After a Decorated Skiing Career, Olympian Jessie Diggins Is Competing in One of the World’s Biggest Mountain Races

Jessie Diggins is swapping snow for some Swiss mountain trails this weekend, and it sounds like she’s thriving in the change of scenery.The Olympic cross-country skiing star is listed in the invited elite women’s field for Sierre-Zinal, the legendary mountain race that runs from Sierre to Zinal in Switzerland. The course covers 31K through the Valais Alps, with 2,200 meters of climbing and 1,100 meters of descent before finishing in Zinal.Diggins, of course, isn’t exactly new to high-stakes endurance suffering. She became one of the most recognizable American cross-country skiers of all time during a career that included an Olympic title in 2018, when she and Kikkan Randall won the United States’ first Olympic gold medal in cross-country skiing. She announced her retirement from professional skiing this year. This new path she’s on seems to be the start of a fresh, maybe slightly spontaneous chapter—one she appears to be fully loving.On Instagram this week, Diggins wrote about “gratitude” and “pure, raw joy” over getting to move through trails in beautiful places. She also thanked Sierre-Zinal for having her, adding that she hadn’t even made it officially from Sierre to Zinal on foot yet and was already loving the experience.In another post, she described herself as “really just feeling lucky to be here,” hanging with fun people and getting to run, “and let’s be honest, mostly power-hike” a lot.Diggins might be in the elite field at a serious mountain race, but she’s not framing Sierre-Zinal like a high-pressure career pivot. She’s no stranger to the trails. Diggins has competed at the Broken Arrow Skyrace in California multiple times.That mood also fits with what she recently told Trail Runner Magazine. Next on the competition docket, Diggins is signed up for the Superior 100 in Minnesota this September, which will be her first time attempting a 100-mile race.“I want to be able to say yes to things,” Diggins told Trail Runner Magazine. “I was so focused on one thing for sixteen years and now I get to just wake up every day and decide what I want to do! That’s what I’m most excited about.”Sean Abrams was the Senior Editor, Growth and Engagement at Men’s Health. He’s a former hip hop dancer who likes long walks on the beach and large glasses of tequila. You can find his previous work at Maxim, Elite Daily, and AskMen.