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From the FasterSkier archive — posts syndicated from athletes’ and coaches’ own blogs between 2004 and 2012, kept online as published. Current coverage is at fasterskier.com.

Tag: Gus Schumacher

  • Grazie, Federico—Pellegrino Scripts the Perfect Ending

    Grazie, Federico—Pellegrino Scripts the Perfect Ending

    This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

    Federico Pellegrino (ITA) during warmup, hearing his name called by the joyous crowd lining the course in Lake Placid. It was the beginning to a tremendous day, and the final Sprint victory of his glorious career. (Photo:  Thibaut/NordicFocus.)

    “The energy that I got in the warmup lap . . . I got this feeling of power from the public,” said Federico Pellegrino.”Cheering for me. “Chicco Pelle! Chicco Pelle! And then in the Final, I could not wait!”

    Though this race—this glorious victory— came at the end of a long and illustrious career, Pellegrino was true to his word. He could not wait. He blazed off the front of a complex and contact-filled Freestyle Sprint final to storm to the 18th win of his World Cup career—his 46th podium. He had won silver and bronze medals in front of his countrymen at the Olympics of Milano-Cortina just a few weeks ago. Perhaps this final victory in front of the cheering throngs of Mt. Van Hoevenberg was sweeter, still.

    Pellegrino was joined on the podium by Lars Heggen (NOR) and Anton Grahn (SWE), two young guns who may represent the future of the sport. But Pellegrino showed he was not yet ready to allow the great names of the past to be forgotten. One last Sprint victory, and one more chance to show his appreciation to an appreciative crowd.

    “Thank you Lake Placid,” smiled Pellegrino. “It was great!”

    Lars Heggen (NOR) may see himself as the heir apparent, the sprinter most likely to triumph when Klaebo is away. That may soon be true . . . just as soon as Federico Pellegrino (ITA) retires. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)

    A World Cup Sprint without Klaebo is two things at the same time: both a lot less interesting, and a lot more interesting. When Klaebo is in the Sprint field, Klaebo will win, won’t he? So what does it mean when Klaebo is absent? It means almost anyone can win. And with only the World Cup Distance championship remaining to be defended (in a close race with Harald Oestberg Amundsen), Klaebo elected to sit out the Freestyle Sprint . . . marking perhaps the only time that Klaebo has been able to watch an entire World Cup Sprint competition from the sidelines.

    “It’s not very often that you have the races (in the USA),” said Klaebo. “And it’s always fun—I mean it was amazing when we were in Minneapolis a couple of years ago, and I’ve been looking forward to this race for a long time. With what happens last week, (coming to Lake Placid) was a little bit uncertain. I’m really happy that I made it, and happy that I made it to the starting line.”

    “The Americans really know how to make noise and a good atmosphere,” said Klaebo of the Mt. Van Hoevenberg crowds lining the 10 k course on Friday. “It was cool!”

    “I think it’s the right decision to skip the (Sprint on Saturday),” said Klaebo. “Hopefully I will be back at it again on Sunday with enough energy to be able to fight.”

    JC Schoonmaker (USA) was the top American among five who qualified for Lake Placid’s Freestyle Sprint quarterfinals. He would put together a fine set of performances, advancing to the semifinal and finishing the day ninth. (Photo:  Thibaut/NordicFocus)
    Freestyle Sprint Heats

    Team USA would qualify five skiers into the quarterfinals: Gus Schumacher, Ben Ogden, Jack Young, JC Schoonmaker, and Zanden McMullen. Schumacher, Ogden, and Young delivered especially eye-popping qualifying efforts: fourth, fifth, and sixth,  respectively. While Americans would ski their way into the quarterfinals, it was not to be the Americans’ day.

    Schumacher caught his pole in the start gate and immediately surrendered ten meters to the field, but an initial slow pace in the heat allowed him to catch up quickly, and to surge forward into third position. Schumacher followed early leaders Benjamin Moser (AUT) and Anton Grahn (SWE), though it was Lars Heggen (NOR) sitting quietly mid-pack that should have occupied everyone’s attention. Heggen was badly positioned mid-race, pinched out of a spot to advance on the climb, and found himself at the very back. Schumacher was pushed wide on the final turn while Heggen masterfully weaved far inside, squeaking past to fuel his dash down the final straightaway. Heggen would finish second (behind Grahn) while Schumacher would find himself fourth. Schumacher’s time would not hold up as a lucky loser. He would finish the day in 21st.

    Quarterfinal 2 had Ogden lining up beside his teammate, McMullen, and with the legend, Federico Pellegrino. Loud cheers greeted the announcement of the Americans as Ogden waved to the crowd. The heat would be paced by Roman Alder (SUI) with Ogden and Pellegrino waiting patiently for the pace to settle. Pellegrino and Ogden vied for the lead at the top of the final uphill, but neither of them really wanted it. They baited Alder back into the lead, and prepared to take advantage of his slipstream on the descent. Pellegrino showed why he is a legend in the sport, weaving through the field and into the lead as he crossed the line. Ogden showed that he may still have much to learn as he skied himself into dead ends in the finishing straightaway, fading to fourth behind McMullen. McMullen would finish the day 15th, Ogden 17th.

    Chanavat led out Quarterfinal 3; a typical tactic for Chanavat, though one that has always found itself to be ineffective against Klaebo. But Klaebo wasn’t here today . . . and no one other than Chanavat really seemed to have a plan. Counter-punching in Sprint heats can sometimes result in advancement, but it rarely results in victory. It looked like Chanavat would have the advantage. Behind him, Schoonmaker scrubbed too much speed in the hairpin turn, finding himself dropped by the acceleration of Jir Tuz (CZE) on the significant downhill. Chanavat gave chase, and the heat was all but decided. Chanavat would step out of the draft and into the lead. Tuz would follow him across the line with Harald Oestberg Amundsen claiming a lucky loser spot. Schoonmaker would finish fourth in the heat, sitting in a hopeful lucky loser position with two heats remaining.

    Sasha Masson (CAN) set the pace in Quarterfinal 4, but found himself overtaken in the final curves. Eric Johansson (SWE) and Even Northug (NOR) would advance.

    Quarterfinal 5 pitted Young against Ansgar Evensen (NOR) and Jaume Pueyo (ESP). Young would drop to the back in the opening meters, but forced his way forward by the top of the first uphill. He found an open lane on the next uphill, but may have spent too much energy advancing. Young entered the final downhill in second position, but he would fade in the final straightaway, finding himself overtake by Pueyo and Evensen. Young would end the day in 13th place.

    Semifinals

    Schoonmaker followed Chanavat, Pellegrino, and Heggen into the first semifinal, where he would mark Heggen at the rear. Maybe patience would be the righ tactic? At thefront, Chanavat drove the pace, duking it out with Pellegrino on the uphill. Grahn, Heggen, and Pellegrino would all lunge at the line in a photo finish as Chanavat faded into a lunge for fourth with Schoonmaker. Ultimately, the lucky loser spots would belong to Pellegrino and Chanavat. Schoonmaker would finish ninth on the day.

    The second semifinal was led by Johansson, who was shadowed by Evensen and Amundsen. Pueyo, Northug, and Tuz trailed the field. Johanssen and Amundsen would advance at the line.

    Federico Pellegrino (ITA) came storming into the finish area al alone. The crowd let him know who their favorite really is. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)
    Sprint Final

    The Sprint final offered an excellent non-Klaebo lineup: Grahn, Johansson, Heggen, Amundsen, Pellegrino, and Chanavat.. The veterans (those likely to have a plan), Chanavat and Pellegrino, had advanced as lucky losers. Would they be fast enough to contend? The Norwegians featured a proven sprinter in Heggen with a points-hungry all-rounder in Amundsen. Sweden brought two young skiers eager to upset Norway’s podium pitch. And the starter’s pistol revealed how easy it is for even the most experienced racers to suffer the most rookie mistakes—Amundsen planted his pole tip on top of his own ski, and collapsed in a tangle in the very first meter of the race. Remarkably, he would jump to his feet and take off in pursuit of the field, which he caught before 30 seconds had elapsed. Amundsen was back in the race, but at what cost?

    At the front, Grahn and Pellegrino set the pace. They were followed by Chanavat who, for once, seemed willing to change his at-the-front tactics. As the climb began, Heggen’s ski tip fouled in Johansson’s binding. The Swede went down, and Heggen lost momentum. The leading three seemed to be getting away where Pellegrino was putting an entire career’s worth of energy to his hop skate up the steepest climb. Power-skating into the final downhill, Pellegrino had created a gap ahead of Grahn that meant the tall  Swede would not benefit from Mt. Van Hoevenberg’s notorious draft. Pellegirno would exult across his final Sprint finish line, capping a brilliant career with one final victory. Heggen would recover to dash forward to claim second, ahead of Grahn in third.

    “This was the way I dreamt, when I was young, to win races,” said Pellegrino. “To end my career in that way was fantastic.”

    World Cup Final Men’s Freestyle Sprint RESULTS

    World Cup Final Men’s Freestyle Sprint QUALIFYING

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    World Cup racing continues this weekend from Lake Placid and Mount van Hoevenberg:

    Sunday, March 22

    12:30 pm | Men’s 20km Mass Start Free

    2:30 pm | Women’s 20km Mass Start Free

    4:30 pm | ONE LAST LAP w/Jessie Diggins & the Retiring Stars

    Chicco Pelle and his fans. Grazie, Federico. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus.)

     

     

  • The Case for More American World Cups

    The Case for More American World Cups

    This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) back in action and lifted by the roar of American ski fans during the World Cup 10 k Classic in Lake Placid, New York. (Photo: Dils / FasterSkier)

    LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK — Ten kilometers into the second World Cup on American soil in as many decades, and the verdict is already clear: We need more racing in the United States.

    That’s the message panted into my microphone by every athlete in the Mix Zone; shouted over the undulating din by every supporter I spoke with on the ice-lacquered walkways lacing Mt. Van Hoevenberg. And it’s the irresistible outcome of the turnout this afternoon in Lake Placid — with a crowd that came out in droves for Diggins, the Schumacher-Ogden’s Silver Medal Squad, and a host of homegrown heroes; that braved five inches of wet, driving snow; and that stayed to see Jessie clinch the Overall Crystal Globe, a reconstituted Klæbo overtake Amundsen in the Distance standings, and to welcome the world’s best to the conclusion of the 2025-26 season.

    The reaction to racing in the United States in 2023 was overwhelmingly positive – and, it had seemed, sui generis. With four snowmaking venues spread across the Twin Cities, along with the (purportedly) highest concentration of cross-country skiers outside of Oslo, the energy that embraced Jessie Diggins in her home state and buried a generation of “almosts” for the U.S. Men’s Team in the snow and mud at Theodore Wirth could have been lightning in a bottle.

    Jessie Diggins (USA) racing on home soil in Minneapolis and did so again in Lake Placid as she concludes her storied World Cup career. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

    I will admit my own skepticism that Lake Placid could field the fans, or the volume, of spectators to match Minneapolis. Perhaps my flight into Saranac Lake Regional Airport on Wednesday morning was my first evidence of error. Of seven passengers bobbing our way through the cloud-laden Adirondacks, four were here for the World Cup: Charlie, from Seattle; Billy (as in, Demong, the Nordic Combined gold medalist) and his son, from Salt Lake City; and myself, from D.C. Bussing to the venue the next day, I’m seated with a dozen of University of Minnesota alumni – they’ve taken off of work, graduate school, and medical school to spectate. “I’m excited just to see the number of people out cheering,” Alex Gude, who organized the trip, tells me. “I think one of the best parts about Minneapolis is just seeing the community come together, and now, away from home, we’re seeing another whole ski community come out and cheer.”

    And, indeed, they are – from across the United States, from across New England, from across the Canadian border, and from right here in Lake Placid. Once we disembark, I wade through the corn snow and the first of many falling flakes to Mt. Van Hoevenberg’s sprawling Nordic Center, where the racecourse coils around the podium and snakes below the pedestrian bridge. Patricia Damp is herding thirteen might-be-members of the local ski community across the bridge; she’s a third-grade teacher here in Lake Placid, chaperoning a class field trip to the World Cup Finals.

    Are the kids already Diggins die-hards, Ogden acolytes, Gus bus-riders? Not really, Patricia tells me. The class “was out here a couple months ago, cross-country skiing. We get to do the Olympic venues. We were at the museum a month ago. We have a friend who we watched ski jump. So, we’re very Olympic-oriented, and today we’re just out here to support the athletes and get some autographs.” Her students back her up. “We’re excited to get the players’ signatures,” Riley tells me. And while Declan is “excited to see the racers,” there’s no-one in particular he’s cheering for.

    Gus Schumacher (USA) during the Men’s 10 k Classic in Lake Placid, New York. (Photo: Dils / FasterSkier)

    From the mouths of children, our first – and perhaps strongest – argument for future American World Cups. The glitter-dusted kids in fan club bibs, wielding cardboard-cutout faces as large as they are, make for compelling pictures and undeniable evidence of Team USA’s impact on its next generation. But racing in the United States creates opportunities to draw an entirely new cohort of young people into the cross-country skiing community – kids who may have never tried skiing before; who may not have heard of Kikkan or Klæbo ; and whose parents certainly are not waking up before sunrise to livestream Ruka, Falun or Holmenkollen. They will not see themselves in this sport until they see this sport. What better way to do so than on a Friday field trip with Mrs. Damp?

    After bidding them good luck with the signature-hunting, it’s not an easy task to wade against the current of the rest of the Lake Placid Class of 2035. Also threading his way through the third-graders is Niklas Dyrhaug, immediately recognizable even five years into retirement from World Cup racing. He’s on the other side of the v-boards this weekend, broadcasting for Norwegian television. In his first sentence, he tells me: “We are enjoying being back in the U.S. In my opinion, we should be here every year.” He’s not surprised by the number of spectators, either. “Everybody who knows the U.S. crowd knows they are really enthusiastic . . . We know the tradition, the culture, and Lake Placid’s place in that history. So, personally, I’m not that surprised. It’s really cool that we’re back here.”

    That’s the sentiment just after Coaster Hill, some four kilometers into the racecourse, where Norwegian national team coach Eirik Myhr Nossum prowls the striding zone. Being back in the United States is “awesome, it’s amazing. I think we should be here every year, because you guys show up; you guys cheer for everyone, and it’s always fun to be in the U.S. and to be overseas to compete.”

    And it’s the sentiment at the finish line.

    Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) after the 10 k Classic in Lake Placid, New York. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)

    Harald Amundsen (NOR) tells me, “In the outer part of the track, there were so many people I couldn’t hear my own thinking. That’s a really good thing.” Even before he arrived at the venue, “We had a run this morning in the city. Everyone was screaming at us, ‘Good luck!’ It’s a really nice atmosphere.”

    For Elia Barp (ITA), conditions were “very tough because it was really slow with this new snow, but it was fun racing for me. So I enjoyed it – at least I tried to enjoy it – it was a pack of people screaming my name so that gave me even more motivation, and was fun . . . I loved racing two years ago in Minneapolis, and here it’s packed with people, even with the snowfall, so thank you to everyone for coming. It’s really good to race here.”

    Mika Vermeulen (AUT) admits, “Honestly, this is probably the worst race I’ve done in a long time. But I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun out on the track . . . on top there, out in the forest, I just heard, ‘MI-KA, MI-KA,’ the whole time. It was insane. I had a bad race and a lot of fun.”

    As for how he feels about returning to the United States: “Great, great, actually—and feeling a bit frustrated, because it just gets me pissed that we race these [bad] courses in Europe all the time, over and over and over again, and we have these freaking jewels out here which we never use. It’s crazy. I want to go to the U.S. every year for at least a whole period. It’s called the World Cup. It’s not called the European Cup, right?”

    Fans all over the course with custom gear showing their fandom. (Photo: Dils / FasterSkier)

    Klæbo’s opinion is a bit more measured – perhaps because he has more microphones hovering around his face. “I heard some rumors that it was supposed to be quite well [attended], and when I searched up Lake Placid and read a little bit about the place, I understood there’s not that many people living [here], but when you see how many people are here, I was pretty shocked.”

    A second argument, then, in favor of World Cup racing in this country: the athletes love it. They embrace not just the energy, but the venues that push the World Cup beyond the geographic and cultural confines of Transalpine Europe.

    Benjamin Dohlby (USA) at the finish of the Men’s 10 k Classic in Lake Placid. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)

    For the closing statement, Ben Dohlby is among the last athletes I interview. This is Ben’s first World Cup start; a junior at University of Alaska-Fairbanks, he was 3rd in the American Birkebeiner in February. How does it feel to be making his first professional start in the United States?

    “It was crazy. I went out so hard. The fans were so loud that I didn’t feel anything, and then I felt it all and got so tired – but it was awesome; a great atmosphere.” It wasn’t too long ago that Ben was skiing laps around the glazed kilometer of manmade snow at Lapham Peak State Park in Delafied, Wisconsin; now he’s here. To his former teammates, to other up and coming skiers, and to novices across similar ribbons of snow in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota, his message is simple: “Follow your dreams and you can make it happen.”

    Most of the fans hiked up on the course, but the stadium filled up as the day went on. (Photo: Dils / FasterSkier)

    That, then, is our concluding point: More World Cup starts on American soil means more starting berths for American skiers, and more chances for our most talented young skiers to make it to the starting line. We should savor the privilege of, as a host nation, pitting our athletes against the most accomplished figures in the sport, dreaming that a World Cup podium, an Olympic medal, could be in their future. When a lifetime of discipline and preparation meets the opportunity of a lifetime, the promise of Lake Placid – that miracles can happen – becomes deliverable.

    I will leave the invariable complex problems of bidding, organizing, and logistically managing future events to far wiser pundits. But, in the meantime, the verdict is clear: FIS, U.S. Ski & Snowboard, and the American Nordic community should be eager, and determined, to have them here.

     

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  • Never Count Him Out . . . Klaebo Returns in the 10 k

    Never Count Him Out . . . Klaebo Returns in the 10 k

    This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

    A week ago, it looked likethe competitive season of Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) might be over. Today, he returned to dominate the 10 k Classic Interval Start at the World Cup Final in Lake Placid. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)

    Two seasons ago in Minneapolis, the energy of an American crowd lifted an American skier—Gus Schumacher—to a surprising win in the 10 k Freestyle Interval Start. The FIS World Cup returns to the USA, but in a very different environment. Mt. Van Hoevenberg is an historic cross-country skiing destination and two-time host of the Olympic Winter Games (1932 and 1980), but the village of Lake Placid is tiny—barely 3000 residents. Not only is it small, but it’s really really far away from any urban centers that might provide spectators for these World Cup Finals events. New York City is nearly five hours away by car; Boston even farther. Even the closest airport (Albany, NY) is nearly three hours away, even in good weather. Many cross-country ski fans will undoubtedly arrive at Mt. van Hoevenberg for the chance to see their ski-heroes, but the crowds are not likely to be anything like what those heroes experienced two seasons ago in Minneapolis. Still, Americans will be enjoying the rare benefit of racing on home turf. Perhaps Schumacher—or another American on the rise—would be able to break through?

    Team USA sent Schumacher to the starting line along with his partner in the silver-medal-winning Team Sprint, Ben Ogden. Rounding out the American roster were Luke Jager, JC Schoonmaker, Zanden McMullen, John Steel Hagenbuch, Reid Goble, Benjamin Dohlby, Michael Earnhart, Zachary Jayne, Brian Bushey, and Hunter Wonders.

