In Jessie Diggins' world, the joy can't happen without the pain. Tuesday, as she raced in a women's 10-kilometer freestyle at the world championships, she felt both at the same time.
Diggins' strategy was to ski with all the happiness she could muster, even when her legs began to go numb. In the end, all she felt was the joy. Diggins, of Afton, Minn., held off a pair of Swedish stars to win the 10k, becoming the first American ever to capture a gold medal in an individual cross-country race at the FIS Nordic world ski championships.
The three-time Olympian put forth her usual gutsy effort to earn another piece of history. She went out hard from the start on a track in Planica, Slovenia, that she described as "the perfect course for me.''
