Jessie Diggins apparently was not interested in taking it easy after retiring from professional cross-country ski racing.
Less than six months after ending one of the most decorated careers in American Nordic skiing history, Diggins entered her first 100-mile trail race. She won the women’s race.
The 35-year-old Minnesota native finished the Superior 100 Mile Trail Race in 25 hours, 9 minutes and 46 seconds on Saturday, Sept. 12. Diggins was the first woman across the finish line and finished fifth overall, just about a minute behind the fourth-place runner.
While most people think of Minnesota as flat, the 2026 route took runners point to point along the Superior Hiking Trail from Gooseberry Falls State Park to Lutsen in northern Minnesota with a total vertical gain of 17,350 feet.
“People think Minnesota is flat. They can think again. It was rugged, it was stunning, it was also insanely challenging to continue to pick my knees up over all the rocks and roots!” –Jessie Diggins
Twenty-Five Hours Through the Minnesota Woods
The Superior 100 is not a particularly forgiving introduction to 100-mile racing.
Founded in 1991, the event is one of the oldest 100-mile trail races in the United States. The course follows the rocky and technical Superior Hiking Trail through the Sawtooth Mountains along Lake Superior, crossing streams and climbing repeatedly through northern Minnesota’s forests. Roughly 95 percent of the route is technical singletrack, according to the race organizers.
Runners started at 8 a.m. Friday and continued through the night. MPR News reported that competitors dealt with periods of pouring rain while navigating dark, rocky and slippery trails by headlamp.
Diggins moved quickly through the early portions of the race before the accumulated miles began taking their toll.
In an interview with MPR after the race, she described reaching the finish with essentially nothing left.
“Once I stopped, it was as if every ounce of energy that I had, had gone into just getting to that finish line.”
She reportedly dealt with painful foot problems late in the race and relied heavily on friends who crewed and paced her through the final miles. After crossing the finish line at Caribou Highlands Lodge, Diggins briefly lay on the ground while her crew covered her with a blanket.
The effort was still fast enough to place Diggins fifth among every runner in the race. The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that her 25:09:46 finish was also the eighth-fastest women’s time recorded on the race’s modern course.
Diggins Had Never Run This Far
The result becomes more impressive considering how recently Diggins started racing ultras.
Superior was only her third trail race since retiring from professional skiing in March.
Earlier this summer, she competed in the Broken Arrow Skyrace in California, completing the event’s three-race Triple Crown over consecutive days. In August, she ran the 19.3-mile Sierre-Zinal mountain race in Switzerland. Before Superior, the farthest Diggins said she had ever run in a single outing was 42 miles.
That meant she reached completely new territory less than halfway through the Superior 100.
Diggins had been thinking about the distance for years. During her ski career, she and her coach occasionally set aside a training day for what they called “The Big Stupid,” an intentionally oversized endurance adventure that might involve an unusually long run or roller ski.
Those adventures gradually became more running focused.
Before Superior, Diggins told the Minnesota Star Tribune that completing a 100-mile race had been a longtime goal.
Doing it in Minnesota added another layer.
Diggins grew up in Afton and graduated from Stillwater High School. Race director John Storkamp told MPR that her decision to make Superior her first 100-miler made sense given the connection she has maintained with her home state throughout her career.
From Four Olympic Medals to 101 Miles on Foot
Only a few months ago, Diggins was still competing at the highest level of cross-country skiing.
She retired in March following the World Cup Finals in Lake Placid, New York, ending a 15-year international career. Diggins finished her final season by winning her fourth overall World Cup Crystal Globe and another distance title.
She retired with four Olympic medals, including the historic team sprint gold she won with Kikkan Randall at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. Diggins added a silver and bronze in 2022 and another bronze at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.
U.S. Ski & Snowboard lists Diggins with four overall World Cup titles, 30 World Cup victories and 90 World Cup podiums over her career.
She has now moved from racing the world’s best Nordic skiers to figuring out what comes next.
Trail running appears to be part of the answer.
Diggins’ Documentary Is Streaming Now
Anyone interested in the story behind Diggins’ skiing career can also watch a new feature-length documentary about her.
“Threshold” follows Diggins through the 2023-24 racing season while documenting both the pressure of competing at the highest level and her struggle with an eating disorder.
The 86-minute film was directed by Torsten Brinkema and Lars Brinkema and executive produced by actor Patrick Dempsey. It initially premiered on Peacock following the 2026 Winter Olympics.
“Threshold” became available for home streaming Aug. 28 and can currently be rented or purchased through Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV and YouTube.
Her ski-racing career may be finished, but Superior suggests Diggins has not lost much interest in finding out where those limits are.
This time, she did it for 101 miles.