    As is often the case, Norwegian names crowded the ranks of seeded skiers: Emil Iversen, Harald Oestberg Amundsen, Mattis Stenshagen, Andreas Fjorden Ree, and Lars Heggen would toe the starting line, joined by a late-arriving Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo whose arrival was delayed while he—and Team Norway—debated his fitness to compete. After a dramatic fall (and subsequent concussion) in the Sprint semfinals in Drammen last week, Klaebo’s condition had remained in question. before the race, he admitted he might not be at his absolute best, but he felt he owed it to the fans gathered in Lake Placid to make an appearance.

    The arrival of Amundsen had never been in doubt, as he continues to joust with Klaebo in their rivalry for the Overall and Distance Crystal Globes. Like Klaebo, Amundsen remarked that he had been looking forward to this journey to Lake Placid.

    “I spoke with Ben Ogden, and he said it would be lots of people and a good vibe,” Amundsen remarked to FasterSkier in post-race interviews. “So I was looking forward to it. They are traveling to Europe and staying there a whole winter, so now it’s our turn to travel here and get some good races.”

    And a sentimental favorite during this World Cup Finals weekend would be Italy’s Federico Pellegrino who has announced that this World Cup season will be his last. At the end of this weekend, he will hang up his skis and glide off into retirement. Pellegrino’s chances for a fond farewell were improved by the announcement that his old friend and long-time rival, Klaebo, would not be competing in Saturday’s Sprint event.

    But, c’mon, the story of the day is the three point lead enjoyed by Amundsen over Klaebo in the chase for the World Cup Distance title. A week ago, it looked like Klaebo would run the table: Distance, Sprint, and Overall. Who knew this race could be so close. With as much as Klaebo has won this year, it would be understandable to assume that he would win all the Crystal Globes. But Amundsen has never been far behind . . . and with the disastrous collision between Klaebo and Ogden in the Drammen Spritnt (that resulted in Klaebo’s hospital stay for a concussion), Amundsen was able to ski well enough in the Holmenkollen 50 k to slide into the Distance lead.

    Amundsen would ski brilliantly in Lake Placid’s 10 k Classic Interval Start, battling snowy conditions, fighting his way to a fourth place finish behind Ree and Stenshagen. But it was Klaebo—who just a week ago looked like his season might be over—to reclaim what should rightfully have been his along.

    With the energy of a cheering and rowdy Lake Placid crowd,  Ben Ogden (USA) couldn’t hold back. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

    Schumacher and Ogden would both claim impressive finishes: seventh and 11th, respectively.

    “I wanted to go out easy,” said Ogden. “But there was no hope of that with this many people cheering! I really had to fight for it at the end, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

    “The last couple of kilometers, it was really fun to hear so many people cheering,” said Schumacher. “And to know that what’s going to make them happy is me going as hard as I can.”

    Never Count Him Out

    Serious contenders in any Classic ski race would normally include Savelii Korostelev (AIN). But like his compatriot, Dariya Nepryaeva, Korostelev is a citizen of Russia. Despite his competing as an Individual Neutral athlete (AIN), he would not have qualified for an American visa. Korostelev would not get the chance to be on the starting line in Lake Placid.

    Snow continued to fall heavily during the Men’s race, gathering in fluffy inches on the course. Skiers continued to struggle, both uphill and down, and conditions looked likely to heavily influence the eventual results.

    Gus Schumacher (USA) would follow the example of his fast-starting teammate, Ben Ogden. Schumacher would finish seventh, Ogden 11th. (Photo:  Thibaut/NordicFocus)

    Ogden started in bib 20 with a loud and energetic fan club cheering him on. Ogden would lead the first 50 starters at the first checkpoint, but would find himself overtaken by Stenshagen, Pellegrino, Amundsen, and Schumacher. That’s right, Gus was on course, and charging.

    Klaebo would ease off the starting line, knowing that the accumulating snow was likely to favor earlier starters. His effort appeared measured; nonetheless, he was fastest through the first checkpoint, leading Amundsen (the only other skier whose placing probably concerned him) by 6.3 seconds, a lead that Klaebo extended to 16 seconds at 3.8 kilometers. If Klaebo was in race-shape today, Amundsen could find himself in trouble in Sunday’s 20 k Mass Start.

    Schumacher trailed Klaebo by only 20 seconds at the halfway mark. Between them could be found Pellegrino, Stenshagen, Ree, and Amundsen. Ogden still maintained a top-ten position, and he was able to spend some time in the leader’s chair while he waited for the arrival of later starters.

    Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) wore the red leader’s bib in the Distance category. He is dertimined to fight to the end in his rivalry with countryman, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

    As the race played out, the Norwegians gravitated to the top of the list of finishers. Stenshagen would take over the lead, only to be supplanted by Ree. Schumacher would cross the line just behind Pellegrino, and only 25 seconds behind Ree. But the crowd and the headlines were awaiting the arrival of Klaebo, His splits had been fastest throughout the race, and Klaebo was hoping for even more than the win. Klaebo needed to put his recent concussion behind him, and put Amundsen in his place.

    Amundsen—wearing the red Distance leaders bib—would cross the line and into the third slot . . . but that was not to last. Likewise, the red bib was soon to transfer back to the shoulders of Klaebo. To no one’s surprise—but to everyone’s surprise—Klaebo glided across the finish line for the win, some 14 seconds ahead of second place Ree, and 25 seconds ahead of fourth place Amundsen.

    “It was a tough fight, tough conditions,” said Amundsen. “But I think it was fair conditions for everyone.”

    “It was so much people, I couldn’t hear my own thinking,” grinned Amundsen.” That’s a good thing!”

    “I’m second place in the World Cup Overall, so I’m fighting for that,” said Amundsen. “And I’m twelve points behind Johannes for the overall, so it will be a close fight on Sunday. I need to take some points in the sprints during the race, and beat him in the end . . . we’ll see.”

    With two races remaining in the season—one of which (tomorrow’s Sprint) he is likely to skip—it really does appear that Klaebo will complete the near-perfect season, gathering up not only every Olympic gold medal, but the full slate of Crystal Globes—Sprint, Distance, and Overall—as well.

    World Cup Final Men’s 10 k Classic RESULTS

    Love Stories Like This? Help Keep Them Coming.

    Feature stories like this one take time, access, and care to produce. If you value thoughtful storytelling and independent ski journalism, please consider becoming a Voluntary Subscriber. Your support directly fuels the work we do to cover the people, places, and moments that make our sport special.

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    World Cup racing continues this weekend from Lake Placid and Mount van Hoevenberg:

    Saturday, March 21

    10:30 am | Women’s Sprint Qualification Free

    11:05 am | Men’s Sprint Qualification Free

    1:00 pm | Women’s Sprint Final Free

    1:00 pm | Men’s Sprint Final Free

    Sunday, March 22

    12:30 pm | Men’s 20km Mass Start Free

    2:30 pm | Women’s 20km Mass Start Free

    4:30 pm | ONE LAST LAP w/Jessie Diggins & the Retiring Stars

  • Glitter, Knitting, and a Phone Call from Bill Koch: The U.S. Ski Team Is Ready for Lake Placid

    Glitter, Knitting, and a Phone Call from Bill Koch: The U.S. Ski Team Is Ready for Lake Placid

    This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

    Jessie Diggins answering questions at the press conference before the World Cup in Lake Placid, New York. (Photo: Voisin/FasterSkier)

    Lake Placid, N.Y. — The eve of the World Cup finals at Mount Van Hoevenberg brought press conferences, sound checks that went sideways, and three American skiers who couldn’t stop making each other smile.

    Jessie Diggins, Ben Ogden, and Gus Schumacher sat side by side Wednesday afternoon — the same trio that has turned the 2025-26 season into something U.S. cross-country skiing has never seen before. Between them: Olympic medals, historic podiums, a 50-year drought shattered, and one very good birthday cake.

    But with three races left and Diggins’s retirement looming, the mood wasn’t heavy. It was loose, funny, and deeply human — exactly the way this team tends to do things.

    “Probably Glitter”

    Asked to define her legacy heading into her final World Cup weekend, Diggins did what Diggins does: she went somewhere unexpected.

    “I think I define my legacy honestly, completely outside race results,” she said. “I am more proud of the things I have done off the course. I think my legacy is going to be in my advocacy and the way that I have spoken about mental health and eating disorders specifically, and the way I’ve tried to make really hard conversations less hard for people to have.”

    She pointed to her work with Protect Our Winters and Share Winter, to the energy she’s poured into the team’s culture over the years. And then she landed the dismount.

    “And probably glitter. I think there’s a lot more glitter in ski races now, and that’s always a great thing — as long as it’s biodegradable.”

    Diggins has spent the season saying goodbye in pieces — a little cry leaving training camp in Bend, quiet moments at each World Cup stop. She knows what’s probably coming Sunday.

    “I suspect it’s probably going to hit like a dump truck on Sunday, and there’s probably going to be a lot of tears.”

    But she’s ready. And what she’s ready for is maybe the most Jessie Diggins thing of all: she sees ski racing as performance art, and she wants her final show to leave people wanting to go run up a mountain or sign their family up for ski lessons.

    “I realized that I can do that moving forward, but just with my story and with my words, and I don’t have to push my body so hard, but I can still leave people inspired and motivated.”

    In the meantime, she’s looking forward to being able to wash her clothes when they’re dirty, cook whatever she wants, and bake cookies on the weekend instead of training and racing all day.

    Ben Ogden answering questions at the press conference before the World Cup in Lake Placid, New York. (Photo: Voisin/FasterSkier)
    “Your Life Is Not Going to Be the Same”

    Ben Ogden grew up in Landgrove, Vermont. American skiing legend Bill Koch lived close by in Peru, Vermont. Same zip code, as Ogden puts it — “not so different.”

    Fifty years separated Koch’s 1976 Olympic medal from Ogden’s silver this season, and when Ogden finally got on the phone with his neighbor and mentor after breaking the drought, Koch didn’t mince words.

    “Bill just sort of said, ‘Hey, congratulations, and your life is not going to be the same from this point forward.’ And that was kind of crazy to hear.”

    Ogden hopes to see Koch at the races this weekend. And racing at Van Hoevenberg carries its own weight for him — not just because of Koch, but because of his father, who was deeply embedded in the New England ski racing community.

    “I think it’s really hard for me to come race in the U.S. and look around and not just, like, constantly think about him, because this was his scene,” Ogden said, his voice softening. “He would have been in such paradise on the side of the trail here in Lake Placid. And I’ll be thinking about him a lot this weekend, for sure.”

    This is technically Ogden’s first home World Cup — he was sick for Minneapolis — and it’s hitting him right. He grew up racing the NYSEF Festival series at Lake Placid, bringing crews of Vermont kids over for slushy late-season races.

    “It’s not my home, but it feels like it.”

    Gus Schumacher answering questions at the press conference before the World Cup in Lake Placid, New York. (Photo: Voisin/FasterSkier)
    Aspirations, Not Goals

    Gus Schumacher has been doing some linguistic rebranding.

    “I’ve been calling them aspirations for a few years now,” he said of his season targets, “because I feel like the pressure of goals was kind of weird for me.”

    The distinction matters to Schumacher. He sets plenty of small goals — the daily, tactical kind — but the big ones, like winning an Olympic medal or finishing in the top 10 of the overall World Cup standings, he holds more loosely. They’re aspirations: things he wants, things he’ll chase, but things he won’t let crush him if they don’t happen.

    “Those are things I want to do, but if they don’t happen, it won’t be because I didn’t try.”

    He accomplished the Olympic medal. He entered this final weekend ranked sixth in the world, with a top-10 finish still in play. And he’s approaching Lake Placid the same way he approached Minneapolis, where he won his first World Cup in front of a hometown crowd: just be happy to be racing, and feed off the energy.

    “Already today, it was really cool to have people cheering us on in the race prep, which doesn’t really happen much on the World Cup ever.”

    Schumacher also dropped maybe the best origin story of the press conference: the formative moment that lit a fire under his career was Luke Jaeger beating him at an Anchorage cup race.

    “That kind of put a fire under my belly to really start training, because I didn’t want him beating me anymore.”

    The Knitting Club, the Water Pump, and the Greenhouse

    The press conference’s best stretch might have been when someone asked the athletes how they decompress.

    Schumacher keeps it clean: headphones, 10 to 20 deep breaths — four seconds in, eight seconds out. Standard operating procedure.

    Ogden? He knits. And he’s not shy about it.

    “After races, I’ve been doing a lot of knitting and stuff like that. Helps me just relax really quick.” After the season, it’s bigger projects: car work. “You can feel like you’re the king of the world after a couple medals, but go and try and replace a water pump on a Forerunner, and that’ll make you feel completely incompetent.”

    Diggins revealed there was a full-on knitting club on the team this winter. Her own reset button is simpler: she calls her husband.

    “He’s my absolute center of my world. The race could have been amazing, and it could have been also completely horrible. And we’re just talking about what I want to do with the garden, and how I want to start a greenhouse. And he’s like, ‘Uh huh, yeah, sure, I’ll support you in that.’”

    One More Thing

    Almost as a throwaway, Ogden mentioned that Andy Newell — “the original Nordic ski backflip guy” — is in Lake Placid this weekend. And Ogden himself has had a backflip dialed since he was 17.

    “I’m hoping on Sunday we can kick up a little ski jump. I’m looking to take another one Sunday afternoon. So stay tuned.”

    Three races to go. A retirement to honor. A culture to celebrate. And maybe a backflip.

    It’s going to be a weekend.

     

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  • The Devon Kershaw Show: The post-Olympic hangover is over — with head injuries

    The Devon Kershaw Show: The post-Olympic hangover is over — with head injuries

    This episode was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers.  If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription.  

    We had to take a break after our three-week Olympic sprint, but we’re back to catch up on a couple of weeks of World Cup racing.

    Devon and Nat take a quick run-through of events in Sweden, Finland and Norway. We’ll be back after the marathons at Holmenkollen.

    Reach us at devon[at]fasterskier.com and nat[at]fasterskier.com.

    A reminder: This is a homegrown podcast done by two guys working long hours and late nights. We also paid real money to be in Italy for the Olympics. If you can, support the show and FasterSkier’s ongoing coverage with a voluntary membership.

    Help Support Our Olympic Coverage!

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  • He Just Wins—Klaebo Again in Lahti 10 k

    He Just Wins—Klaebo Again in Lahti 10 k

    This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

    With his win Lahti’s World Cup 10 k Classic, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) continues a level of dominance rarely seen in international sports. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo may be tired, but far more daunting than any mere fatigue is what Klaebo’s rivals find themselves facing: futility.

    Weekend after weekend, race after race, kilometer after kilometer, finish line after finish line, Klaebo is proving himself to be all but unbeatable. He toys with his rivals in Sprint races, whether Classic or Freestyle; he takes advantage of his superior speed and tactical acumen in Mass Start races of every distance. He even displays superior pacing, restraint, endurance, and discipline in Interval Start events. And when Klaebo skis the anchor leg of your relay, then your team wins. Such athletic dominance is not a thing that lasts—and even Klaebo is likely to find himself beaten soon—but when an athlete’s on an historic streak like this, it’s a remarkable thing for fans of the sport to witness.

    In Lahti, Klaebo’s dominance was on display again, as he glided to yet another World Cup victory in the 10 k Classic Interval Start. Mid-race splits identified Russian independent skier, Savelii Korostelev as a challenger, but Klaebo would pull away from him in the end, bettering the young Russian’s finishing time by 34 seconds. Between them, Martin Loewstroem Nyenget mounted a challenge of his own. While Nyenget has emerged as one of the dominant Classic skiers of this generation, still he trailed Klaebo at every checkpoint. Ultimately, Nyenget would finish second, but still some 22 seconds behind.

    If all these skiers want to beat Klaebo, they need to find another way to do it. Maybe the best tactic is to simply wait. Everybody gets sick some day, don’t they? Everybody shows up flat now and then, right? Perhaps the best tactic to employ in chasing Klaebo is to stop chasing. Just let him flame out at some point, and hope to be the one best positioned in the crowd to catch the bridal bouquet when it flies through the air.

    Savelii Korostelev (AIN) was the early leader at numerous checkpoints. He would finish third on the day behind the efforts of Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) and eventual race winner, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR). (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)
    Men’s 10 k Classic

    Korostelev entered the World Cup circuit and Olympic events after Russia’s long exile, hoping to establish himself at the top of the cross-country ski standings (as he had already accomplished in races within Russia over the past two seasons). Korostelev must be asking himself “Just how fast do I need to go?” Well, “Historically fast” would appear to be the answer to Korostelev’s question.

    Here’s the pertinent question for anyone in the field not named Klaebo: just how far will they go in pursuit of this guy? It’s an especially pressing question for Klaebo’s Norwegian teammates who are compared to him on a week-by-week basis, and who are all hoping to position themselves to be his heir (even as he shows no signs of considering retirement). Any number of those Norwegian stars may have hoped to topple Klaebo in an Olympic event. He was vulnerable, after all; racing every single event while other skiers got to pick and choose. For Harald Oestberg Amundsen, for Martin Loewstroem Nyenget, for Emil Iversen, for Mattis Stenshagen, for Lars Heggen, for Einar Hedegart—all of whom had been identified as skiers with the potential to steal away one of Klaebo’s gold medal opportunities—the chase to catch Klaebo may ultimately ruin them. In the Olympics, most of them appeared flat, as though they may have over-trained, or delayed their much-needed rest, or failed to taper sufficiently in their quest to grab a career-defining medal. Alone among them, Iversen appeared satisfied to follow Klaebo’s lead, joining Klaebo for much of his training throughout the off-season and competitive-season even though it meant that Iversen was unlikely to achieve any sort of advantage over him. Iversen was smart enough to know that Klaebo’s prowess could lead them both to Olympic medals, and that’s precisely what happened. The rest of the Norwegian contingent left Milan-Cortina with anumber of medals, but draped in quite a bit less glory than they might have hoped.

    And here’s the dilemma for Klaebo, himself: how does an athlete seek to maintain the form that they have? Is it possible to just hold one’s position, or does an athlete need to keep getting better? And how much risk is involved in attempting to improve? Just ask Klaebo’s Norwegian teammates . . . they’re trying as hard as they can, trying new things, risking greatly. And it’s not working. If anything, their efforts are opening the door for the stars of other nations that are approaching from behind. Matthis Desloges (FRA) claimed numerous silver medals in the recent Olympics—medals originally thought reserved for Norwegian skiers. And as the World Cup tour enters Period 4, Norwegian skiers find themselves delivering results well down the page, rather than stacking all the Norwegian finishers at the top, which was the norm for much of the pre-Olympic season.

    Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) must be wondering what he needs to do. In Lahti, he delivered a striking performance in the 10 k Classic, only to find himself trailing Johanes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) at every checkpoint. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)

    Wearing bib 54, Klaebo was the first of the true contenders to start, meaning he would receive less info communicated to him on course when compared to other later-starting contenders. In what is often considered Klaebo’s most challenging event (the interval start 10 k) Klaebo would find himself needing to overcome that small disadvantage as well as the best efforts of his rivals.

    Korostelev came through 3.4 kilometers a full 20 seconds ahead of American, Gus Schumacher, but even Korostelev found himself overtaken by Klaebo who came through the checkpoint three seconds ahead of the neutral-skiing Russian. Klaebo would continue extending his lead over Korostelev to nearly 12 seconds by the halfway point of the race. The only questions that remained would be answered by the other contenders starting behind Klaebo. Among those, Nyenget was the first to test the waters, coming through the 3.4 kilometer mark 3.8 seconds behind Klaebo. Nyenget would lose more time on his way to the end of the lap, crossing through the stadium with a deficit of six seconds . . . still ahead of Korostelev, but dropping just a bit farther behind Klaebo.

