Entertainment Sports Team USA's Jessie Diggins Receives Cross Country 30km Silver Medal During Closing Ceremony Sunday's medal presentation was followed by the awarding of the prizes in the men's cross country 50km mass start free By Lindsay Kimble Lindsay Kimble Lindsay Kimble is a Senior Digital News Editor and the Sports Editor for PEOPLE Digital. She's worked at PEOPLE for over seven years as a writer, reporter and editor across our Entertainment, Lifestyle and News teams, covering everything from the Super Bowl to the Met Gala. She's been nominated for the ASME NEXT Awards for Journalists Under 30, and previously wrote for Us Weekly while on staff at Wenner Media. People Editorial Guidelines Published on February 20, 2022 07:51 AM Share Tweet Pin Email Jessie Diggins. Photo: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images Team USA's Jessie Diggins received one of the last medals of the Beijing Olympic Games during the Closing Ceremony on Sunday. The cross country skier was presented with her silver medal and flowers for the women's 30km mass start free during the ceremony at Beijing's National Stadium. The presentation of the medals came shortly after Team USA made its final march into the Bird's Nest, led by flagbearer Elana Meyers Taylor. Coming second to Therese Johaug of Norway, Diggins tied the best-ever finish by an American cross country skier in an Olympic event, the Star Tribune reported. Diggins is also now the first American in cross country to win more than one medal at a single Games. See Which Countries Won Medals at the 2022 Winter Olympics The medalists in the women's cross country 30km mass start free. Maja Hitij/Getty Images Speaking to reporters after the race, Diggins called it maybe "the best" of her "entire life." "I'm not going to lie. It was also maybe the hardest race of my entire life," she added, the Star Tribune said. Diggins said, "We had so much cheering out there. It felt like everyone was out there, and when it got really hard, everyone was just breathing with me. I thought, 'I just can't give up.' … I don't know how I made it to the finish. It was amazing.'' Sunday's medal presentation was followed by the awarding of the prizes in the men's cross country 50km mass start free. Jessie Diggins Wins Team USA's First-Ever Cross Country Skiing Individual Sprint Medal with Bronze Earlier in the Games, Diggins secured Team USA's first-ever Olympic sprint medal in cross-country skiing. The athlete won the bronze in the women's sprint. Diggins, 30, had made history for Team USA once before: back in 2018, she and teammate Kikkan Randall won America's first-ever cross-country skiing gold medal in the women's team sprint. To learn more about Team USA, visit TeamUSA.org. Watch the Paralympics, beginning March 4, on NBC.