 to 2014.
Speaking to FIS after her latest victory, a tearful Diggins said, "It's been a hard year and today my only goal was the go out there and have the most fun, and I really did."
Diggins took fifth in Saturday's 10km Classic Individual Start to clinch the distance World Cup title and leave her 75 points clear of sprint series champion Linn Svahn in the overall standings.
Svahn did her best to stay in touch with the leaders, but started to lose ground inside the final five kilometres with Diggins trying to break clear at the front.
The 32-year-old from Minnesota had company in the closing 2.5km, but took the closing sprint by nine-tenths of a second from Heidi Weng with another Norwegian, Anne Kjersti Kalvaa, in third.
In securing her sixth win of the season, she broke Randall's previous American season record.
It caps a magnificent campaign for Diggins - who also claimed her second overall victory in the Tour de Ski in January - after she admitted she would be taking the season "one day at a time" following an eating disorder setback last September.
She added, "I just wanted to leave it all out there because I know that when I do that, I can walk away proud. If I'm first, if I'm last, it doesn't matter. I'm really happy and now I'm ready to go home."
Johannes Klaebo won the men's race in Falun, but fellow Norwegian Harald Østberg Amundsen obtained enough points in 17th place to deny his teammate a fifth overall World Cup title.
Amundsen also won his first distance World Cup crown with Klaebo claiming a sixth sprint Crystal Globe.
2023/24 Cross-Country World Cup - Results from 20km mass start free, Falun, Sweden (top six):
Women's
- Jessie Diggins (USA) 51:53.0
- Heidi Weng (NOR) +0.9
- Anne Kjersti Kalvaa (NOR) +2.2
- Jonna Sundling (SWE) +9.9
- Kerttu Niskanen (FIN) +10.4
- Krista Parmakoski (FIN) +13.0
Men's
- Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) 47:06.4
- Gjoeran Tefre (NOR) +0.4
- Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) +2.2
- Jules Lapierre (FRA) +3.0
- Mika Vermeulen (AUT) +4.0
- Jan Thomas Jenssen (NOR) +4.4
2023/24 Cross-Country World Cup, final overall standings:
Women's
- Jessie Diggins (USA) 2746 points
- Linn Svahn (SWE) 2571
- Frida Karlsson (SWE) 2309
- Victoria Carl (GER) 2114
- Kerttu Niskanen (FIN) 2080
- Jonna Sundling (SWE) 2066
Men's
- Harald Østberg Amundsen (NOR) 2654 points
- Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) 2600
- Erik Valnes (NOR) 2106
- Paal Golberg (NOR) 1869
- Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) 1409
- Friedrich Moch (GER) 1305