    Klaebo held his advantage at 6.1 kilometers, but then he began extending his lead on the way to 8.4 kilometers, crossing that checkpoint 22 seconds up on Korostelev. Klaebo would only continue to extend that lead, crossing the line with a 34 second advantage. Nyenget would continue to battle, ultimately besting Korostelev but still falling 22 seconds short of Klaebo.

    Another weekend passes, another Klaebo sweep. How long can he keep this up? After yesterday’s victory in Lahti’s Freestyle Sprint, Klaebo spoke of his level of fatigue at this juncture in the World Cup season. Who could blame him for being tired? After all, he swept all the Men’s events at the Olympic Winter Games of Milano-Cortina; and this in the middle of his historic World Cup winning streak that began weeks ago, and appears likely to extend well into the future. Unfortunately for those hoping to wait him out, Klaebo seems all but immune to the factors that typically topple those at the top. “The last two weeks has been that I’m sick in the middle of the week, and then I’m racing in the weekend,” said Klaebo. “So, we’ll see if I can stay healthy now during the week so I can participate in Drammen (next week’s Sprint races). That’s the goal.”

    And that’s a problem for the rest of the field: when Klaebo sets a goal, he tends to achieve it. Anyone anticipating Klaebo falling short of that goal may have a while to wait.

    Lahti Men’s 10 k Classic Interval Start RESULTS

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    The torch isn’t being passed just yet. Savelii Korostelev (AIN), may be one of the heirs apparent in the world of international cross-country skiing, but Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo appears far from ready to make room at the top. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)

     

     

     

  • Lahti Sprint—Klaebo Remains Unbeatable

    Lahti Sprint—Klaebo Remains Unbeatable

    This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

    Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps, this guy—Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR). (Photo:  Authamayou/NordicFocus)

    “It’s Johannes Klaebo’s ski world,” said skiandsnowboardlive.com’s on-air commentator, Andrew Kastening. “And we’re all just living in it.” Truer words were never spoken . . .

    “I didn’t have a plan,” said Klaebo after his dominant performance in Lahti Finland’s World Cup Freestyle Sprint. “I just went for it at the end there and managed to get enough meters to the young guys. Next year it will be even harder, so we’re going to enjoy this now for the rest of this year. Next year, it’s going to be way harder, I think.”

    Well, we don’t really believe Klaebo’s “no plan” claim. In fact, we probably aren’t sure we believe that next year will be “way harder,” either. Not with the way this year has gone, anyway. But Klaebo’s suggestion that we “Enjoy this for now?” No problem . . .

    Ironically, Klaebo’s absolute dominance leaves ski reporters scrutinizing the strengths and weaknesses of other skiers—scanning the notoriety of other results—for stories that will continue to capture readers’ imaginations. Where the heck has Sindre Bjoernstad Skar been? And how much resentment do Even Northug and Lars Heggen harbor after being left off the Norwegian Olympic team? And, after his recent U23 World Championship (and the pedigree afforded him by his mother, legendary Nordic skier, Bente Skari), is Filip Skari the real thing? And is Harald Oestberg Amundsen still in the running for the Crystal Globe? Or does he just need a Sprint day to warm him up for the Distance races? And who the heck is Mathias Holbaek? On a normal World Cup weekend, those questions—Norwegian questions—would occupy the imaginations and fill the column inches of ski journalists. But that was before the Olympic Winter Games of Milano-Cortina . . . the Games in which Ben Ogden (USA) and Gus Schumacher (USA) created scenes of flashing silver excellence. Now, reporters have another story to report: American sprinters have arrived on the scene. If Ogden and Schumacher have any energy left after the predictable post-Olympic celebrations, then they’ll have something to say about Lahti’s Sprint results, too.

    Gus Schumacher (USA) and Ben Ogden (USA) and Gus Schumacher (USA) have ushered in a new era of American men’s skiing. (Photo:  Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Granted, Ogden and Schumacher had far fewer Norwegian Sprint rivals to navigate among, through, and past on the way to their Olympic silver medals. That’s the salient reminder, folks: while the the Olympics offer the most valued, most brightly glittering prizes in the skiing world, the Olympics also offer the best chance for anyone to break through the Norwegian medals-monopoly. That’s because Norway is only allowed the maximum number of Olympic starters in any event: four starters. Conversely, in World Cup races, Norway is allowed at least seven starters . . . sometimes eight (if the race is in Norway). Any non-Norwegians—Ogden and Schumacher included—will find it far more difficult to snatch headlines in Lahti’s World Cup Freestyle Sprint. For that matter, American Sprinters (including Jack Young, JC Schoonmaker, Kevin Bolger, Zanden McMullen) will find it considerably more difficult to qualify for the heats, much less to advance through to semifinals and finals.

    And all this drama occurs in the shadow of the most predictable story—the one that we’ve probably grown tired of repeating by now: Klaebo’s going to win, right? I mean, he’s won the last 13 races he’s entered (sprints,  distance races, relays, Classic, Freestyle), including the six Olympic races that he swept during the Games of Milano-Cortina. And lining up for another Freestyle Sprint on a course where he has generally shown himself to be unbeatable seems unlikely to offer much hope to his rivals. Well, there’s always silver . . .

    Federico Pellegrino (ITA) is in Lahti, and so soon after he captured a magnificent bronze medal for Italy in the Team Relay. And Lucas Chanavat (FRA) is here, but he may finally have realized that he has never devised a tactic that’s even come close to allowing him the sort of success that his natural power and physical prowess would’ve suggested could be his. Among Americans, Schumacher qualified eighth. Jack Young 16th, Ben Ogden 22nd, McMullen 26th. Qualifying was won by Klaebo, followed by Chanavat and Pellegrino. The stage was set in an exciting race for silver. Sorry if that sounds like a weak set-up; we’re just calling it as we see it . . .

    Zanden Mcmullen (USA) held his own in a closely contested heat with Lucas Chanavat (FRA), Benjamin Moser (AUT), Lukas Mrkonjic (AUT), and Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR),. (Photo:  Authamayou/NordicFocus)
    Sprint Heats

    McMullen drew the first heat alongside Chanavat and Klaebo. Chanavat wanted the lead, but not the pace. With Klaebo positioned alongside him (staying near the front and out of trouble) the course was clogged and the pace was slowed.  Ultimately,  Chanavat found himself suckered into the lead at the top of the final downhill where he surrendered the draft and was predictably passed by Klaebo. Chanavat would actually fall in the final turn, allowing Klaebo to cross the line unchallenged, and making room for Benjamin Moser (AUT in the second spot to qualify for the semifinal. McMullen would cross in a closely-contested third place, too slow to advance as a lucky loser, but good enough for 20th on the day. There was some question about Chanavat’s fall (and whether or not he was interfered with), but the slo-mo replay made it appear that he’d done the damage on his own.

    In the second quarterfinal, Ogden decided to play his cards at the front where he was joined by Pellegrino. But coming through to make the pace was Skar (who has been absent from the World Cup scene for a few seasons, but returned to this venue in replacement of Olympic medalist, Oskar Oppstad Vike (NOR) who was injured at the recent U23 World Championships. Pellegrino would become impatient with Skar’s pace, driving forward to take the lead at the top of the final climb. But it was Heggen who would take advantage of the draft on the final downhill to take the heat win. He was followed across the line by Janik Riebli (SUI), Pellegrino, and Skar. Ogden would coast across the line a distant sixth, 28th on in the final Sprint results.

    Schumacher bided his time at the rear of the third quarterfinal, weaving through traffic to move forward into fourth position before the final downhill. Schumacher chose the outside line on the final left-hander, rocketing forward to steal an automatic ticket into the semifinal just ahead of Holbaek and Valerio Grond (SUI).

    Jack Young started at the rear of his quarterfinal, continuing to work his way through the field, but generally finding his way blocked and his momentum stymied. He entered the final downhill in fourth position, but with precieous little room to maneuver. Young came around the final turn in third, but was late to accelerate, finding himself still third at the line. In a slow heat, Young’s finishing time was not fast enough to advance. He would finish teh day in 15th.

    “My training during the Olympics absolutely allowed me to come in to Period 4 fresher and sharper,” said Young. “I felt faster today than I did in Falun, and I think I’m still on the way up.

    “Tactically, I’m making the progress I need to make,” Young continued. “I did a lot of things today in the heat that I haven’t done in the past. I was taking up space and shutting down moves made from behind me better than I ever have. In the future I need to keep skiing aggressively and find ways to get into the top two before the last 100 meters.

    Janik Riebli (SUI), Lars Heggen (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), Gus Schumacher (USA), Benjamin Moser (AUT), Davide Graz (ITA) in the Freestyle Sprint inLahti, Finland. (Photo:  Authamayou/NordicFocus)
    Sprint Semifinals

    Schumacher lined up next to Klaebo in the first semifinal. Klaebo was first off the line with Schumacher attached to his tails. They marked at the front by Heggen; no one wanted to get away, no one wanted to lead. Klaebo seemed to grow bored with the tactical pace, allowing himself to glide into the lead and initiating a small attack before the top of the uphill section. All day long, skiers in the lead on the final downhill have found themselves overtaken by those in the draft. But “all day long” is not enough of a precursor to undo the ski-dominance of Klaebo. He floated down the slope, surrendering no discernible advantage to those tucked in behind him. Klaebo would execute a couple of energetic pushes in the final straightaway to remain ahead of Riebli (who edged out Heggen). Schumacher never managed to make up enough ground, finishing the semifinal in fifth position, and ninth on the day.

    Chappaz skied to tactical perfection in the second semifinal, using the draft on the downhill to slingshot into the lead in the final meters. Behind him, numerous skiers were caught in traffic as Skari emerged from the pack for the automatic semifinal spot, ahead of Grond who advanced as a lucky loser.

    Sprint Final

    In Lahti’s quarterfinal and semifinal heats, Klaebo had shown that he could win from the draft, or win from the front. Subsequently, he would continue to provide a cryptic puzzle for Skari, Heggen, Chappaz, Riebli, and Grond. I mean, we expect Klaebo to win, we just don’t know exactly which way he’ll choose to do it.

    At the crack of the starter’s pistol, Klaebo rocketed forward (that much we could anticipate), controlling the front and dictating the early pace as he so often does. The rest of the skiers were left to wonder—will he just drill it at the front and drop us? Or will he lure one of us into the lead, only to slingshot around us at the end? Here’s what the other skiers must, by now, understand pretty clearly: if Klaebo makes you lead, you lose. On the other hand, if Klaebo puts his energy into keeping the lead, there’s no one who can come around him. That’s the kind of advantage a skier earns when he’s the best of all time. And the best of all time was simply not going to get beat in this little World Cup Sprint in Lahti. Heggen and Riebli did their best to follow Klaebo, but the draft effect that Heggen needed just never materialized. Heggen was in good position on the final downhill: all the laws of physics were on his side, all the likelihoods of ski race tactics were in his favor . . . still, Heggen never made up a single meter. He would hold on for second, ahead of a late-charging Chappaz. Klaebo would coast across the line for his zillionth career World Cup victory, his we-can’t-keep-track-of-how-many wins in a row.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) eases up at yet another World Cup finish line. It may not be exciting any more, but it certainly remains thrilling. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)

    He doesn’t get tired, he doesn’t get sick, he doesn’t get out-maneuvered, he doesn’t get out-smarted, he doesn’t get out-sprinted. In one of the most challenging endurance sports that humans have ever contested, one guy just seems to win at will. How incredible it is to be a ski-fan in this era when one skier displays such outright dominance. The legendary Marit Bjoergen (NOR) claimed 114 wins during World Cup history’s most decorated Nordic skiing career. In Lahti, Klaebo truly began drawing within sight of that landmark number. Six races remain in the World Cup season. If he were to win out this season, Klaebo would finish the year having overtaken Bjoergen for the most-wins distinction, as well as a few others.

    “I’m tired,” admitted Klaebo. “I’m barely training between the races. I’m just racing now, but we’ll see how long we continue to do that. Hopefully, we’ll be able to do that for two more weeks.”

    There’s never been a season like this one that Klaebo is likely to complete: World Cup Overall, World Cup Distance, World Cup Sprint, Tour de Ski, and six Olympic gold medals. That’s the real story . . . and I’m so glad I’ve been here to see it. Next year may be “way harder,” predicts Klaebo. As he advises, we’ll enjoy this for now.

    Lahti Men’s Freestyle Sprint RESULTS

    Lahti Men’s Freestyle Sprint QUALIFYING

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    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo: another win in Lahti in a season for the ages. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)

     

     

     

  • Ben Ogden’s Olympic Silver, 50 Years After Bill Koch — A Trailside Reflection

    Ben Ogden’s Olympic Silver, 50 Years After Bill Koch — A Trailside Reflection

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    Ben Ogden (USA) celebrates as he crosses the finish line with an Olympic silver medal, the first medal for the U.S. men in the sport in fifty years. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    This essay by Jim Galanes was written on the evening of the Olympic Men’s Classic Sprint in Val di Fiemme, when Ben Ogden won silver to become the first American man in 50 years to medal in an Olympic cross-country skiing event. It was drafted from the race course that same night and is being published now, several weeks later, as a reflection from someone who has witnessed multiple generations of American skiing.

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

    A friend texted and reminded me as we were standing on the course for the sprint race, in Val di Fiemme, that it had been 50 years and five days since Bill Koch won his silver medal in Seefeld, Austria, at the 1976 Olympics.

    I was at those Games as a Nordic Combined skier, 20 years old learning the sport,  I was trail side 4-5 kilometers from the finish cheering Bill on. In fact, I got so caught up in the moment that I nearly missed my own ski jumping training window and had to hustle back to squeeze in my final practice jumps before competition. Bill’s performance mattered, not just for the result, but for what it signaled about what American skiers could do on the world stage.

    Fast forward five decades (and five days), and I found myself in a remarkably similar position, but as a spectator, back on course, watching Ben Ogden put together what I believe was the most complete race of his career , tactically, psychologically, and physiologically,  on the same Val di Fiemme tracks that have tested athletes for the past 30 years.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) and Ben Ogden (USA), (l-r) crest the final climb before descending into the finish during the semifinals. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)

    Let’s be clear. Racing against Johannes Høsflot Klaebo is a different challenge altogether. He is, quite simply, the dominant sprinter of this era. Everyone knows that. But if there is someone willing to challenge him, to pressure him early rather than concede, Ben is one of the few with the courage and competitive instinct to do it.

    Ben has always been an aggressive racer. We’ve all seen the pattern before, going out hard,  sometimes, too hard in qualification or early rounds, only to lose just enough capacity to not be a factor when it matters most. That’s not an athletic flaw. It’s the learning curve of a young athlete figuring out how to apply fitness in international competition.

    This time was different.

    With an early start in qualification, Ben laid down a fast, aggressive time that held up until Klaebo edged it. What stood out wasn’t just the speed; it was the control, the discipline, and the focus. Ben skied the lower sections with restraint, clearly managing energy so he could handle the Zorzi climb effectively and carry speed over the top. From our vantage point near the finish, you could see those who had overcooked that climb and the early sections of the course. Those athletes crested without momentum, struggled to accelerate on the descent, and had difficulty navigating the soft, wet corner into the finishing straight.

    Ben didn’t have that problem.

    We couldn’t see the full climb directly, but the stadium screen told the story. He attacked decisively, created separation, and more importantly, did it without being frantic or over his limits. Still, the coach in me wondered whether that effort would cost him later. History makes me cautious.

    As the rounds progressed, it was obvious the conditions were deteriorating. The snow got slower each heat. Times drifted up significantly, and the race began to perhaps reward athletes with deeper aerobic reserves and better efficiency rather than pure power. In softer conditions, maintaining effective kick can become a limiter. Some athletes compensated with excessive upper-body work. Ben, by contrast, maintained clean mechanics and consistent pressure and pace through the race

    In the semifinal, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) was first across the line, while Ben Ogden (USA) was outlunged by Lauri Vuorinen (FIN) and needed a lucky loser spot to advance to the finals. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    In the semifinal, we positioned ourselves on the first uphill. Klaebo and Ogden came through side by side. Partway up, Klaebo glanced over, the kind of look experienced racers give when they recognize a real contender, as if to say OK-lets go. The front group, Klaebo, Ogden, and Vuorinen, quickly separated from the field. No one could break it open on the final climb, and it came down to the finishing sprint, where Ben placed third and advanced as a lucky loser out of the faster semifinal.

    Not dramatic. Just composed. Exactly what he had to do.

    By the final, the track had slowed even more. Once again, Ben committed from the gun, but not recklessly. On the Zorzi climb, he and Klaebo distanced the rest of the field, turning the race into a two-man contest for gold and silver. Over the final roller, Klaebo made the decisive move, a couple of double poles, as he has done here numerous times, and created the separation he needed. Ben held second convincingly ahead of a very strong Norwegian contingent.

    Here’s my takeaway.

    Ben has adjusted tactically. But this wasn’t just better tactics. This was the performance of an athlete who arrived. The fitness is there. The psychological composure is there. The tactical judgment has caught up to his physiology. At the end of the race he was spent as he should have been. That wasn’t miscalculation; that was full commitment.

    Ben Ogden (USA) celebrates on the podium with his Olympic silver medal. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Fifty years ago, Bill Koch’s medal showed that an American could belong at the front of international cross-country skiing. Performances like this suggest we are entering another period where that idea is no longer an exception.

    On the men’s side, athletes like Ogden, Gus Schumacher, Ketterson,  Wonders, McMullen, and Schoonmaker, the talent is real. The depth of talent is unquestionable. The question is no longer whether they can compete. The question, as always in endurance sport, is whether they can improve their consistency of their performance, continue to build, stay healthy, and keep progressing.

    That part never gets easier. We can do it if we can continue to support and improve the club programs that have developed these athletes.

    Jim Galanes, Peter Davis, and Peter’s granddaughter. (Photo: Joyce Allgier)

    As a side note, this is the first Olympics I have been to since 1994, more than 30 years. It has sort of been like old home week, bumping into friends who had just skied in the World Masters in Sampada, Italy. Spending an hour with Rick Kapala in the food court line while discussing many of what we both see we need to work on to the keep the sport progressing. Connecting briefly with former Olympians Judy Rabinowitz, Trina Hosmer, and her husband Dave, old ski and bike riding friends from Stowe. On the last day, I was also able to meet with Peter “Giant” Davis and his wife, Nancy, on the side of the trail. Peter was an athlete on the US Ski Team in the 70’s, a coach at Telemark Academy, and later at the Lyndon Nordic Ski Center. The first residential programs for junior cross-country skiers in the country.

    Gus Schumacher fans. (Photo: Joyce Allgier)

    We also enjoyed meeting some of Gus Schumacher’s friends, family, parents, and others. It is fun to see so many old soldiers of the sport still around and enjoying the time watching U.S. skiers compete on the world stage. It was great to see and know so many other US ski fans who were there that I did not get to see personally. Most of all, having a young APU skier who I had never met come up and thank me for founding the APU program that is giving her the opportunity to pursue her dreams. The success we are seeing today and what we need to do in the future is built upon an understanding of what we have done in the past and a clear vision of what we need to do in the future to move forward.

    Picture of Vermonter Bill Koch celebrating his winning the FIS Overall WC crown with a very happy coach, the late Mike Gallagher. A very special moment. (Photo and caption courtesy of Peter Graves)

    A clear vision of the future should require an understanding of where we have come from, and what we have done in the past. It is interesting that some of those who have been influential in the past are still engaged in the sport. Maybe a curse of old age, or maybe relevant, that we see the past as a building block for the future. As I look back in my lifetime in the sport, understanding where we are today would not have been possible without the likes of John Caldwell, Sven Wiik, two of the earliest coaches in the sport who helped create coaching for aspiring athletes. Athletes, like Gray, Gallagher, Rockwell and Elliot who laid the foundation in international competition and inspired my generation. The Southern Vermont quad of Koch, Caldwell, Galanes and Dunklee took the next steps, along with women like Spencer, Owen, and Rabinowitz. The next generation of athletes like Kemppel, Bauer, Freeman, and Randall, who, despite a multitude of challenges and inadequate support from the US Ski Team, produced some excellent results.

