Jessie Diggins Can Smile Despite Cancellation of Minneapolis Ski Race

There would have been no sense in letting a beautiful day go to waste. Though Tuesday’s World Cup cross-country ski races were canceled last week, Jessie Diggins showed up at Theodore Wirth Park anyway, with silver glitter on her cheeks and a smile on her face.

Were it not for the coronavirus pandemic, the Olympic gold medalist from Afton would have been facing her global rivals in a freestyle sprint. As many as 20,000 spectators were expected to line the course, clanging cowbells to welcome World Cup cross-country racing back to America after a 19-year absence. Instead, Diggins zipped around the snowy loop with a group of high school girls, to a soundtrack of clanks and bangs as workers disassembled the grandstand.

It wasn’t how she envisioned a day she had worked toward for two years. But it wasn’t a total loss, either.

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