Olympic Champion Skier Jessie Diggins on Finding a New Sport to Love Post-Retirement: Ultramarathons
Olympic Champion Skier Jessie Diggins on Finding a New Sport to Love Post-Retirement: Ultramarathons
Caroline KillileaMon, June 1, 2026 at 1:30 PM UTC
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Jessie Diggins at the FIS World Cup Cross-Country Val di Fiemme
Credit: Alex Pantling/Getty
Key Takeaways
Jessie Diggins retired as the most decorated American Olympic cross-country skier after earning four Olympic medals
She is transitioning to ultramarathons while focusing on advocacy work for mental health, wellness, and environmental causes
Diggins partners with NOW Foods to promote wellness and encourages others to embrace new challenges in their lives
Olympic cross country skier Jessie Diggins may have retired, but she's hardly sitting still!
The Olympic gold medalist, 34, finished out her storied career in March at the World Cup Finals in Lake Placid, New York. World Cup Finals throughout the past few decades were held overseas, and Diggins competed in 351 World Cup races before ever racing in the United States. Doing her final competitive run on her home turf was a "dream come true," she says, as the skiing community came out in droves to support her.
"I thought for sure I'm gonna finish at some race in Europe, which will still be amazing and special," Diggins, the most decorated American Olympic cross-country skiier with a gold, a silver and two bronzes, told PEOPLE. "But to finish at home and at a place that was really close to the club where I had made a life and made a home out on the East Coast—that was just so special."
Now, Diggins is building a life for herself outside of cross-country skiing, focusing on advocacy work and channeling her athletic abilities into ultramarathons. She'll be running for hours at a time, scaling heights and tackling rocky terrain when she runs her first marathon this fall.
She's always been interested in the sport, but was occupied with training for ski races and never had the time to explore it. Instead of focusing on time, the new sport will push her to improve her endurance.
"I'm excited to keep challenging myself physically," she says. "I'm less focused on trying to be the best in the world. I wanna challenge myself. Can I do this distance? Can I climb this many vertical kilometers in the mountains?"
Diggins at the 2026 FIS Cross-Country World Cup
Credit: Grega Valancic/VOIGT/Getty
Diggins is partnering with NOW Foods on their Start NOW campaign, which encourages people to jump right into a wellness journey, with the nutrition support that requires. The brand will be sharing tips for ways to live well throughout June and July, as well as promoting movement through exclusive offers and giveaways for those who track their progress in MapMyFitness.
The Minnesota native was introduced to the brand by nutrition coach Elyse Kopecky, who partners with NOW to share nutritious, fueling recipes — "the kind of thing I want to eat on a really long run out in the mountains, one of those superhero muffins and have some real food when I'm out there or, like, have these portable snacks in my car after training."
In addition to relying on the brand for nutrition needs (including their pumpkin seed powder for protein boosts and Vitamin D for long, dark days of racing in Scandinavian winters), she also praises her regimen for keeping her healthy despite many days on the road during prime germ season.
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"I don't think I got sick during the season the last four years of my career. which is insane because we're racing during cold and flu season and staying healthy is so, so important," she says. "I'm making sure that I'm giving my body the building blocks it needs to rebuild as I'm tearing it down race after race because I race so hard and because I race so much. I like making sure the supplements are coming from a really good source and making sure that what I'm putting into my body is really of the highest quality ... especially because when you're traveling on the road, you don't really get to control, you know, what they're gonna serve at the buffet."
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Thinking about building her body back up after pushing herself to her limit is fairly routine for Diggins, who was the subject of a New York Times profile looking into her ability to power through injuries and miserable conditions to achieve victory, and who some have dubbed "queen of the pain cave." The world watched as she endured grueling races throughout her 14 year career, most notably during the 2026 Winter Olympics, where she earned her fourth and final Olympic medal. She crashed at the start of the weekend, severely injuring her ribs. She pushed through the intense pain during her 10-kilometer race, earning a bronze medal and collapsing to the ground at the finish line.
"For me, really, it's not about avoiding the discomfort or the challenge, it's embracing it. It's shaking hands with pain and saying, 'Look, this is a signal that I'm exactly where I wanna be,'" she says. "I'm ready to try to challenge myself and push myself to be the best that I can be, that's always excited me. And that's what excites me now in this period of transition in my career."
Diggins at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games
Credit: Tobias Schwarz/AFP via Getty
The star athlete has suffered from an eating disorder for much of her adult life, revealing she had relapsed in 2023 after 12 years of being in recovery. She is an ambassador for the Emily Program, an eating disorder treatment organization. She now also focused on advocacy, encouraging others to seek help and talk about their mental health, something that "literally saved my life," she says.
"If you break your arm, it's easy to see and be like, 'Oh my gosh, I imagine this is hard for you. That looks painful.' But when it's an injury on the inside and it's invisible, it's hard sometimes for people to find that empathy and compassion. And so that's where I get to help try to make it okay to talk about."
She also works with the environmentalist nonprofit Protect Our Winters to help ensure future generations will be able to ski, as well as Share Winter to make skiing more accessible for underserved communities.
She says she hopes her partnerships inspire people to take care of themselves, inside and out — and to take the advice that NOW Foods is giving, that now is the best time to get started on prioritizing your health.
"I love this idea of embracing that it is never too late to start on your own journey and be your best self," she says. "I hope I can just be an embodiment of that, and it's never too late to add new things to your routine and figure out how to enhance your own well-being."
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