    In 1996 I established Gold 2002 program in Anchorage, later I brought into APU to become APU Nordic Ski Center. I established this program to create a better (a different) or alternative pathway that would provide athletes with full-time coaching and a base level of support to keep athletes skiing after college or have an alternative pathway to the NCAA route. Many more of these so-called pro teams followed in the coming years. We now have strong club programs in every region of the country. Those programs have been critically important to the success we have enjoyed over the last decade or so. We need to support and help those programs to continue to improve and expand so we can have even more athletes ready to perform when they step on the World Cup and Olympic stage. Perhaps the biggest hurdle these days. It is possible that we just need to find the best pathway to make the next steps in developing athletes.

     

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    Ben Ogden (USA), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), and Oskar Opstad Vike (NOR), (l-r) share the 2026 Olympic Winter Games Classic Sprint podium in Tesero, Italy. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

     

     

     

  • Klaebo Extends Historic Run with Falun Skiathlon Victory

    Klaebo Extends Historic Run with Falun Skiathlon Victory

    This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

    The Men’s 20 k Skiathlon gets underway in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)

    With fresh snow overnight and temperatures hovering just above freezing, it was the kind of conditions that keep ski technicians guessing and athletes second-guessing. A week removed from the Olympics in Italy, the World Cup resumed for the second day with a 20-kilometer Skiathlon on a course that rewards patience and punishes weakness.

    And while viewers looked on, whether to witness something historic or something new, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won again.

    Klaebo covered the 10 k classic and 10 k freestyle in 48:41.8, edging teammate Harald Oestberg Amundsen by 0.7 seconds and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget by 0.8 seconds in a Norwegian podium sweep. The victory extended one of the most remarkable streaks in modern cross-country skiing and tightened his grip on the overall standings and, maybe more importantly for the remaining season-long narrative, extended his lead in the FIS distance ranking for the Distance Crystal Globe.

    The race was familiar and predictable, with Nyenget driving much of the pace, Amundsen staying close, and Klaebo remaining measured in the pack. When the decisive move came in the final sprint, Klaebo, once again, not only had the answer, but made it look easy.

    “This was a tough one,” Klaebo graciously said on the FIS broadcast after the race. “I think Martin was very strong today. I think he was in the front almost for 20 k.”

    Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) leads, Andreas Fjorden Ree (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), and the rest of the field at a frenzied pace at the beginning of the Men’s 20 k Skiathlon in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)
    Classic Leg: Bonus points that created a breakaway

    The men opened with three laps of the 3.4-kilometer red course, climbing the Mini Mördarbacken each time. Conditions sat just above freezing, with fresh snow complicating the classic wax call. Athletes chose between traditional kick wax and zero-skis, the latter relying on a texture sanded into a softer base material underfoot.

    The pace was honest from the gun. At 5.4 kilometers, where bonus World Cup points were on offer, Nyenget and Klaebo pushed hard, with Klaebo claiming the maximum 15 bonus points, followed by Nyenget and Amundsen. That acceleration fractured the field.

    A lead group of Norwegians formed with Nyenget, Amundsen, Klaebo, and Andreas Fjorden Ree. Arsi Ruuskanen of Finland and Savelii Korostelew, competing as a neutral athlete, also managed to maintain contact. Behind them, a gap had opened to a chase pack led by American Gus Schumacher.

    By the end of the classic leg, the leaders had established a gap that would prove decisive.

    Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) continued to set a fast pace at the front of the Men’s Skiathlon. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
    The Exchange and the Mördarbacken

    Transitions in a Skiathlon are rarely glamorous or decisive, but a skier can lose contact with the lead if they don’t stay calm. Amundsen executed a clean ski exchange and briefly looked poised to dictate terms once the field switched to the blue 5-kilometer skate loop.

    That loop includes the full Mördarbacken, a long, layered climb that television struggles to do justice. The ascent, which parallels the ski jumping landing hill, builds in segments, steepening before easing slightly when it cuts across the slope, then rising again one last time. It is not just a memorable climb in name, but once you have skied it, you will never forget the ‘Murder Hill.’

    Nyenget continued to press the pace up front. Klaebo, as he often does, sat tucked in, attentive and measured.

    On the first lap of the skate course, the lead group remained six, with the four Norwegians, Ruuskanen, and Korostelew. By the second ascent of Mördarbacken, it was effectively a three-Norwegian affair with Korostelew, Ree, and Ruuskanen fading slightly and fighting to limit losses and eventually finishing fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively.

    Behind them, the chase pack raced for seventh.

    Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), and Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), (l-r) crest the second to last climb. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)
    The Finish

    With less than a kilometer remaining, the three Norwegians — Klaebo, Amundsen, and Nyenget — remained locked together. Nyenget, who historically has the least sprint speed, had done the bulk of the visible work, setting the tempo on both classic and skate sections.

    At the top of the final climb before descending into the stadium, the trio jockeyed for position, no one wanting to lead only to be overtaken by those in the draft. Nyenget took the lead, but was predictably passed by Klaebo on the far side of the stadium, and at the line, it unfolded as it so often does, Klaebo easing up to wave to the crowd with Amundsen outsprinting Nyenget behind him.

    “It was very hard,” Klaebo said during his post-race interview with FIS on the broadcast. “But at the end, I managed to keep up with [Nyenget] and managed to do a good last sprint at the end.”

    The margins were small. The pattern was not.

    Klaebo now has 12 consecutive victories across World Cup and Olympic competition. The last race he entered without winning was the final climb of the Tour de Ski, where he managed his effort to secure the overall title rather than contest the stage.

    “To be honest, I don’t think I have a goal anymore for this season,” he said. “I think the main goal is completed, and now I’m just going to enjoy the last races and see how it goes.”

    Gus Schumacher (USA) seemed to do the majority of the work at the front of the chase pack. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
    Schumacher: Fast Skis, Hard Hills

    Gus Schumacher finished seventh in 49:38.6, 56.8 seconds behind Klaebo and spent much of the day managing a gap that opened during the classic leg and never fully came back.

    The decisive acceleration came when the Norwegians lifted the tempo in pursuit of bonus points. Schumacher felt it immediately.

    “In the classic, when it got fast, my kick was not great, so it was hard to fight for anything,” he said. “I was kind of just getting up the hills, but the pace was fast the whole time.”

    He believed the separation was coming regardless.

    “I think that gap was going to open at some point, no matter what,” he said. “Just because of how they were skiing from the start, mostly Nyenget, I think.”

    Schumacher was on zero skis for the classic portion.

    “I was on zeros. I think most people were on zeros,” he said. “Some people looked good, and I don’t know, there’s some variation there for sure.”

    On the flats, he felt competitive.

    “The gliding sections were great for me. My skis were really fast,” he said. “But the hills were tough.”

    After the exchange, Schumacher exited the stadium aggressively and led the chase group for stretches on the first lap of the skate course. The leaders, however, continued to gain time on the full ascent of Mördarbacken.

    Asked to describe the climb, Schumacher was more measured than dramatic.

    “Honestly, compared to a lot of the other climbs they do, I feel like it’s not horrible,” he said. “I enjoy it partly because it’s not insanely long and it’s got some steps to it.”

    That does not mean it is easy.

    “It definitely climbs pretty far and has some steep parts,” he said. “But as far as big climbs go, that’s one of my faves.”

    What does it demand?

    “Same as other climbs,” he said. “Just fitness, technique, poise… the whole deal.”

    Kevin Bolger (USA) during the classic leg, on his way to 36th place on the day. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
    Bolger: Boxed In Early, Fighting Back Late

    Kevin Bolger finished 36th in 51:12.8, but his race was shaped early.

    “It’s always hard to feel the pace when you start mid to back of the field,” Bolger wrote in an email afterward. “I’ve always tried to just relax, let the stringing out happen, and take the gaps where they form and make some jumps.”

    He later learned from Gus Schumacher that the leaders had opened aggressively from the gun.

    “I heard they started quite hard,” Bolger said. “So I think it was just a hot pace from the start and things just naturally spread out.”

    For Bolger, the defining moment came within the first lap of the classic leg.

    “Unfortunately, I got stuck behind Andrew Musgrave and went from mid pack to last after the first lap,” he said. “So it was a lot of work to catch back up after that.”

    In a Skiathlon, that kind of early compression can cost dearly. Once the field stretches, passing becomes energy-intensive, and the leaders ease the pace.

    The waxing decision, at least, felt clear.

    “Waking up and seeing the fresh snow and the temperature around zero, it was clear it was going to be zeros,” Bolger said. “But you never know what the techs are mixing up in the truck. As you run out to the start, you look around to see what other people have under their skis.”

    Bolger chose zero skis and was confident in the call.

    “I went with zeros, and I was very happy with that decision,” he said. “Tim Baucom and I did some good testing and landed on zeros because they were running the best for me, and I was super happy with that.”

    By the time the race shifted to the skate leg, the front group was already out of reach. Still, Bolger felt he had something left.

    “I was really happy with my classic leg,” he said. “Even with getting stuck early and having to work to catch back up, finishing that classic leg with the energy I had, I knew I could put together a good skate.”

    The full Mördarbacken climb on the blue loop remained the critical point.

    “I think everyone knows when that massive climb is in the mix, that’s a very critical part of the course and a tipping point for a lot of people,” Bolger said. “If I can get up that hill with the group, I’m in. Once there’s separation, the chances of that coming back are small.”

    He described the climb bluntly.

    “She starts pretty gradually, and you feel confident at the bottom,” he wrote. “But she turns boys into men real quick, or men into boys quick at the top.”

    In soft conditions, with lactate building, the final pitch can expose anyone.

    “It’s hard to keep the legs moving when the lactate’s flowing,” he said. “It’s really hard to describe it, but that’s the best way to say it.”

    JC Schoonmaker (USA) finding joy in the distance racing as he builds fitness and experience with the longer races.  (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)
    Schoonmaker: Finding Value in the Distance

    JC Schoonmaker finished 58th in 52:40.4, but the placement did not tell the full story of his day.

    “The longer distance was pretty tough, but also fun to do that kind of race again,” Schoonmaker wrote afterward. “Even though it was a tough day and not my best race, I find a lot more enjoyment in a 20 k like that, where I’m 60th or whatever, than a sprint qualifier where I’m 35th. Cool to push yourself and ski in a pack.”

    Falun’s Skiathlon rewards positioning and sustained pace more than sharp accelerations. For Schoonmaker, the takeaway was direct.

    “Today shows me that I probably need to have a bit more pace to be competitive in these longer races,” he said. “Just overall need to be fitter and stronger than I am right now.”

    He felt competitive through the classic leg, especially in tricky waxing conditions hovering around freezing.

    “The conditions were a bit tricky for sure,” he said. “Whenever zeroes are in the mix as well as wax, it can be a little stressful.”

    Schoonmaker chose kick wax rather than zero skis, a minority decision in the field.

    “I ended up going on wax, and I think I was probably one of the only guys in the field to do that, so I was a bit nervous at the start,” he said. “But they worked great for me, and I think I made the right call.”

    The transition to skate proved costly.

    “I felt more competitive in the classic leg, had a bit of a blow up as soon as we switched to skating, and found my flow after a bit, but just lost too much time right after the transition there,” he said.

    Then came the full Mördarbacken climb, twice.

    “The Mördarbacken is a tough one, I think mostly because it’s just so long,” Schoonmaker said. “It has a lot of grade fluctuations, which I think is cool in a hill and a bit of a grind, but I like the way it skis.”

    Other American Finishers:

    Hunter Wonders – 47th place

    Zanden McMullen – 61st place

    Antoine Cyr (CAN) on his way to a top ten.  (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
    Canada: Cyr Inside the Top Ten

    Antoine Cyr led the Canadian contingent, finishing 10th. It was a controlled race from Cyr, who held position through the classic leg and limited losses on the climbs during the skate.

    Other Canadian Finishers:

    Olivier Leveille – 53rd place

    Remi Drolet – 54th place

    Max Hollmann – 55th place

    Sasha Masson – 66th place

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) charges for the win once again at the end of the Men’s Skiathlon in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
    The Larger Arc

    Falun is more than just another stop as it will host the 2027 World Championships. It is also a venue that rewards discipline. The gradual terrain away from the stadium invites packs, and the big climbs around the ski jumping hill expose any fitness weaknesses.

    For Klaebo, it was another example of restraint followed by precision.

    He leads the overall standings. He leads the sprint standings. The distance standings remain mathematically contested, but days like this narrow the space for drama as we move towards the final races.

    After sweeping the Olympics, one might have expected a pause, yet there has not been one.

    In Falun, the snow was fresh, the wax calls uncertain, and the climbs unforgiving. The result, however, was familiar.

    And with three weeks remaining before the World Cup finale in Lake Placid, what now remains is not a question of whether Klaebo has delivered a historic season, but how complete it might become.

     

    Falun World Cup Men’s 20 k Skiathlon – RESULTS

    Men’s World Cup – OVERALL STANDINGS

    Men’s World Cup – DISTANCE STANDINGS

     

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    Norwegians Harald Oestberg Amundsen, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (l-r) share the Men’s 20 k Skiathlon podium in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
  • Klaebo Edges Closer to a Season for the Ages in Falun

    Klaebo Edges Closer to a Season for the Ages in Falun

    This coverage is made possible through the generous support of Marty and Kathy Hall and A Hall Mark of Excellence A Hall Mark of Excellence Award. To learn more about A Hall Mark of Excellence Award, or to learn how you can support FasterSkier’s coverage, please contact info@fasterskier.com.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) continues his march on a most historic season in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)

    Six days after the Olympic flame dimmed in Italy, the World Cup caravan reassembled in Falun, Sweden, at the Lugnet cross-country ski center. The Mördarbacken — the famed “murder hill” — still looms over the stadium, waiting to torture the athletes tomorrow. The snow was fast, and the sport’s most dominant man arrived with something bordering on the unthinkable within reach.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo had already swept the Olympic program: six races, six gold medals. He had already conquered the Tour de Ski. He leads the sprint standings. He leads the distance standings. He leads the overall.

    In Falun’s Freestyle Sprint, he resumed his campaign as if nothing had interrupted it.

    And to no one’s surprise, Klaebo won again.

    The victory — tactical, controlled, clinical — pushed his streak forward and kept alive the possibility of something the sport has never seen: a season in which one athlete claims the Olympic sweep, the Tour de Ski title, and all three FIS World Cup Crystal Globes.

    “So interesting watching Klaebo,” FasterSkier’s John Teaford observed. “In the semi, he had Chanavat in front, so Klaebo went wide to force him into the lead. In the final, Chanavat was already there, so Klaebo took the inside to shut down Heggen. He’s racing, everyone else is just reacting.”

    On a course where lane choice and downhill drafting often matter more than raw power, Klaebo once again skied as if he had solved the puzzle in advance.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) gets his quarterfinal started. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)
    The Course That Punishes Hesitation

    Lugnet’s sprint track is deceptively compact — Klaebo won the qualification in 2:33.9 — but it rewards patience and punishes impatience. The downhill into the stadium is long enough to generate devastating draft effects; even if a skier has what seems like a wide enough margin out front, they often get swallowed up.

    Lars Heggen, left off Norway’s Olympic team in favor of Oskar Opstad Vike, skied with visible urgency all afternoon. He had qualified 26th but surged through the rounds, eventually finishing second behind Klaebo in the final. Vike, the Olympic bronze medalist in the Classic Sprint, failed to advance to the finals.

    In a Norwegian program that might be the deepest in skiing history, the margins remain ruthless, and the storyline between Vike and Heggen will continue throughout the rest of the season.

    Gus Schumacher (USA) during qualification. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)
    Schumacher: Six Olympic Races, Then a Movie Theater

    If Klaebo’s season has been relentless, Gus Schumacher’s has seen both uncertainty and excellence. Schumacher was the only Olympic racer besides Klaebo to start all six events in Italy, culminating in the 50-kilometer classic last weekend.

    His recovery plan for Falun?

    “I was just chilling,” Schumacher said afterward. “I didn’t ski Sunday or Monday. Tuesday, I went skiing for a little bit, but I wasn’t too stressed about the training. The biggest thing was just not doing too much.”

    He went to a movie theater on Tuesday night.

    “Just kind of like doing sort of normal life things,” he said. “Helped with recovery for me.”

    There was no urgency in his tone, no sense of chasing something lost. Instead, he described an emotional decompression that many Olympians quietly experience.

    “All week it’s been a little low,” he admitted. “Today was just nice to go out and race.”

    Schumacher advanced cleanly from his quarterfinal, but the semifinal unfolded differently. His start, he acknowledged, hasn’t been historically a strength.

    “My start has never been that fast,” he said. “So for me to get into a top-four spot early on is hard. I was kind of relying on gaps to open up.”

    But they didn’t.

    “The pace was kind of too high, or it was too wide or both,” he said. “I really should have just pulled up a little bit, embrace sixth until the finish, and then gone fast there.”

    He missed a lucky loser qualification by three-tenths of a second.

    “I’m not super happy with it,” he said. “But the quarterfinal was nice.”

    After the emotional volatility of the Games, including a crash in his opening race, a silver medal in the team sprint with Ben Ogden, Schumacher’s energy felt steadier in Falun.

    “I wouldn’t say I’m digging deep,” he said. “I think I’m just enjoying the ride.”

    After an Olympic training block, Jack Young (USA) is back racing on the World Cup in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)
    Young’s Gamble

    Jack Young arrived in Sweden with a different story.

    He made the Olympic team but did not earn one of the four U.S. sprint starts in Val di Fiemme. Rather than chase race sharpness, he chose volume.

    “I trained very hard for the two weeks leading up to Falun,” Young wrote us in an email after the race. “The theory was that my speed was really good and I needed a fitness boost to finish out the season well.”

    This may have been a bit of a risk, but one Young was willing to take.

    “I’ve never trained even close to this much volume this close to a World Cup sprint,” he said. “But it seems to have paid off.”

    He did not miss race intensity.

    “In fact, the two weeks of training were some of my favorite weeks of the winter.”

    Young benefited from Filip Skari’s disqualification after he received a second yellow card of the season in the quarterfinals, advancing to the semifinals. There, the course’s tactical nuance intervened.

    “I wanted to ski the corner really well, exit with speed, and hopefully overtake Vike and Ersson right before the course kicks up again,” he said. “I had too much speed out of the corner and passed Vike too early and lost the draft.”

    The mistake was microscopic, but the consequence decisive.

    “Today was hectic but fun,” Young said. “Really cool sprint racing.”

    If there was a change in him, it was mental.

    “This was probably the most locked in I’ve been for a World Cup semifinal,” he said. “I was ready to really race with those guys and try to beat them.”

    For a 23-year-old navigating the narrowest margins in sprint racing, that shift may matter as much as fitness.

    Kevin Bolger, who narrowly missed Olympic selection, qualified for the heats but was eliminated in a stacked quarterfinal that included Klaebo. (Photo: Thibaut/NordicFocus)
    Bolger’s Return

    For Kevin Bolger, the weeks surrounding the Olympics were heavier. Bolger narrowly missed selection for Milan-Cortina, and the emotional toll was real.

    “I mean — at the beginning, life sucked,” he said. “It feels like everything is against you and that I was wronged.”

    He had been to the Olympics before — in Beijing — and that perspective helped, but it did not soften the blow.

    “It still really sucked and hurt a lot,” he said.

    Bolger’s response was simple: train.

