Boston

Olympic Gold Medalists Compete in Vt. Cross-Country Ski Event

Olympic gold medalists are among the cross-country ski competitors racing in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom this weekend.

Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall won gold in the women's team sprint at the Winter Olympic Games in South Korea.

"It's been a bit of a whirlwind, for sure," Diggins told NBC10 Boston, describing the month since Team USA's historic medal win.

Friday, they competed alongside other Olympic and World Cup-caliber skiers at a SuperTour event hosted by the Craftsbury Outdoor Center in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom.

"This is the one chance we have to race against everyone in the U.S.," Diggins noted.

Ending a long medal drought for U.S. cross country skiers has Diggins now eager to help grow the sport.

"My biggest hope and dream ever is that we can get a World Cup in the United States," she said.

That enthusiasm for promoting the sport is why Diggins was glad to see so many junior athletes among the spectators cheering her on to a first-place finish in her event Friday.

For young racers, she has this advice:

"You can't do it just for the medal, because the ceremony lasts 10 minutes and that's it — it's not going to change your life," Diggins said. "You have to do it because you love the sport. Because the 10 years of training leading up to that — that's who you are."

SuperTour races continue into next week in Craftsbury.

After that, it's some much-deserved time off for Diggins, before she returns to training this summer with her team of pro athletes based at the Stratton Mountain School in southern Vermont.

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