Stars who have shaped international cross-country skiing for more than 15 years are calling it quits: Diggins and Pellegrino are just two of them.

See the full list of traditional cross-country skiers retiring further down in the article.

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Among the biggest international names hanging up their skis this season is Jessie Diggins.

On Sunday, March 22, the effervescent American said her farewell in typical fashion: with glitter, fanfare, and a total collapse at the finish line. In doing so, she claimed her fourth overall World Cup title on home soil in the United States.

Few, if any, individual athletes have done as much to put the USA on the cross-country skiing map.

“The USA has gone from a cross-country skiing nation no one thought about to winning multiple Olympic medals with multiple different athletes. Everything is in place there now, and that’s largely thanks to her,” said Astrid Øyre Slind at the World Cup finals in Lake Placid.

Over her 15 years at the top level, Diggins competed in 385 World Cup races, stood on the podium in 90 of them, and won 33. She won the Tour de Ski twice and the overall World Cup four times. She has seven World Championship medals, including two golds, from five championships (2013, 2015, 2017, 2023 and 2025), and four Olympic medals from three Games (2018, 2022 and 2026). There is no question that Diggins leaves behind a significant void. And now it is over.

Read More –Jessie Diggins: portrait of an American icon in her golden final chapter

Also retiring from World Cup competition are Switzerland’s Nadine Fähndrich and Finland’s Krista Pärmäkoski.

Super veteran

Pärmäkoski has nearly 20 years at the top level behind her. She has five Olympic medals and seven World Championship medals from nine championships in total, but no gold. She has competed in 360 World Cup races since her debut in 2008, standing on the podium in 49 of them and winning six. Pärmäkoski has also been through a great deal personally, including a relationship breakdown and divorce after ten years of marriage.

Since then, she has competed in more than 200 World Cup races, reaching the podium in 27 and winning seven, the last being the sprint in Tallinn in March last year.

She participated in three Olympic Games (2018, 2022 and 2026) and five World Championships (2017, 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025). In addition to the World Championship silver in the team sprint at this winter’s championships in Milano-Cortina, she holds three World Championship medals: bronze in the sprint and team sprint in Trondheim 2025, and silver in the team sprint in Oberstdorf in 2021.

Pellegrino

Italy’s Federico Pellegrino is also done at the World Cup level. The 35-year-old debuted on the circuit in 2010 and has since been one of the few athletes outside the Russians, select Swedes, and Finns to challenge Norway’s superstars.

Last year, he took silver in the sprint at the World Championships in Trondheim, becoming — at 34 — the oldest medal winner in championship history at the time. At the home Olympics this past winter, Pellegrino claimed relay bronze, again breaking his own record as the oldest medalist.

Read More – Celebrates relay bronze: “The proudest day of my life!”

Before he retires for good, the affable Italian will travel to Norway for one final showdown with Johannes Høsflot Klæbo. On Saturday, April 25, the two meet at the Bysprinten in Mosjøen.

Klæbo rival

Also stepping away is Richard Jouve. For the past 13 years, the French cross-country skiing star has been one of Klæbo’s fiercest rivals, winning the sprint World Cup overall in 2022.

Over 13 years at the top level, Jouve competed in three Olympic Games, winning two medals: bronze in the team sprint in Pyeongchang in 2018 and bronze in the relay in Beijing in 2022. He competed in six World Championships, from Falun in 2015 to Trondheim in 2025, holding two bronze medals, from the relay in Seefeld in 2019 and the team sprint in Planica in 2023. Jouve competed in 176 World Cup races in total, reaching the podium in 25 and winning five.

Norwegian profiles

A number of Norwegian skiers are also retiring this season. Among the most prominent are former national team skier Didrik Tønseth and Ane Appelkvist Stenseth.

Tønseth retires, now switching sports

The 34-year-old from Byåsen announced in late January that he would retire this season. In March he also revealed he had taken a job that involves switching sports entirely.

Tønseth also took a swipe at the Norwegian Ski Association and team management:

“My biggest rival is not the skiers I compete against, but the way the selection rules are used, or abused, by the team management,” he told NRK.

Since his World Cup debut in Falun in February 2015, he competed in four World Championships and one Olympics, winning two World Championship gold medals and one Olympic gold in relay, along with several national championship medals and six World Cup victories.

His Olympic gold came in the relay at Pyeongchang in South Korea in 2018.

Calling it quits and getting married

Ane Appelkvist Stenseth, 31, from Grong IL, is stepping away from elite competition after ten years of full commitment.

She made her World Cup debut in December 2017, going on to compete in 67 World Cup races and one World Championship (2021), where she finished fifth in the sprint. In the World Cup she reached the final six times, most recently in 2025, with fourth place as her best result.

For Stenseth, an entirely new chapter awaits. She is set to marry Jørgen Ulvang, Pro Team Director at Team Engcon.

“Having a family is something I have dreamed of since I was a little girl,” she told Langrenn.com earlier this winter.

Shock exit from Kjelsås

Perhaps the most unexpected departure is that of Håvard Moseby.

The 26-year-old from Kjelsås was a fixture on the development national team for several years until it was disbanded last year. He also came agonizingly close to a spot at the World Championships in Trondheim.

Just before Easter, however, Moseby announced his retirement.

Long regarded as one of Norway’s greatest talents, he was hampered by bad luck and injuries for several years.

Nevertheless, he leaves with three gold and two bronze medals from the U23 World Championships, both gold and silver from Junior Worlds, four senior national championship medals, and an overall Norwegian Cup title.

Moseby made his World Cup debut with an eighth-place finish in the 15km freestyle in Lillehammer in December 2021, going on to compete in 26 World Cup races and two Tour de Ski appearances.

The first time was in 2023, when he finished 21st overall. The last was this past year, when he finished fifth and was the second-best Norwegian.

He also holds one podium result and ten further top-10 World Cup finishes, the last coming at the 50km in Holmenkollen two weeks ago, where he placed seventh, just 3.5 seconds off the podium.

Traditional cross-country skiers retiring after the 2025/2026 Olympic season

Canada

Katherine Weaver (29)
Julian Smith (30)

Finland

Krista Pärmäkoski (35)
Katri Lylynpära (32)
Perttu Hyvārinen (34)
Markus Vuorela (29)

France

Richard Jouve (31)
Clement Parisse (32)
Julien Arnaud (24)

Italy

Federico Pellegrino (35)
Dietmar Noeckler (37)
Francesca Franchi (28)

Norway 

Ane Appelkvist Stenseth (31)
Didrik Tønseth (34)
Håvard Moseby (26)

Poland 

Maciej Starega (36)

Slovenia

Eva Urevc (30)

Switzerland

Nadine Fähndrich (30)
Désirée Steiner (27)
Candide Pralong (35)
Jason Rüesch (31)

Sweden

Ingrid Hallquist (29)
Jenny Solin (29)
Karl-Johan Westberg (33)

Czech Republic

Adam Fellner (32)
Ondrej Cherney

Germany

Lucas Bogl (34)

United States

Jessie Diggins (34)

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