    “My motivation was training through that period and hopefully be able to attack these last World Cup weekends. And of course pour my energy into Maja and do what I could to help her get some medals.”

    By the time Falun arrived and the World Cup season got restarted, Bolger felt ready. He knew his quarterfinal would be stacked — Johannes Klæbo among those in the heat — and expected the pace to be high.

    “I was prepared for that,” he said. “I felt great and was mentally ready for the pace.”

    But on a course like Falun — fast, tactical, draft-dependent — ski speed can decide everything.

    “I don’t think I had the most competitive skis in my heat,” Bolger said. “So on a fast tactical course, it’s a bit of an uphill battle. I was hoping to catch the draft coming back to the stadium, but the skis didn’t seem to be running as I’d hoped. But that’s life, and we move on.”

    Bolger did not struggle to keep pace with the athletes racing in Val di Fiemme.

    “It’s not that hard,” he said. “I had a few weekends of racing to help keep the sharpness going and the shape. It always seems to get better when you can actually just get back into a good training routine. And right now I feel like I’m in a great place and just happy to be racing back in the heats.”

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) climbs  one of the sprint course hills in front of the Swedish fans in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
    The Stakes Beyond Saturday

    Klaebo’s victory further tightened his grip on the sprint and overall standings.

    The distance globe remains mathematically alive, though narrowing. The sprint globe appears close to decided, and the overall lead, barring collapse, is substantial.

    What remains compelling is not merely whether Klaebo will win, but whether he will complete something approaching total seasonal dominance.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) once again makes it look easy during his win in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)

    After the Olympics, and the understandable fatigue that would be a result of winning gold in all six races, you might expect Klaebo to take some time off from the World Cup… he did not.

    Klaebo moves forward, and what awaits in Lake Placid, where fans will gather to celebrate the close of the season and Jessie Diggins’ final World Cup start, is the possibility of witnessing something the sport has never seen: a Tour de Ski title, an Olympic sweep, and three Crystal Globes claimed in a single winter.

    In a season already defined by dominance, Klaebo is now skiing toward something that would endure long after the snow melts.

     

    Falun World Cup Men’s Freestyle Sprint – QUALIFICATION RESULTS

    Falun World Cup Men’s Freestyle Sprint – FINAL RESULTS

    Men’s World Cup – OVERALL STANDINGS

    Men’s World Cup – SPRINT STANDINGS

     

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    Lars Heggen (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), and Benjamin Moser (AUT), (l-r) share the Freestyle Sprint podium in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Authamayou/NordicFocus)
  • Chris Hecker and the Moment the Sun Came Out

    Chris Hecker and the Moment the Sun Came Out

    This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers.  If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription.

    If you are a parent or coach and have been responsible for waxing skis for an important race — a state championship, a Junior National Qualifier — you know how stressful that can be. Now imagine it’s the morning of the Team Sprint at the Olympics, and you are responsible for Gus Schumacher’s skis. Feel your blood pressure rising yet?

    Welcome to the life of Chris Hecker, the US Cross-Country Ski Team service tech who leads the glide program and is Schumacher’s personal tech. Hecker, at this point, knows Schumacher well and that he has logged nearly 1,000 hours of training annually for years, and that he has dreamed of this specific day since the end of last season.

    “One of the most stressful moments actually came [on race day], about 45 minutes before the Men’s Team Sprint. I had selected the race skis for Gus and felt confident in the decision. At the time, it was clearly the best pair for the conditions.”

    Everything seemed to be playing out as Hecker had hoped, but then everything changed.

    “Then, about five minutes later, the sun came out. The course started to break down and got noticeably wetter. I still had a few minutes before beginning to wax, so I decided to run one more quick test. In the ten minutes between tests, the two top pairs kept getting closer and closer in performance.”

    These are the moments when experience, confidence, and a little tech magic can make or break a race. “In the end, I chose what was technically Gus’s second-best pair at that moment,” Hecker recalled. “As more athletes skied and the temperature continued to rise, there’s a good chance those skis actually became the faster option anyway.”

    Hecker was quick to point out that “Gus and Ben were on another level. Regardless of which skis Gus raced on, I’m confident the result would have been the same. They were [racing] on another level.”

    We may never really know, but maybe that decision did have something to do with Schumacher and Ben Ogden winning silver in the Team Sprint? For Hecker, it was a choice that was actually years in the making.

    Guided by family and noted mentors

    Hecker grew up in a family of skiers; his father, Mike, was a Pelton ski and Exel pole rep in the Midwest and had Chris on skis when he was just nine months old, “shuffling around and falling down.” Mike and his wife would pack the entire family, including Chris and his older brother Jeremy, and spend weekends traveling to different ski shows and venues. The parents told Chris and Jeremy it was their ‘vacation’, but in reality, it was just a family deeply invested in both the industry and the lifestyle.

    “So we were skiing from a really, really early age, and then we got into racing,” said Chris. When Chris was in middle school and high school, he raced for Anoka High School, in Minnesota, a northern suburb of Minneapolis. After graduating in 2013, he headed to St. Scholastica in Duluth, where he raced for three years under Chad Salmela and, in his senior year, under Maria Stuber.

    After graduating from St. Scholastica in 2017, Hecker took a job with Rex Ski Wax for the 2018 / 2019 season.

    “I worked with them for a year, spent a year on the World Cup being their racing service manager and research and development, kind of lead testing for all the new products, testing all the old products, and then walking around and working with the teams and saying, What do you need from us?”

    Hecker made himself available to World Cup teams, asking which products he could help with and which they thought were working well and which needed improvement. He continued this work for three full seasons before starting with the US Ski Team in 2020; this is now his sixth full season with the team.

    Two brothers… “Give me something weird.”

    Chris’s older brother, Jeremy, has kept the family tradition alive too, serving as a full-time employee of Pioneer Midwest and, in addition, as the domestic rep and race service lead for Rex ski wax.

    “We talk multiple times a week, and we get really deep into the weeds,” says Chris, who gives his brother lots of respect and praise. “He’s a really good wax tech, and sometimes you just need an idea from an outside source.”

    So when waxing domestically, Jeremy will ask his brother at the World Cup, “Give me something weird, give me something random to go out and test,” because he has all the normal, routine choices down.

    “He’ll always ask me for one random suggestion to try out for some of those race weekends. And sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t.”

    For the most part, the two brothers talk about local races and how Jeremy can better support local skiers, since the products Chris is working on for the World Cup aren’t available to domestic skiers.

    “But it is also fun to talk about, when we have a really good day, like in Goms, or a really good day, like in the Val de Fiemme, on the final hill climb.”

    When that happens, Jeremy can spot it on the livestream and will call up Chris and ask, “Oh, what’d you guys do differently!”

    A lot more than two pairs of skis… like over 100

    In addition to being Schumacher’s personal tech, Chris Hecker is also responsible for Novie McCabe when she is on the World Cup and when she raced at the Olympics.

    In addition, Hecker is responsible for managing both athletes’ ski fleets. For McCabe, that means 38 pairs of skis and another 65 pairs for Schumacher, but even that can be variable, “like, Gus gets a ski [from Rossignol] maybe every other weekend or every third weekend because they’re always coming out with new prototypes and new skis.”

    McCabe is a Fischer-sponsored athlete, and they are admittedly a bit more controlled on allocating skis, but if Hecker and McCabe decide to “knock out a bad ski,” they can give it back to them and get another for her quiver.

    The new Rossignol skis arriving can introduce many more variables for Schumacher and Hecker to consider. As Hecker says, “ it can be new base material, new grinds, new core materials… the construction of the ski can be different.”

    Every little tweak has a purpose, “maybe it’s an easier kicking classic ski, maybe it’s a faster base material on a state ski.” As Hecker continues… “Maybe it’s a different laminate on a zero ski,” and what becomes quickly obvious is that all of these subtle variations make for endless possibilities.

    Building a rapport

    Hecker and Schumacher have been working together for two years now. Last season, Hecker was not responsible for another athlete, so he could focus on Schumacher, and the two quickly bonded.

    From the beginning, “working with him was really fun,” said Hecker . “We were trying to build a rapport as a new athlete and tech combination between the two of us.”

    Schumacher’s previous tech had left for the Swiss Biathlon Team, but Hecker and Schumacher found a lot of success last season with several top 10s and a podium in Falun, Sweden. As they started this season, they got right back to work.

    “Then starting this year, it was like jumping right back into it.” The two had a full year of experience to build on, and the dialogue and descriptions began to get more dialed, which is critical in the relationship between a tech and an athlete.

    Hecker began to know what Schumacher “likes for kick in skis, what feeling and stability he likes on skate skis,” and the two have been able to build that “innate rapport” which leads to a trusting relationship.

    As Hecker puts it, “[Schumacher] is one of the most astute athletes that I’ve worked with. He always comes with a question or two on race day. ‘Do you think we should try testing over on this side of the course instead of that side of the course, because I’m really trying to execute a plan here. Can we try focusing on glide for this half of the course, and maybe do a couple of glide outs here?”

    Hecker continues to describe how impressed he is with Schumacher as an athlete:

    “And so he’s always equally thinking as a wax tech and as an athlete when we’re out skiing together, and he’s really trying to dissect where the best places to test are. And it’s not just my job to revive the skis for him, but it’s also his job to pick the correct skis for him. And so he needs to know almost as much as I do about his skis and what is working and why it’s working, because ultimately we have to come to the decision together. He is racing, not me, and so we have a really cool relationship together to kind of pick and choose what we want to race on as a team.”

    Learning what he likes instead of what you like

    At this level, picking the right ski for an athlete is not just about what is fastest. It is also about picking a ski that responds the way the athlete prefers, and that matches the way a skier races.

    For Schumacher, that means a ski that is “extremely stable and forward tracking.” Hecker knows the way Schumacher skis, and how “when he pushes off to the left or to the right, and he goes fully onto one ski, he wants it to go straight.”

    “He doesn’t want the tip to move at all. He just wants it to point and shoot straight.”

    That isn’t a characteristic Hecker is personally always looking for in a ski, but he knows that’s what Schumacher wants. “So when I’m looking and testing without him some days, I say, ‘Okay, this ski is for sure going to be moving on because this feels better for him.’ And so we kind of have differing opinions sometimes on feeling, because I like a slightly different ski.”

    For Hecker, though, what is most important is that he understands not just what will ski fast, but also what will work best for Schumacher in different conditions, based on how he will race.

    “On a really firm course, he’ll look for this ski that just goes straight. And I think the reason why he likes that is that he will free skate a lot and likes being able to just push with his legs. And he’s so strong at that, and so relaxed when he does it, and so he can conserve a lot of energy.

    So it’s a really cool technique change from him, because I don’t think a lot of people utilize that on the men’s field. You see a lot of people always V2ing, and you’ll see him kind of free skating in the middle of the pack, just relaxing his upper body and giving half of his body a rest.”

    Inside the wax truck: how race morning actually works

    On a stable day, glide testing is fairly methodical.

    “We usually have four fleets of skis that go out,” Hecker explained. “Eight structure skis, eight paraffin skis, eight topping skis, and four to six application skis.”

    Before any athlete even gets to the venue, there is what the service team calls a “thinking period.” Jason [Cork], Tim [Baucom], Hecker, and anyone else in the truck who wants to join in, gather around a table with wax options.

    “We’ll put maybe 10 to 12 waxes in,” Hecker said. “Eli [Brown] might give us a wax. Oleg [Ragilo], our head of service, might give us a wax. Bernie [Nelson] might give us a wax. Then at the end of the table, it’s on me to narrow it down.”

    Ten or twelve become eight after the team removes the overlapping options. Some are eliminated because something similar tested better earlier in the week. Predictability and durability matter as much as outright speed.

    Structure follows a similar pattern. Baucom pulls 10 or 12 patterns before narrowing to eight that fit the day’s snow. The brainstorming narrows the options, then the skis go outside for testing.

    When results come back, they’re measured in inches and sometimes just two or three separate first from third.

    “If there are three that are really close,” Hecker said, “we might race on third place. Even if it’s two inches behind.”

    Because two inches in early testing might not matter if the wax is more durable, safer, or better, as temperatures rise and the track grows glazy under the skis of a throng of World Cup skiers.

    “It’s up to us to make a call,” Hecker said. “This is the wax we’re going to run today, even though it may not have won.”

    Once the athletes start warming up and testing skis, the techs have to add that feedback to the equation as well. Often, Hecker has one ear tuned to Gus’s feedback and the other to the incoming results.

    “When Gus is racing, a lot of these tests are going on,” he said. “I have to have my head on both testing skis with Gus, but also on the results that are coming in.”

    A call might come mid-session: pair 47 instead of pair 45. At this level, it’s small changes, constant recalibration, and decisions layered on decisions.

    For spectators, the race begins at the gun. For the glide team, it began hours earlier — likely in the dark — and never really stops until the racers reach the first checkpoint in the race and the team knows whether their choices put them in the race or not.

    “It’s definitely the hardest part of this job.”

    For Hecker, this will be his last season as part of the US World Cup service team.

    “It’s been a thing that I decided at the end of the year last year,” Hecker said. “I gave a fairly big heads up to the team in Bend in April.”

    This season marks the end of a third Olympic cycle for Hecker, but it is not that moments like the Olympic Team Sprint are wearing him down. That is not the hardest part of the job. The hardest part of the job is being away from his wife, Katie, family, and his dog.

    “It’s time to be at home with my wife and be more with my family and be back at home with my dog. And, yeah, right now it is time to retire after this year, and we’ll see what happens after that.”

    Like other staff and coaches on the US Ski Team, Hecker was able to sneak home twice so far this season, but those opportunities are few and far between.

    “Yeah, it’s, it’s definitely the hardest part of this job, not that waxing isn’t hard, but being away from your family, being away from loved ones for so long. It’s really hard.”

    This decision wasn’t made lightly because there are many things about being on the World Cup that Hecker will miss. Most significantly, the US Ski Team has done an amazing job creating a unified family.

    “It’s hard because this team is like a second family. Being away from these guys for long stretches is tough. I love working with them. When you like the person you’re rooming with every weekend, that means something. So leaving the team feels like leaving family.

    But I know it’s the right decision for me. I’m getting tired. There was a time when traveling to Europe was exciting, going to new venues, seeing new places. That was fun.

    Now it’s, ‘Okay, we’re going back to Val di Fiemme. We’re going back to Oberhof. We’re driving the wax truck to Oslo again.’ Last year, I realized I wasn’t looking forward to the travel anymore. I’d be excited once I got there, but the constant moving was wearing on me. That’s when I knew it might be time.”

    Gus Schumacher and Ben Ogden (USA), (l-r) celebrate their Olympic silver medal in the Team Sprint in Tesero, Italy. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    On another level

    When the sun came out in Italy last Wednesday morning, it forced a decision. A choice was made to go with a slower pair of skis, but that decision was not a whim; it was not a swing for a bases-loaded grand slam to win the World Series. It was choosing an option that presented itself through a trusted process, through seasons of tested routines, and having the experience to trust instinct.

    By the time Gus Schumacher and Ben Ogden pushed off the line in the Team Sprint, the work had already been done, in the dark, in the truck, in inches measured on a test lane. Structures narrowed from twelve to eight, waxes debated and eliminated.

    The silver medal will always belong to the athletes. They were, as Hecker put it, “on another level.”

    But long before Schumacher chased down Johannes Høsflot Klæbo on the anchor leg, before the crowd roared in excitement, before the final sprint up the Zorzi Climb, there was a moment when the sun came out, and a technician had to make a decision.

    And one detail to remember when the story of the 2026 Olympic Team Sprint is retold for years to come is that the United States service team, on that day, was also ‘on another level.’

     

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  • US Ski Team Announces World Cup Period 4 Starters

    US Ski Team Announces World Cup Period 4 Starters

    Dear Cross Country Community,

    We are pleased to announce the Team for Period 4 (Falun, Lahti, Drammen, & Oslo) of the 2025-26 World Cup season:

    Falun Sprint F & Lahti Sprint F

    Men

    Zach Jayne                                Objective          25-26 Overall SuperTour Leader

    Ben Ogden                                Objective          5th 25-26 Sprint World Cup

    Gus Schumacher                       Objective          21st 25-26 Sprint World Cup

    Jack Young                                Objective          26th 25-26 Sprint World Cup

    JC Schoonmaker                        Objective          28th 25-26 Sprint World Cup

    Kevin Bolger                             Discretion         15th Toblach Sprint F

    Zanden McMullen                     Discretion         20th Oberhof Sprint F

    Zak Ketterson                           Alternate          18th Val di Fiemme TDS Sprint C

    Michael Earnhart                      Alternate          35th Oberhof Sprint F

     

    Women

    Hailey Swirbul                           Objective          25-26 Overall SuperTour Leader

    Jessie Diggins                            Objective          25-26 Overall World Cup Leader

    Julia Kern                                  Objective          22nd 25-26 Sprint World Cup

    Sammy Smith                            Discretion         12th Oberhof Sprint F

    Lauren Jortberg                        Discretion         26th Oberhof Sprint F

    Alayna Sonnesyn                       Discretion         27th Davos Sprint F

    Rosie Brennan                          Discretion         15th Ruka Sprint C

    Ava Thurston                            Discretion         4th US Nationals Sprint F Qualification

    Emma Albrecht                         Alternate          5th US Nationals Sprint F Qualification

    Gus Schumacher (USA) charges up one of the hills on the sprint course at the base of the Mördarbacken during the 20 k Freestyle Mass Start in Falun, Sweden last season. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Falun 20 km Skiathlon

    Men

    Zach Jayne                                Objective          25-26 Overall SuperTour Leader

    Gus Schumacher                       Objective          18th Distance World Cup

    Zak Ketterson                           Objective          26th Distance World Cup

    John Hagenbuch                       Discretion         14th OWG 10 km F

    Zanden McMullen                     Discretion         18th Oberhof 10 km C

    Ben Ogden                                Discretion         20th Toblach 5 km F

    Hunter Wonders                       Discretion         24th Oberhof 10 km C

    Luke Jager                                Alternate          29th Oberhof 10 km C

    JC Schoonmaker                        Alternate          29th Toblach 5 km F

     

    Women

    Hailey Swirbul                           Objective          25-26 Overall SuperTour Leader

    Jessie Diggins                            Objective          25-26 Overall World Cup Leader

    Julia Kern                                  Discretion         10th Toblach 5 km F

    Novie McCabe                          Discretion         22nd Goms 20 km C

    Rosie Brennan                          Discretion         24th Ruka 10 km C

    Luci Anderson                           Discretion         25th Davos 10 km F

    Kendall Kramer                         Discretion         27th Goms 20 km C

    Alayna Sonnesyn                       Discretion         27th Ruka 20 km F

    Jessie Diggins on her way to winning both the FIS Overall and Distance Crystal Globes in Lahti, Finland last season. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Lahti 10 C

    Men

    Zach Jayne                                Objective          25-26 Overall SuperTour Leader

    Gus Schumacher                       Objective          18th Distance World Cup

    Zak Ketterson                           Objective          26th Distance World Cup

    Zanden McMullen                     Discretion         18th Oberhof 10 km C

    Hunter Wonders                       Discretion         24th Oberhof 10 km C

    Luke Jager                                Discretion         29th Oberhof 10 km C

    Ben Ogden                                Discretion         29th Toblach 20 km C

    John Hagenbuch                       Alternate          14th OWG 10 km F

    JC Schoonmaker                        Alternate          29th Toblach 5 km F

    Reid Goble                                Alternate          1st Wirth SuperTour 10 km C

     

    Women

    Hailey Swirbul                           Objective          25-26 Overall SuperTour Leader

    Jessie Diggins                            Objective          25-26 Overall World Cup Leader

