TESERO, Italy — Jessie Diggins of the United States battled through injury to claim bronze Thursday in the women's 10‑kilometer interval start, a race dominated by Sweden's Frida Karlsson as she won her second gold medal at the Winter Olympics.
Diggins, racing in her final season, collapsed to the ground, shouting out in pain after finishing the freestyle race at the Milan Cortina Games and adding to her gold, silver and bronze career medal tally.
The 34-year-old American finished 49.7 seconds behind a Swedish one-two, with Karlsson clocking 22 minutes, 49.2 seconds. Ebba Andersson was second, 46.6 seconds behind the leader.
Diggins fell in the opening race, the Skiathlon, and bruised her ribs. The injury hurt her following performance in the individual sprint where she was eliminated in the heats.
“I need a new body,” Diggins said Thursday. “Honestly, I think I’m the happiest, most grateful bronze medallist in the whole world. It’s been one heck of a painful week. Two days ago, I was like, I don’t know how I’m going to do this.”
She hugged her Swedish rivals before stepping onto the podium to chants of “Jessie! Jessie!” from a crowd that included a large traveling group of her family and friends.
“I just felt like I was skiing out of my body the whole time. And I was just trying to fight for every single second and to leave it all out there,” Diggins said. “I’ve been up at night with my ribs clicking in and out of place. It’s just really been hard.”
Her medal is the second for the U.S. team in cross country at the Games, following Ben Ogden’s silver medal sprint in the men’s competition. But Diggins said the pain of racing Thursday made her unaware of her position in the standings.
“I had no idea what place I was in,” she said. “It’s been disconcerting and really, really painful.”
Showing emotion, Diggins said she had received video messages of support from elderly relatives unable to make the trip, adding: “I saw my husband and got a big smooch before the start and that really helped me out.”
Sweden’s women have now won seven out of the nine medals handed out in cross-country skiing at Milan Cortina. Karlsson said she felt confident of victory after a strong hill climb before the finish, adding that she would celebrate with teammates later with a victory cake provided for podium performances by the team chefs.
“I was bursting with energy,” she said, giggling. “I felt the pain but it was after the finish line. The good feeling came on the last hill.”
