Jessie Diggins all smiles after eighth place in 10km classic

Jessie Diggins finished eighth in the women’s cross-country skiing 10km classic at Beijing 2022 on Thursday (10 February), but had a huge smile on her face following the race.

The American is one of the world’s top freestyle skiers, meaning medalling in this classical-style race was always going to be a huge challenge.

“I was really proud of today,” Diggins told Olympics.com afterwards. “I've been working so hard for many, many years on improving my classical technique, especially my stride. So bit by bit it's coming around."

In the end it was Norway's Therese Johaug who took the gold medal. But Diggins was delighted by her own result.

“I was really focussed on the process, as always. I couldn't feel my legs at all and I could still get up the hill, which is really saying something about the great kick that my skis had. It was also a really cool day of focussing on each little goal and then executing them to the best of my ability.”

MORE: Five things to know about Jessie Diggins

Conditions at the National Cross-Country Centre in the Zhangjiakou mountain range turned from sunny and still at the start of the race to a strong, freezing wind blowing over the course by the end.

But for Diggins, this provided welcome respite.

“Oh, it was exciting, but I tell you what I didn't overheat and I'm grateful for that,” she continued. “So I didn't mind the wind actually, it was nice to be cooled down and just got in my tightest tuck on the downhills.”

Diggins has a gruelling schedule at these Winter Olympics.

The freestyle 10km was already her third race out of potentially five, just two days after she sealed bronze in the women’s individual sprint.

The 30-year-old, who won team sprint Olympic gold at PyeongChang 2018, revealed how