    Julia Kern                                  Discretion         16th Goms 20 km C

    Novie McCabe                          Discretion         22nd Goms 20 km C

    Rosie Brennan                          Discretion         24th Ruka 10 km C

    Kendall Kramer                         Discretion         27th Goms 20 km C

    Sammy Smith                            Discretion         3rd US Nationals 10 km C

    Ava Thurston                            Discretion         4th US Nationals 10 km C

    Emma Albrecht                         Alternate          1st Wirth SuperTour 10 km C

    Alayna Sonnesyn                       Alternate          2nd Wirth SuperTour 10 km C

    Lauren Jortberg                        Alternate          2nd Anchorge SuperTour 10 km C

    Samantha Smith (USA) racing the individual World Cup sprint in Drammen (NOR) in 2024. (Photo: Modica/NordicFocus)

    Drammen Sprint C

    Men

    Zach Jayne                                Objective          25-26 Overall SuperTour Leader

    Ben Ogden                                Objective          5th 25-26 Sprint World Cup

    Gus Schumacher                       Objective          21st 25-26 Sprint World Cup

    Jack Young                                Objective          26th 25-26 Sprint World Cup

    JC Schoonmaker                        Objective          28th 25-26 Sprint World Cup

    Zak Ketterson                           Discretion         18th Val di Fiemme TDS Sprint C

    John Schwinghamer                  Discretion         1st US Nationals Sprint C Qualification

    Kevin Bolger                             Alternate          15th Toblach Sprint F

    Zanden McMullen                     Alternate          20th Oberhof Sprint F

     

    Women

    Hailey Swirbul                           Objective          25-26 Overall SuperTour Leader

    Jessie Diggins                            Objective          25-26 Overall World Cup Leader

    Julia Kern                                  Objective          22nd 25-26 Sprint World Cup

    Rosie Brennan                          Discretion         15th Ruka Sprint C

    Sammy Smith                            Discretion         19th OWG Sprint C

    Lauren Jortberg                        Discretion         30th OWG Sprint C

    Alayna Sonnesyn                       Discretion         27th Davos Sprint F

    Ava Thurston                            Discretion         3rd US Nationals Sprint C Qualification

    Erin Bianco                               Alternate          4th US Nationals Sprint C Qualification

    Jessie Diggins (USA) on her way to a podium finish during the first women’s 50k version of the famed Holmenkollen in Oslo (NOR) in 2023. (Photo: NordicFocus)

    Holmenkollen 50 km F Mass 

    Men

    Zach Jayne                                Objective          25-26 Overall SuperTour Leader

    Gus Schumacher                       Objective          18th Distance World Cup

    Zak Ketterson                           Objective          26th Distance World Cup

    John Hagenbuch                       Discretion         14th OWG 10 km F

    Ben Ogden                                Discretion         20th Toblach 5 km F

    JC Schoonmaker                        Discretion         29th Toblach 5 km F

    Zanden McMullen                     Discretion         18th Oberhof 10 km C

    Brian Bushey                             Alternate          4th US Nationals 20 km F

    Hunter Wonders                       Alternate          24th Oberhof 10 km C

     

    Women

    Hailey Swirbul                           Objective          25-26 Overall SuperTour Leader

    Jessie Diggins                            Objective          25-26 Overall World Cup Leader

    Julia Kern                                  Discretion         10th Toblach 5 km F

    Luci Anderson                           Discretion         25th Davos 10 km F

    Alayna Sonnesyn                       Discretion         27th Ruka 20 km F

    Novie McCabe                          Discretion         22nd Goms 20 km C

    Rosie Brennan                          Discretion         24th Ruka 10 km C

    Kendall Kramer                         Discretion         27th Goms 20 km C

     

    The above discretionary selections were nominated by a 15-person working group that included:

    James Southam                         Athlete Rep

    Ida Sargent                               Athlete Rep

    Perry Thomas                           Mansfield Pro Nordic Team

    Chad Salmela                            Team Birkie

    Andy Newell                             Bridger Ski Foundation

    Erik Flora                                  Alaska Pacific University

    Pepa Miloucheva                      Craftsbury GRP

    Colin Rodgers                            SMS T2

    Peter Holmes                            SVSEF Gold Team

    Sophie Caldwell                        Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club

    Eliška Albrigtsen                        Denver University

    Chris Grover                             USST

    Matt Whitcomb                        USST

    Jason Cork                                USST

    Kristen Bourne                          USST

     

    The nominations were then approved by a discretionary selection review group comprised of:

     

    Tyler Kornfield                          U.S. Ski & Snowboard Athlete Rep

    Anouk Patty                              U.S. Ski & Snowboard Chief of Sport

    Bryan Fish                                 U.S. Ski & Snowboard Development Director

     

    The above discretionary selection process will be repeated for each period of World Cup this coming season.  As always, if you have questions or concerns about this process, feel free to contact me directly.

     

    Sincerely,

     

    Chris Grover

    Cross Country Program Director, U.S. Ski Team

    chris.grover@usskiandsnowboard.org

  • The Devon Kershaw Show: Down to the wire in the men’s Olympic 50 k

    The Devon Kershaw Show: Down to the wire in the men’s Olympic 50 k

    This episode was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers.  If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription.  

    We’ll keep it short and sweet: Here’s a recap of the men’s 50 k. It was a fun race to watch and left us with a lot to discuss.

    We’ll be back after Sunday’s race. Reach us at devon[at]fasterskier.com and nat[at]fasterskier.com. We’re really grateful for all the support during the Olympics — thanks for notes and encouragement.

    A reminder: This is a homegrown podcast done by two guys working long hours and late nights. We’re also paying real money to be here in Italy. If you can, support the show and FasterSkier’s ongoing coverage with a voluntary membership. We’re also offering a bonus during the Olympics: a WhatsApp group with notes on Nat’s experiences in Italy, the food he’s eating, interview transcripts and more.

    Send nat[at]northernjournal[dot]com a confirmation of your voluntary membership and the number he should use for WhatsApp and we’ll get you signed up. You can also Venmo him directly at @nat-herz if a membership isn’t for you. We’re suggesting a minimum of $10, but we also won’t turn anyone away who wants to join because of an inability to pay.

    Help Support Our Olympic Coverage!

    FasterSkier will have our own Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics, which, to be honest, is a very big financial lift for us. If you value the thoughtful work and access FasterSkier provides at championships like this one, please consider becoming a Voluntary Subscriber. Your support directly fuels the work we do to cover the people, places, and moments that make our sport special.

    Join the FasterSkier community!
  • Six for Six: Klaebo Makes History in 50 k Classic

    Six for Six: Klaebo Makes History in 50 k Classic

    This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers who have helped put our Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription.

    Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR #3) and Emil Iversen (NOR #4) lead during the opening kilometers of the Men’s Olympic 50 k in Tesero, Italy. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)

    TESERO, ITALY — Sprint races can be dazzling, relay legs can be heroic, but the 50 k, especially classic, is where cross-country skiing gets carved into stone. The 50 k Classic turns strength, technique, and endurance into history, myth, and lore.

    On Saturday afternoon in Val di Fiemme, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo skied into that mythology.

    By winning the Olympic 50 k Classic, Klaebo completed a sweep of six gold medals at these Games — six events, six victories — something no Winter Olympian had ever done before. The sprint prodigy who has built his reputation on ferocity over 1.5 kilometers now owns the sport’s most traditional crown.

    “I don’t think I even could have dreamed about this,” Klaebo said afterward.

    “In Norway, they say you must win a 50 k to become a man.” Klaebo said, smiling in the post-race press conference, “I think I am that now.”

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) both the Olympic 50 k gold and a clean sweap of these games. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    Feeling the significance

    The 50 k Classic is the most prestigious event in the sport with a long and storied history, and over 100 years of these championships, no one had ever put their skis on to start this race, trying to win an unprecedented 6th gold medal in one Olympic Games. But Klaebo had proven last year he could, winning six races at the World Championships on his home trails in Trondheim, Norway.

    The historic attempt was larger than cross-country skiing, too. American long-track speed skater Eric Heiden won five gold medals at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Klaebo was attempting to do something no athlete had ever done before at the Winter Olympics.

    Savelii Korostelev (AIN #12), Iivo Niskanen (FIN #7), Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR #3), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR #1), Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR #2), Emil Iversen (NOR #4), (l-r) during the early stages of the 50 k. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    ​The potential spoilers

    Going into the race, the heavy favorites were without a doubt the Norwegians with Klaebo, his training partner Emil Iversen, Harald Oestberg Amundsen, and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget. However, others had to be considered as potential spoilers for the historic moment, among them, athletes on the French team, including Mathis Desloges, Hugo Lapalus, Victor Lovera, Finland’s Iivo Niskanen, American Gus Schumacher, and the Independent Neutral Athlete (AIN) Savelii Korostelev. Though it was a long shot, these other nations’ athletes could, potentially, battle for the win or at least a podium spot.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), Emil Iversen (NOR), and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), (l-r) turned the 50 k into a three-man race. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    The Shape of the Race

    The Olympic course in Tesero is not subtle. Seven laps with relentless climbing. Among them, the featured hill, the Zorzi Climb, waits like a toll booth each time the skiers re-enter the stadium.

    Heading into the race, there were 65 men on the start list, but Italy’s Federico Pellegrino, Finland’s Ristomatti Hakola, and America’s Ben Ogden all scratched.

    Once the race started, the first lap went by without much drama, though the field began to stretch. As they entered the stadium after one loop, over 30 skiers were within 20 seconds of the lead. By the end of lap two, that front pack had reduced to 20 skiers within 23 seconds of the lead, and on lap three, things really began to take shape.

    Early on in lap three, two favorites, Niskanen (FIN) and Amundsen (NOR), who had been at the front of the race, pulled out. The French favorites and American Schumacher also began to lose contact with the front-runners. Only Korostelev was able to maintain contact until even he could no longer keep up with the three top Norwegians.

    Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) did much of the work at the front. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    By the middle of the race, there were three

    By lap four, it was unmistakable: Nyenget, Iversen, and Klaebo were alone, three red suits moving in steady formation.

    From the stadium, the mood was less frantic than historic, almost strangely calm.

    “The sun shone down… as if God had ordained the great Klaebo, winning his six in a row… I mean, it really was a beautiful day,” said FasterSkier’s Nat Herz, who was on the ground in Tesero. “I think people were just pretty relaxed watching this three-man Norwegian time trial as it went around the course… These guys have the best technique, the best materials, the best skis, the best fitness, and they did exactly what they set out to do.”

    The crowd was not roaring every lap. It was watching. Waiting.

    “Nyenget and Klaebo definitely gave everyone a good show, and it was tense to see. Was Klaebo going to be able to do this incredible accomplishment?”

    There was little theatrics in their separation from the field — no dramatic surge, no visible cracking. Just a grinding tempo that only they could sustain.

    Even the question of ski exchanges became a collective calculation. While much of the field ducked into the pit lane for fresh skis after lap four, the Norwegians skied past the ski exchange zone each lap.

    A Norwegian train. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)

    “Martin made the choice of not changing skis,” Klaebo said. “Emil and I just followed because we didn’t want to gamble.”

    In long races, fortune often hides in such decisions. The snow was changing; the sun had warmed the surface. Fresh skis could have been salvation or ruined a chance at gold.

    “I think it was the right decision,” Klaebo said in the press conference afterwards about the three Norwegians not switching skis.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) makes history as he crosses the line of the Men’s 50 k Classic. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
    Saving Something for the Hill

    Through lap six, Nyenget did much of the visible work. Klaebo shadowed him, conserving every drop of energy he could.

    “I wish I was able to help them a little bit,” he said. “But when they asked me if I could go in front, I said no, because I was too tired.”

    It was not false modesty, Klaebo’s Olympic schedule had been more than the other two and fifty kilometers taxes even those who make winning look inevitable.

    “My plan today was just try to save as much energy as possible,” he said. “I needed to play on my strength… the last few hundred meters.”

    On the final lap, Klaebo came to the front, as if to take measure of the other two Norwegians, but in doing so, he created a gap on Iversen. Was the race for gold now just down to two? The answer was yes, as the rubber band had clearly been snapped for Iversen, who began to drift backwards from the leading pair.

    The decisive moment arrived where many had expected it would: on the Zorzi Climb. On the preceding descent, Klaebo rose from his tuck, adjusted his pole straps, and as they exited the sweeping left-hand turn at the base of the final climb, Klaebo pulled alongside Nyenget before beginning to accelerate. Not explosively — this was the closing act of a two-hour effort — but with the control of someone who knew exactly how much he had left.

    Nyenget followed for a few strides. Then he did not.

    Behind them, Iversen skied alone to bronze, sealing a Norwegian sweep.

    A moment of reflection at the finish for Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR). (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
    A Private Moment

    At the finish, Klaebo crossed the line and sat down alone on the snow. There was no theatrical collapse, only a quiet reckoning.

    “For me, it’s the best feeling, the last 200 meters before I cross the finish line knowing that I’m going to win,” he said.

    This Olympics, he suggested, had been built on deliberate choices, in training, in team structure, in how he and his father organized his life around the sport.

    “He has probably sacrificed as much as I have done,” Klaebo said of his father.

    Sacrifice is not his preferred word. He calls them choices. But the effect is unmistakable: a skier who once seemed specialized has become complete.

    Emil Iversen (NOR) enjoys his bronze medal and the sunshine after a lot of hard work to get back to the front of the sport and this moment. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    Racing in His Time

    For the rest of the field, competing in the Klaebo era carries a strange duality, almost a frustration braided with admiration.

    “Of course, a bit,” Nyenget said when asked whether it is annoying to race alongside him.

    “But it’s more motivating as well. [Klaebo] is pushing us to be better every day.”

    Iversen echoed the sentiment.

    “I think it’s just fun to compete with the best skier ever,” he said.

    Across these two weeks, Klaebo has made dominance look procedural, yet his rivals know the margins are real, the preparation exhaustive. He bristles at the idea that this is inevitable.

    “I like myself way better when I’m winning than when I’m losing,” he said.

    Gus Schumacher (USA) gave everything he had to this sixth race at these Winter Olympic Games. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    The American Effort

    For the United States, the 50 k carried a different emotional weight.

    Gus Schumacher, who had spent the early races in these Games chasing form and momentum before winning silver in the Team Sprint with Ben Ogden, finished 13th. He described the psychological toll of racing in every event.

    “There’s been a pretty heavy mental load the last two weeks,” Schumacher said. “If I’ve got a flame, it was ripping a couple days ago… halfway through the race, it felt like a little candle.”

    He has raced all six events, too, though with different outcomes.

    “I really don’t understand how you can ski 50 k so well and also sprint so fast,” Schumacher said of Klaebo. “I don’t really feel like there’s another athlete in the world that can compare to that scope of athleticism.”

    Hunter Wonders (USA) also pushed his body to its limits in the race. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Hunter Wonders placed 35th and spoke candidly about the physical reckoning.

    “I’m alive barely,” Wonders said. “I didn’t think I was gonna finish there for a little while.”

    Cramps seized him in waves — hips, hamstrings, forearms — and yet he finished.

    “I completed a race that four years ago I was really chomping at the bit to be able to compete in,” he said.

    Antoine Cyr (CAN) “gave everything” to the final men’s race in the Olympics. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
    The Canadian Outcome

    Canada placed two men inside the top 20.

    Antoine Cyr finished 11th, just outside the top 10 he had targeted.

    “I gave it everything,” Cyr said. “It’s such a hard course.”

    He pointed to the Zorzi Climb and the long drag back to the high point of the course after coming through the stadium, efforts that stretch toward six minutes, rare in modern championship layouts.

    “It’s really tough,” he said.

    Thomas Stephen finished 17th, steady and controlled in conditions that demanded patience. While he did not step into the medal conversation, his result underscored the depth Canada has built in distance racing and marks what is possible in future years.

    Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), and Emil Iversen (NOR) (l-r) share the Milano-Cortina Olympic Winter Games 50 k Classic podium in Tesero, Italy. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
    What Remains

    Klaebo plans to rest for a few weeks before racing again in Lake Placid.

    “That’s the plan,” he said.

    There will be time later to measure what six-for-six means, how it reshapes record books, and how it reframes conversations about the greatest Winter Olympians. For now, it exists as a bright fact in the thin mountain air.

    The 50 k endures because it asks the oldest question in endurance sport: what is left?

    On Saturday, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo had something left. Enough to attack on the final climb once more. Enough to once again finish alone down the final meters. Enough to make something mythical and historic feel ordinary and predictable.

     

    Olympic Men’s 50 k Classic – RESULTS

     

    Help Support Our Olympic Coverage!

    FasterSkier will have our own Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics, which, to be honest, is a very big financial lift for us. If you value the thoughtful work and access FasterSkier provides at championships like this one, please consider becoming a Voluntary Subscriber. Your support directly fuels the work we do to cover the people, places, and moments that make our sport special.

    Join the FasterSkier community!

     

    Emil Iversen (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR) come through the stadium to the delight of the crowd. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
  • Schumacher and Ogden claim an Olympic silver built on community

    Schumacher and Ogden claim an Olympic silver built on community

    This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers who have helped put our Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription.

    Ben Ogden, left, celebrates his Olympic silver medal in the team sprint with Gus Schumacher. (Davide Barbieri/Nordic Focus)

    TESERO, ITALY — After Gus Schumacher and Ben Ogden on Wednesday won only the third-ever U.S. men’s medal in cross-country skiing at the Olympics, one of the biggest grins in the stadium was on the face of their teammate, JC Schoonmaker.

    Schoonmaker, who lives in Anchorage and trains with Schumacher at the Alaska Pacific University Club Program, was basking in his teammates’ silver glow. 

    But he was also already starting to dream about when he and Schumacher return home to Alaska, medal in tow.

    “There’s going to be so many juniors out skiing, just so hyped. And that’s the coolest part, I think,” Schoonmaker said.

    Schoonmaker, 25, had his own standout performance at the Olympics, finishing eighth in the individual sprint last week. He said he was himself inspired by the 2018 gold claimed by Americans Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins — underscoring how medals can plant the seeds of future medals. 

    “I liked Nordic skiing,” Schoonmaker said. “But watching that, I was like, ‘I need this.’ That gave me such a drive.”

    Eight years later, Schoonmaker’s teammates will be bringing their own hardware to their homes at far ends of the country — Schumacher to Alaska, and Ogden to Vermont.

    And unlike Diggins, who is retiring at the end of the season, Ogden, 26, and Schumacher are still just getting started — with long careers, and likely more medals, still in front of them. 

    Schumacher has spoken openly about competing through the 2034 Olympics, which will take place on U.S. soil in Utah.

    “You just see these guys, the energy building,” Erik Flora, Schumacher’s coach in Anchorage, said in an interview in Italy after Wednesday’s race. “You have this momentum now.”

    Gus Schumacher and Ben Ogden (USA), (l-r) celebrate finally getting onto the Olympic podium together. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)

    Both American medal winners were talented juniors, with Schumacher featured in news coverage at age 13. And early in their careers, each man found success in the events where they perhaps had more natural talent — Schumacher in longer distance races, and Ogden in shorter-distance sprints.

    The team sprint event that the Americans medaled in Wednesday is unusual in the way it demands both the speed that’s Ogden’s strength, and the fitness that Schumacher is known for. The two athletes, and their coaches, said that the podium performance was a reflection of focused training that Schumacher and Ogden did in an effort to become more well-rounded.

    The work Ogden and Schumacher did to put themselves in medal contention Wednesday didn’t happen overnight, though. It took years, with strong teammates pushing them and elite coaches to advise them — building on a foundation of years more of junior racing and playing on skis with their local clubs, said Matt Whitcomb, a longtime coach of the U.S. team.

    “It’s just not about this last year’s training plan,” he said. “It’s about the very first coach, the support their parents put in, their siblings, the camaraderie there with their friends.”

    Which is one of the things that Whitcomb and other team members say is great about winning an Olympic medal: the chance to share it with everyone who pitched in along the way.

    Ogden, in an interview after his first medal, described feeling anxious as he worked with a press officer to draft an initial Instagram post: What if he forgot to mention someone?

    “It’s so overwhelming to think of all the people you want to thank,” he said. “When the time comes, you’re just like, ‘Oh, my God. This is too many. It’s too hard.”

    He added: “There were so many people that went into that success.”

    Schumacher described feeling the same kind of gratitude as he crossed the finish line Wednesday — for a chance to share his elation with the many teammates, family members and others who were in Italy to witness it in person. 

    Flora, his coach, said that “maybe the best thing about this Olympics is all the people that it touches.” 

    “Everyone that’s been involved. Everyone that’s a fan of skiing, all the coaches that worked with all these people. All the athletes that are buddies and helped push — it’s just a very collective good feeling,” Flora said.

    The Americans still have a few weeks of racing left on the international circuit after the Olympics close Sunday, capped with a final weekend of World Cup racing on home snow in Lake Placid, New York.

    Then, after a chance to celebrate the medals and a few weeks away from training, it will be back to work — likely alongside newly inspired teammates.

    Gus Schumacher and Ben Ogden (USA), (l-r) on the podium showing their silver medals to their fans after the Olympic Men’s Team Sprint. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)

     “Everyone’s going to be so pumped and motivated and just firing, ready to go,” said Schoonmaker, the Olympian who trains with Schumacher in Anchorage. “It’s just going to be sick.”

    Fed by that kind of energy, the Americans were eager to talk about how the results might look different, and better, by the next Games. Schumacher’s charge up the final hill, where he largely kept pace with Norwegian superstar Johannes Høsflot Klæbo — who’s undefeated in five races in Italy — had his coach’s head spinning.

    “To see him put his head down and try to chase him, and he was holding his own, was unbelievable,” Flora said. “That he could fight with Klæbo in the future? I think so.”

    Flora added: “I think he’s just going to get better. We’re just starting to see what the potential is.”

     

    Help Support Our Olympic Coverage!

    FasterSkier will have our own Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics, which, to be honest, is a very big financial lift for us. If you value the thoughtful work and access FasterSkier provides at championships like this one, please consider becoming a Voluntary Subscriber. Your support directly fuels the work we do to cover the people, places, and moments that make our sport special.

    Join the FasterSkier community!

     

  • The Devon Kershaw Show: A Tesero team sprint slugfest

    The Devon Kershaw Show: A Tesero team sprint slugfest

    This episode was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers.  If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription.  

    The highs were high and the lows were low in the Olympic team sprint in Italy, with the Ogden-Schumacher men’s team claiming silver and the Diggins-Kern women’s pair finishing out of the medals. Devon and Nat break the whole thing down.

    We’ll be back after Saturday’s men’s 50 k. Reach us at devon[at]fasterskier.com and nat[at]fasterskier.com. We’re really grateful for all the support during the Olympics — thanks for notes and encouragement.

    A reminder: This is a homegrown podcast done by two guys working long hours and late nights. We’re also paying real money to be here in Italy. If you can, support the show and FasterSkier’s ongoing coverage with a voluntary membership. We’re also offering a bonus during the Olympics: a WhatsApp group with notes on Nat’s experiences in Italy, the food he’s eating, interview transcripts and more.

    Send nat[at]northernjournal[dot]com a confirmation of your voluntary membership and the number he should use for WhatsApp and we’ll get you signed up. You can also Venmo him directly at @nat-herz if a membership isn’t for you. We’re suggesting a minimum of $10, but we also won’t turn anyone away who wants to join because of an inability to pay.

    Help Support Our Olympic Coverage!

    FasterSkier will have our own Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics, which, to be honest, is a very big financial lift for us. If you value the thoughtful work and access FasterSkier provides at championships like this one, please consider becoming a Voluntary Subscriber. Your support directly fuels the work we do to cover the people, places, and moments that make our sport special.

    Join the FasterSkier community!
  • Klaebo’s History, USA’s Glory—Olympic Team Sprint

    Klaebo’s History, USA’s Glory—Olympic Team Sprint

    This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers who have helped put our Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription.

    Gus Schumacher (USA), Ben Ogden (USA) announce the arrival of a new American cross-country tradition. (Photo:  Vanzetta/NordicFocus.)

    PREDAZZO, ITALY — Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo still had something special to do. American skiers still had something special to prove. But the Team Sprint is never as simple as just lining up and racing. Contending nations need to consider the field, rate the strengths and vulnerabilities of their competition, and make a plan to best take advantage of the circumstances. Then they have to ski it . . .

    Not that they needed to, but the Norwegians must have come up with a different plan. For nearly a year—since the straightforward, matter-of-fact Team Sprint victory of Klaebo and Valnes in last year’s World Championships—I’ve been thinking of the Norwegian Team Sprint strategy in only one way: whoever is paired with Klaebo just needs not to get dropped. Stay out of trouble, avoid tangles, respond to the attacks from other teams but don’t allow yourself to be made vulnerable by launching attacks of your (efforts that could, then, be counter-attacked). When considering strategy, picking Klaebo’s partner in this team event seemed like a straightforward selection to make . . . but more than one Norwegian could fit neatly into that role. It’s a role that’s been performed admirably by Valnes in the past, and by Iversen before him (both of them on this year’s Norwegian Olympic Team roster). It’s a role that could have logically been taken on by Harald Oestberg Amundsen, who is both a very fast sprinter and the reigning World Cup Distance champion. All three of them are fast, All three of them are great endurance skiers as well as fine sprinters. None of them would be likely to get dropped by anyone else in the field, and all have a wealth of experience skiing in the should-to-shoulder, rough-and-tumble style of pack racing that is typical of a Team Sprint event. Pick one of those guys, right?

    Not so fast . . .

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo finds himself paired in this Olympic Team Sprint with Einar Hedegart. Hedegart is certainly fast, and it’s rumored that he possesses the highest VO2 Max of any Norwegian athlete (in any sport). That would certainly come in handy if Hedegart’s job was to drop everybody in order to give Klaebo a head start on the anchor leg. But is that even necessary? The Team Sprint finishes on the same hill as the Individual Sprint. Remember that hill? The one that’s made Klaebo famous for his unmatchable 11 mph scamper that’s all over the internet? If you put all the best skiers in the world at the bottom of that hill, and say “go,” Klaebo will win a race to the finish line by a mile. We thought the plan for the Team Sprint would take advantage of that advantage.

    What does teaming with Hedegart get them? Those are questions that someone over in Norway must’ve considered. If Hedegart tries to break away, he makes his team vulnerable to counter-attack . . . and he already showed in the 10 k Freestyle (where he went out way to fast, and bonked like an inexperienced age-grouper) that he may not yet possess a full understanding of pacing. Furthermore, Hedegart possesses nowhere near as much World Cup Sprint experience as Iversen or Valnes or Amundsen. They’re less likely to get stepped on or pushed over or boxed in. With Hedegart—well, he’s fast, but the Norwegians really don’t know what they’re getting.

    On the other hand, Hedegart’s raw speed is what Norway may be seeking. With his bronze medal in the 10 k Freestyle, he showed that he was a fairly even match for the speedy Frenchman, Mathis Desloges (already with three silver medals in these Olympic races). And France is starting Desloges in the first leg of the Team Relay (opposite Hedegart). One way or another, Klaebo’s performance is fairly predictable, so all the significant question marks are swirling around Hedegart.

    Ben Ogden (USA) had one job to do—create the gap. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
    The American Dream

    It seems like the American men also have decided to try out an unexpected strategy. It would have been easy to assume that Team USA might hope to get Ben Ogden—the team’s most accomplished sprinter—into the anchor leg so that he could battle his way to the finish line among the other designated sprinters. A sprint finish for the medals, assign your best sprinter. Right? Maybe not. The US team decided that the anchor leg will be skied by Gus Schumacher, himself no slouch as a sprinter, and an occasional visitor to World Cup  Sprint semifinals and finals. But if Schumacher skis the anchor leg, then he’s likely to find himself sprinting against Klaebo and Federico Pellegrino and Jules Chappaz. Schumacher may not match up too well against those three . . . but if Schumacher is given a lead going into the anchor leg, there aren’t many skiers in the world who can chase him down. Perhaps what USA is counting on is Ogden being able to launch an attack in the penultimate leg that disrupts the other contenders, allowing Schumacher to coast home alone. Klaebo may already be well off the front by then, but who knows? Maybe there’s a medal for the Americans in this strategy that might not otherwise have existed.

    “I was incredibly nervous before today’s race,” said Ogden. “But the parts, the moments where I’m nervous are, like, the lead up, you know? I know that once the race starts, I can just get to this headspace where I can be confident and be strong and be smart with my movements in the group. And that’s a really good feeling.”

    Time to line up and race . . .

    Einar Hedegart (NOR) would need to be both fast, and patient in an event that he had never skied before. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    Men’s Team Sprint

    Unlike the Individual Sprint where the event is raced in heats of six skiers, the Team Sprint is a 15 team melee whose selection of teams is based on the compiled individual qualifying times of each team’s sprinters. Once the final field is decided, they just line ’em up, and say “Go.” With 15 teams charging around the Sprint course, it would seem to be anyone’s race.  Ironically, pre-race ski-pundits would have us believe that the three medals should only be distributed among four teams: Norway, France, Italy, and the USA. But teh efforts, attacks, and foibles of many other teams are likey to have an impact. As other recent relay events have amply demonstrated, there is much that can interrupt all best-laid plans between the prediction and the finish. Soon, either those experts would look like geniuses, or fools.

    Ogden would be compelled to deal with Desloges, Hedegart, and Anger in Leg 1. While the Ogden-strategy may have been to accelerate in his leg—creating a gap that will allow Schumacher to maintain an advantage—Ogden was not likely to pursue the all-out-from-the-gun that Diggins employed in the Women’s Team Sprint. It’s just too athletically expensive to race that way.

    Ogden started front and center of the front row, where he was followed quickly by Austra. The first meters were confusing as Riebli (SUI) needed to scramble to find a replacement pole in just the first few seconds of racing. Ogden and Desloges made the early tempo. The field would begin to stretch out, more out of concern for safety than exhaustion.

    “We did our one thing that we talked about: we were gonna meet on the right hand side of the exchange zone,” said Ogden. “Without fail, every single time we caught we came in on the other side, on the far and had to cross, and had to cross through like 15 people in order to get to our guy on the other side. And it was one of those things where we both honed in on the fact that being on the right hand side of the exchange room was not working. But it was also like, we can’t risk going to the left hand side and having him not see us. So we just had to sort of stick with it. And, you know, made for a couple fast first 20 seconds of the legs to try to catch back up.”

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) will do what he’s going to do. Teams from all other nations will scramble for silver and bronze. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    Leg 2—Klaebo’s fast lane

    Klaebo may not have been happy at being forced to weave through the field after the exchange (and Hedegart’s presence in the crowded scrum of the transition must have been nerve-wracking), but this is not Klaebo’s first rodeo. He made his way easily to the front followed by Pellegrino and Edvin Anger (SWE) who decided he wanted to take the lead. Klaebo and Pellegrino were only too happy to let the confident young Swede do the work.

    “I was trying to save energy and not lead,” said Schumacher. “When you start off out of the stadium and third or fourth, and another line comes up behind you, you’re eighth pretty quickly. And then, yeah, coming into the stadium, there was a big slingshot, and I was sort of like—I don’t know—I felt like I was generally on the wrong side of that . . . I kept my head, stayed calm, which I’m really proud of.”

    “It’s nice to be able to trust Ben,” Schumacher continued. “To tag him far back, and he’ll tag me back in a great spot. And he set me up in that last lap perfectly. Then I had a pretty simple job to do, and I’m really glad I was able to do that.”

    Leg 3—Hedegart’s patience

    Hedegart inherited the lead from Klaebo, but he led at a pace that indicated he was not interested in laying down the law. Not yet, anyway. Hedeagart settled in behind Lauri Vuorinen (FIN) while the field spread out behind them. No real breakaway yet, but the group was beginning to feel the strain. There wouldl be less “trouble” for Hedegart to encounter on the course, but he wasn’t out of the woods yet. All of Norway held its breath.

    Gus Schumacher (USA) has often shown the sort of speed and endurance needed in the anchor leg, but his performances in recent Olympic races left some questions. He answered loud and clear. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)
    Leg 4—Schumacher’s arrival, Desloges’ disasters

    Hedegart had again come through transition with the lead, follwed by Sweden and France. Anger again wanted the front, perhaps hoping to create some gaps of his own. Desloges spent Leg 4 suffering his second broken pole of he day. France was faltering irretrievably, and the field sensed an opening in the medals. Team USA had sat concealed in the field all race, but Schumacher was begining to move forward, and to make his presence felt. Canada shadowed USA. With the field still hanging together, Team USA may have been ready for Ogden’s Leg 5 surge.

    Leg 5—Ogden’s encore

    Just like they may have planned it, there went Ogden leading Hedegart up the significant hill. Hedegart may have possessed the lead, but the USA was putting its plan into effect, as well. While all the leaders remained in contention, it looked like the pre-race script was remaining consistent.

    Celebration at the finish. Ben Ogden (USA) and Gus Schumacher (USA) team up to make history. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
    Anchor Leg—USA!

    Ogden had done his job, as had Hedegart. One lap to go, with Klaebo enjoying a small lead over Schumacher, Anger, and Pellegrino. With only the anchor leg remaining, what USA needed was a skier with flashing speed and bottomless endurance. That’s Gus Schumacher . . .

    “The best way to do that is just go as fast as you can,” said Schumacher. “And I think today I did a good job of just looking forward. Klaebo was gonna ski this fast. If I can stay close to him, I’ll also ski it fast.”

    Schumacher made his way to Klaebo’s tails as Pellegrino dropped Anger. Medals waited on the horizon as Klaebo shifted into top gear on his signature hill. Pellegrino made up ground on Schumacher, but did not close the gap enough to benefit from the draft on the downhill where the field spread out in a test of glide wax and base prep. Gaps held as skiers entered the finishing straightaway where Klaebo wrote Olympic history to become only the second Winter Olympic athlete to win five golds in a single games. Additional history followed in Klaebo’s wake, as Schumacher erupted across the finish line to grab silver for Team USA, his first Olympic medal, and Ogden’s second silver of these Games.

    “Once the race starts, I just race the same way I have since I was five,” said Ogden. “So that’s a really nice feeling. And I think that the test of this championship has like, like, set me up really well to just be confident and leap, (to) control the pace and then go hard and be confident that I could, that I could make some time. So was a good feeling.”

    Pellegrino offered the home-crowd yet another thrill when he crossed the line to deliver his second bronze medal.

    Relief, exhaustion, satisfaction: Federico Pellegrino (ITA) has long carried the weight of Italian expectations. With his second bronze medal of these Olympic Winter Games, Pellegrino is writing the closing chapters of his career con brio e brillantezza. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)

    The legendary American speedskater, Eric Heiden, won every single event on the speedskating card in the Olympic Winter Games of Lake Placid, 1980. Those unprecedented triumphs—from the explosive 500 meter sprint to the brutal 10,000 meter marathon—made it clear that even among the very best in his sport, Heiden reigned supreme. As performers and performances have specialized across all sports, it appeared unlikely that anyone would ever so dominate a sport again. Well, with his own fifth gold medal, Klaebo has proven to be Heiden’s equal. And with one event still remaining in cross-country events at these Olympics, a modern athlete may yet prove the sort of dominance once known only to the great sportsmen of history.

    American sports fans certainly remember Heiden. But today, in Val di Fiemme, the performance that would make hearts beat and souls rejoice—the medal that would see American sports fans leaping from the couch in the middle of the North American night—belonged to Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher, rivals throughout their long careers, teammates for a decade, and partners in the race that earned only the third cross-country skiing medal in America’s Winter Olympic history.

    Bill Koch has long borne the mantle of American cross-country skiing.  He is now joined in that task by more American skiing stars including Jesie Diggins, Ben Ogden, and Gus Schumacher. (Photo: Peter Ashley)

    Way back in 1976, American viewers were glued to the TV sets watching races from Innsbruck, hoping to see Bill Koch win his second Olympic medal. Back then, that’s what we thought would happen . . . win one medal, win another. But while Koch performed admirably in the race that followed his historic silver medal, he did not earn a place on the podium again. Today, in Val di Fiemme, Ben Ogden made a little history of his own, becoming the first American man to earn a second Olympic medal. He did so in a display of grit, of determination, of long-standing cameraderie and cooperation with his longtime teammate, the indefatigable Gus Schumacher who, himself, became only the third American man to claim an Olympic medal.

    Soon, we may stop talking about historic finishes for American skiers. As a team, most of the firsts and onlys now lie behind them. What arrives in their place is legitimacy and respect, and a future that may bring expectation and anticipation in place of mere hopes and dreams. American cross-country has arrived, just in time to establish a bright future when some of its bright stars are preparing to depart the stage. Mission accomplished, plan complete.

    Men’s Olympic Team Sprint RESULTS

     

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    History in hand: Gus Schumacher (USA) and Ben Ogden (USA) hold American silver. (Photo:  Barbieri/NordicFocus)

    Ogden remained refreshingly loose on the podium: “I was giving (Klaebo) some $#!* for the fact that they had the least cool podium outfits,” Ogden recalled. “And then he said, ‘How many golds do you have?’ I was like, well, that’s a good point, but they still have the least cool podium outfits. There can be no denying that . . .”

  • ‘Hard things are what’s cool about sport’: Gus Schumacher on a tough Olympics start

    ‘Hard things are what’s cool about sport’: Gus Schumacher on a tough Olympics start

    American Gus Schumacher competes in his first race at the 2026 Olympic Games at the cross-country ski venue in Tesero, Italy. (Federica Vanzetta/Nordic Focus)

    Gus Schumacher is one of the stars in U.S. cross-country skiing, and he was one of the team’s top medal hopefuls coming into the Winter Olympics in Italy.

    Against the same field that competes at the Games, the Alaskan won a World Cup race in Minnesota in 2024. Then, Schumacher, 25, was on the World Cup podium twice more just last month, in Switzerland.

    So far, though, his Olympics haven’t gone as planned, with tough results in several races. In his first one, he crashed. In the subsequent sprint — one of the disciplines where Schumacher was on the podium last month — he had another tough day, while his roommate and close friend, Ben Ogden, won a silver medal.

    Speaking with media Friday, after his third race, Schumacher bristled, a bit, at a question from a reporter who asked him if, maybe, he was not having the best time at the Olympics. He said he was actually having a good time, and in a good place in spite of his results.

    A day later, reporter Nat Herz asked Schumacher if he’d be willing to expand on his comments — but also offered him an out if he didn’t have more to share. He responded quickly by text: “Let’s do it. I’d rather get a story out there than have people make their own conclusions.”

    Here’s Schumacher in his own words.

    Nat reached out to me yesterday to ask if I was up for an interview. His timing was good, because I almost for sure would’ve said no most of the last six days. The opening of my Olympics has been hard, and processing it has taken time and effort, but I’m so proud to have been able to get through some rough days and be ready to fight again and again.

    For context, my hard races have involved a crash, an anomalous sprint qualifier, and a day where I think my skis had me out of the race in the second half. On top of it, my teammate and one of my best friends did something we’ve all wanted to do for years. I’m stoked for Ben, but it’s also still hard, and that’s fine! The real miss would be an inability to talk it out and move forward to race another day.

    I’m proud of my team, and I’m proud of myself for how I’ve handled a rough start, because this thing isn’t over and I’ve still got skiing to do!!

    Below is a transcript of Schumacher’s conversation with Herz. It’s been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

    Nat: I don’t want to put words in your mouth — so maybe you could start by describing how it’s been for you here?

    Gus: I can set the stage for people who are listening. So I finished this (10-kilometer freestyle race Friday) and I wasn’t even on the results board — I knew I was far back. It was not what I wanted. And (a reporter) said, ‘So, I assume you’re having a really bad week here.’ And I was like, ‘Okay.’ First off, I wasn’t in a great mood then. But I’ve had a lot of things I’m really proud of. And I think, just, blanket statement, horrible week — it just goes to show you can’t really assume how people are feeling, because you don’t know.

    I understand, obviously, yeah: It’s not how I want to be skiing. In that sense, it hasn’t been great. But I wouldn’t just say I’ve had a horrible week, because these things make you better overall.

    Gus Schumacher, left, celebrates his podium finish at a World Cup race in Switzerland last month. (Augustin Authamayou/NordicFocus)

    NH: Can you take us back to the beginning of your time here?

    GS: I fell in the first lap of the skiathlon (the first Olympic race, which features legs in two different techniques, classical and skating). Someone fell right in front of me. There’s just a chain reaction, and maybe I could have put myself in a bit of a different place. I could have set myself up otherwise. But it was a crazy corner. I crashed there, 30 seconds back pretty quickly, and the pace was hot. In hindsight, I wasn’t going to have a chance of catching the leaders, which is where I wanted to be skiing.

    And I skied well — I think the classic went really well. In the skate, I think my motivation flagged a little bit. And I realized I have a lot more racing, and it wasn’t worth it to push super hard to get into 20th or something. But, you know, there were still some good things about how I skied.

    But it’s also still hard to really feel good in that situation, because you’re kind of swimming upstream.

    I left that, and I was just already on the back foot, needing to refocus — basically, not having a super confidence inspiring race, even if I was skiing pretty well. Objectively, it still wasn’t the result that I wanted. And then two days later, in the classic sprint, I didn’t qualify (as one of the top 30, who move into heat rounds), in an event where I’ve been pretty solidly qualifying lately. And I was really far back. I wasn’t in the realm of where I feel like I’ve been skiing lately. So that was another bummer.

    I want to say it was (problems with my) skis. I know there’s not super conclusive evidence of that. But I think that’s the best way for me in a championship to go forward — because I can’t change anything now, and I need to believe in my fitness, and I do. It’s just to say there’s something going on under the feet, and whatever: I’m racing again soon.

    And then (teammate and close friend) Ben (Ogden) got a medal (in the sprint). And that was a crazy event for all of us, especially me. Definitely took some thinking and processing to go through — especially given my tough start. I think I did a great job of getting back to a place where I’m just excited to ski and do what I can do.

    Ben Ogden celebrates his silver medal in the Olympic sprint Tuesday. (Federica Vanzetta/Nordic Focus)

    And then in (Friday’s) 10 k, again, I just really struggled. And I opened well, I feel like I skied really well. And again, something just didn’t line up, didn’t work. And I’m just gonna go with the skis again, basically. I don’t know exactly what it was. I think it probably has something to do with how they were actually pushing, and pressure stuff, which is kind of weird. But for my own sake, for these next races, I do still think I’m skiing well, and my movements are good and my energy is good.

    NH: Fair to say this is about as hard an environment as exists to have to deal with this stuff, though?

    GS: Yeah. In a normal World Cup weekend — and I had this at the beginning of the season, and it was still hard — you’ve just got another race the next weekend. And it’s easy to just say, ‘Yep, first race of the season. Shit luck. We got time.’

    But right now, I’m getting interviewed by NBC before every race. And everything’s going viral on social media. And it’s just a big moment, as people like to say. And it’s when everyone wants to be at their best. Part of what’s so hard about winning the Olympics, or medaling, is just that your timing has to be good. And my timing’s been great before. You know, Minneapolis, I still think, is the craziest timing ever. (In Minneapolis, Schumacher took his first-ever World Cup win when the circuit was on its first swing through the United States in more than two decades.)

    But, yeah, it’s really hard place to deal with tough results. Even if they’re not entirely because of me, or they’re a little bit out of my control, it doesn’t really matter.

    At the end of the day, to all the people that never watch skiing — it sucks, in my head, to feel like all those people won’t recognize me. And I know that’s somewhat vain — but, you know, a lot of this is vain. And there’s a part of me that’s, just — I want to be a ski star. I want to be really good, and I am, and it’s just through the first half of this championship, it hasn’t worked out amazingly. But there’s still time. At the end of the day, I just want to be skiing fast, in general. Skiing fast is what’s fun to me. And it’s cool if it’s at the Olympics — but it’s also cool if it’s at the Tuesday night race (in Anchorage, Schumacher’s home town), in April.

    Gus Schumacher stands with his club coach, Erik Flora, during a training session at the Olympics in Italy. (Nathaniel Herz/FasterSkier)

    NH: I talked yesterday with Ben Ogden about how you guys have been navigating since he won the first men’s Olympic medal in cross-country skiing in half a century — which is something that many of you guys on the men’s team are gunning for, but only one of you got.

    He spoke about how that’s obviously a challenging dynamic, but said you guys have been navigating it really openly. He’s also your roommate here in Italy.

    Can you talk about all that?

    GS: I mean, it’s been, honestly, great. It’s super hard. But having it be Ben is so nice. But he’s so good in that situation.

    Obviously, it’s really cool and big for all of us. But everyone wants to be the guy to break the drought, right? And I, for sure, wanted to be that guy. But I also wanted to win the green bib (of best under-23 skier on the World Cup). And I didn’t do that, because I wasn’t skiing that fast, and he did. And that was really cool, that he did that. And then, I’m sure he wanted to compete (at the World Cup) in Minneapolis, but he got mono, and I won.

    It’s not just Ben and I. (American) JC (Schoonmaker) got the first podium of any of us, and Ben was fourth that day. We all know how it feels to be on the other side.

    Ben came back in the room at 5 p.m., after a one o’clock finish — he’d had a crazy afternoon. I know he had interviews lined up, and I’d just been at home, basically stewing about myself and about the whole situation. And I can’t remember exactly what he said, but the first thing he said, basically, when he came in the room, was: I’ve been thinking about you.

    And that meant so much to me. That he would go through all of this, and enjoy himself — I know he was really enjoying himself, and I would not want him to not enjoy himself — but to have your teammate just immediately recognizing: Yeah, I know how it feels to be on the other side.

    It made it so much easier for me. And I’ve been clear with him, too, that yeah, it’s kind of hard. But I’m also really proud of him, and it’s really cool that he (won silver). One of us needed to do it, and it’s so, so cool that one of us did. And I also really want to be racing faster, and those things can be true together.

    It’s hard. But the hard things are what’s cool about sport, and the Olympics. And the hard times are a lot of what I enjoy about what I do, because I think it makes me a better person. It just makes everything else in life feel so much easier.

    To have a team like this, that can have those conversations and be real about it is so nice. Because obviously, it’s not sunshine and rainbows, no matter what it is. You can love someone with all your heart, and if they get something that you wanted, that you can’t have, or you didn’t get, it’s hard. And I’m really glad we don’t just say, ‘I’m so happy for you. Nothing but tears.’ Because it’s not always true. At least for me, honesty is the best policy. And to be able to air stuff makes it so much easier to just go on with it, and talk about the real things.

    Gus Schumacher and Ben Ogden celebrate a podium finish in a World Cup team sprint event in Switzerland last month. (Augustin Authamayou/NordicFocus)

    NH: Maybe this is touchy, but just to put a fine point on it: It’s not just that you and Ben both wanted a medal, any medal. He won this medal in a specific event that you were also racing in, and could very well have won a medal in.

    GS: Yeah. I mean, watching him, it felt a lot like what I did two weeks ago. (Schumacher finished second in a World Cup sprint race in Switzerland in late January.) He looked amazing, and I felt really good in (Switzerland), and I didn’t even really get tired — and the other guys were sort of tired in that final, and it was so similar.

    So, yeah, it felt like, ‘Fuck, it’d be awesome if that was me.’ But that’s just how it works in sport. Sometimes you’re there, sometimes you’re not. And if it was always the same, it would get boring.

    NH: I’ve been thinking back to the Beijing Olympics four years ago. You had a pretty hard time there, but I wonder if you think it’s right to say that you are experiencing things here in a different way — maybe with more resilience based on that past Olympics experience.

    GS: For sure. Everything I do, I think, makes it easier. But four years ago is, for sure, different — a different type of disappointment. And I’d rather have this one — I’d so much rather be in a true contender seat, where I feel like I have a shot at medals. I’d so much rather have that than not be recognizing my body — not be, just, super tired going up the hills.

    I learned a lot from Beijing, and I got a lot better after that. Mentally, it’s been a really cool experience to go through these emotions, feel them really well, write them down, pay attention to it, and talk to a bunch of people that can think with me. And I can just, sort of, rant, or do whatever, and get through it and be ready for the next one, because that’s what you need to do, when you’re feeling good, especially.

    I’m still feeling good. And it would be such a shame to have a couple bad races and mentally throw in the towel, because it’s hard to draw confidence from a race where you fell in. That’s silly. I can draw confidence from so many things, and that’s what I’m doing. The most recent experience I have, which is the easiest one to go on, is not great. But I’ve got a lot more in the tank to draw from, and I’m really excited to go out there and do what I do.

    NH: Fair to say you feel like you are mentally prepared to show up on the start line of the men’s relay tomorrow with a clear head and some confidence in your fitness?

    GS: Yeah. I think I’m ready to ski with the best, no matter what has happened so far. And that’s where I want to be. And I feel confident that that’s where I am. And I’m really excited to lay it out there for the team tomorrow, because I think we have a really strong team right now. I maybe alluded to, ‘Ben got something that I didn’t get.’ But this Games isn’t over — and we’ve got more Olympics (in four and eight years), too. I feel confident that I’ve still got time, which is nice.

    NH: I think I want to print this just as an unadulterated Q&A. Do you feel good about that?

    GS: Yeah — I think it’s important to talk about some of the hard things. It’s what makes our team strong. And I think it is something that is often so much more helpful than I even know for people to hear. Because a lot of this stuff is pretty applicable not just to sports, but even just day-to-day life.

    Shit happens, and sometimes it happens when you really don’t want it to. You’ve got to move through it, and it’s so much easier said than done. But I think talking about it — and hopefully I shed enough light on it to maybe inspire people, to help them understand — I think it’s a good message. It makes me proud to know that I’m still in the fight because of how I’ve gone about it.

  • A Familiar King: Klaebo Opens Milano Cortina with Skiathlon Gold

    A Familiar King: Klaebo Opens Milano Cortina with Skiathlon Gold

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    Four Norwegian men, including Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), Mattis Stenshagen (NOR), Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), (l-r) set to lead the Men’s 20 k Skiathlon out of the start and begin the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympic Winter Games in Tesero, Italy. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    PREDAZZO, ITALY — The snow in Val di Fiemme had finally settled. After a colder night and a full day’s distance from the most recent snowfall, the surface beneath the men’s skis on Sunday morning felt less negotiable than it had twenty-four hours earlier. It was firmer, faster, and exacting—the kind of track that rewards decisiveness and punishes hesitation. On a course defined by momentum, there would be no neutral moments.

    By the time the leaders crested the Zorzi Climb for the final time, illuminated by the bright northern Italian sun, one truth had been clarified: the Olympic Men’s Skiathlon had not produced a surprise. It had produced a confirmation.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo arrived in Val di Fiemme as the most accomplished skier of his generation, the reigning master of range—sprint speed married to endurance patience, and the man who, one year earlier at the World Championships in Trondheim, Norway, became the first skier ever to win gold in every event. On Sunday, in the opening men’s race of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, he did not reinvent himself. He simply waited, watched, and delivered exactly what the sport has come to expect.

    But the Skiathlon is never only about the man who wins it. It is about where the race breaks, who is caught on the wrong side of that break, and how little time there is to recover once it happens.

    In Val di Fiemme, that truth arrived early—at a fast right-hand corner about two kilometers into the race—and again, more quietly but just as decisively, midway through the skate leg, when a tangle in the pack ended one of Norway’s strongest medal threats.

    An unfortunate early crash took Gus Schumacher (USA) out of a top performance. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Firmer Conditions, Faster Consequences

    The men’s skiathlon opened with a 10-kilometer classic leg, mass start, with athletes seeded by season-long results. It is a procedural detail that becomes strategic fact the moment the gun fires: the highest-ranked skiers line up at the front, while those just behind them must navigate the churn.

    On Sunday, the pace was relentless from the first kilometer. The field stretched quickly as athletes fought for position ahead of the course’s first defining technical feature—a fast right-hand corner roughly two kilometers in, where the trail bottoms out before pitching uphill again.

    It was the same corner where Jessie Diggins fell in Saturday’s women’s race. And once again, it reshaped the day.

    Several skiers went down in the crash, including Edvin Anger (SWE), Zak Ketterson (USA), and Gus Schumacher (USA)—all athletes with legitimate top-ten potential under normal circumstances. The cost of falling there was immediate and severe: not just lost momentum, but lost momentum at the precise moment the leaders were accelerating uphill and creating separation.

    “I was dead last after the fall,” Schumacher said afterward. “Unfortunately, Zak fell right in front of me. It was tight coming into that corner, and I didn’t see what happened to Zak, but into the dropdown I got one ski around him and the other caught and spun me around off track.”

    “I did what I could, but when the people at the front are still going as fast, it’s hard to catch them. All I could do was ski as smoothly as I could for the next 18 k. At that point, it’s an individual race. I feel like I skied well for being back there.”

    Zak Ketterson (USA) was involved in the same crash as Schumacher and was forced to burn many matches early while playing chase, which ultimately proved too costly. He ultimately ended the race in 43rd place. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Ketterson’s version of the same moment underscored how quickly the situation unraveled.

    “I fell on that same corner Jessie Diggins fell on yesterday,” he said. “I was hopeful we’d ski it well, but coming into it everyone started snowplowing and freaking out and someone in front of me fell.

    “I fell pretty hard, but I got back up and just burned so many matches catching back up to the group. I was fighting from there to the finish.”

    Ahead of them, the race did not wait.

    Xavier McKeever (CAN) had, what he described, the race of his life. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Control Without Calm

    With the early chaos, the classic leg splintered the field. A front group formed, thinned, and re-formed, the pace steady enough to discourage attacks but high enough to extract a cost from anyone forced to chase.

    For the U.S. team, there was at least one quiet positive. Head coach Matt Whitcomb felt far better about ski preparation than he had the day before.

    “We had, in general, very competitive skis today,” Whitcomb said.

    But ski quality can only matter if contact is maintained.

    “When you get taken out of contact with the leaders,” Whitcomb said, “the people you’re drafting off of are slower than the leaders. It’s kind of negative compounding—you just drift away.”

    By the time the top eight skiers entered the stadium for the ski exchange at the end of the classic leg, the race had already begun to select for those who could tolerate discomfort without revealing it. Among them were Norway’s Mattis Stenshagen, who soon faded, France’s emerging depth, and Klaebo himself—observant and patient.

    Then the skis changed, and the race revealed its teeth.

    Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR) got tangled with Savelii Korostelev (AIN), which caused him to fall and lose contact with the lead pack. Korostelev managed to stay on his feet and was able to earn a fourth place. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)

    A Quiet Turning Point in the Skate Leg

    The opening kilometers of the freestyle leg altered the race more subtly, but no less decisively.

    At approximately 11.5 kilometers, Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR)—who had positioned himself exactly where Norway would want him entering the skate portion—tangled skis with Savelii Korostelev (AIN). Amundsen went down. The lead group did not.

    He remounted quickly, but the elastic had snapped. His chance to fight for a medal in the opening race of the Games was gone.

    For Norway, a team that has dominated the men’s World Cup season at times filling nearly the entire top ten, it was a small moment with outsized implications.

    Hugo Lapalus (FRA), Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), Savelii Korostelev (AIN), Mathis Desloges (FRA), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), (l-r) formed the lead pack and became the group that would battle for the podium. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Desloges, a Yellow Card, and a Protest That Went Nowhere

    As the race accelerated, Mathis Desloges (FRA) briefly found himself leading at the end of the first skate lap. In a moment of confusion, he mistakenly turned into the ski exchange lane before cutting back through the V-boards and rejoining the course.

    The detour shortened his route by only a few meters and offered no meaningful advantage. The race jury issued Desloges a yellow card warning and allowed the result to stand.

    After the race, AIN filed a protest, arguing that the infraction should result in disqualification and elevate Korostelev, who finished fourth, to the bronze medal position. The jury rejected the protest.

    Desloges framed the day not around controversy, but around progression.

    “I’m very happy,” he said. “The preparation was very good. Two years ago today, I became [the U23 World Champion], and now it’s different. I’m better than two years ago.

    “This medal is for my family, for my friends, and for everyone on the French team—the staff and my family.”

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) delivered a spectacular move on the Zorzi Climb that opened up a large gap in the final kilometer. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)

    Klaebo on the Zorzi Climb

    There are moments in ski racing that feel preordained—not because they are inevitable, but because the athlete who executes them has taught the sport to expect them.

    Klaebo’s move on the Zorzi Climb belonged to that category.

    He waited. He measured. And then, on the final ascent, he applied a pressure no one else in the group could answer. The gap opened quickly, almost unbelievably so if he had not done the same thing so many times before, and by the time the course tipped back toward the stadium, the Olympic gold medal was no longer in doubt. Klaebo came to the finish with enough margin to ease up, take off his poles, and ski the final meters, celebrating in front of the stadium crowd.

    For Klaebo, the performance was the product of both familiarity and tension.

    “The last couple of days have been nerve-racking,” he said. “I’ve had a very high resting heart rate these days. I’ve been very nervous, but this is my third Olympics, so you get a little bit of experience. This is a track and course that we know a lot from previously—we’ve done a lot of World Cups here.”

    When the skis changed and the race accelerated, that experience showed.

    “I had good skis, my body felt good,” Klaebo said. “It’s always good to start a championship in good shape.”

    One year removed from his historic sweep in Trondheim, Klaebo arrived in Val di Fiemme carrying questions that extended well beyond a single race. Six gold medals are available in Milano Cortina. No man has ever won them all.

    “We’ll see,” Klaebo said. “I’m going to take one race at a time. But it’s a pretty good start. With the weather and the crowds, it was amazing out there.”

    Mathis Desloges (FRA) and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), (l-r) come down the finish stretch battling for the silver and bronze medal. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)

    Nations in Contrast

    France: Depth and Belief

    If Norway remains the benchmark, France is no longer content to chase quietly.

    Desloges acknowledged Norway’s status entering the race, but did not concede anything beyond the present tense.

    “The French athletes are very strong,” he said. “Of course, the Norwegian guys are also very strong, but I believe we can be better. Today, I’m very good, and I’m happy.”

    France backed up that belief with the most comprehensive team performance of the day, placing second, fifth, ninth, and fifteenth.

    “We see the French team on a similar level as our team,” Whitcomb said. “When we have success, they’re one of the first teams to congratulate us. They’re just a really passionate group, and we love to see them succeed.”

    Hugo Lapalus (FRA) and Mathis Desloges (FRA) celebrate an unbelievable day for France. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Norway: Gold, Bronze—and Perspective

    For Norway, the medal count told only part of the story. A gold and a bronze would thrill nearly any other nation, but the context surrounding this team—deep enough to leave world-class skiers at home—made the result feel more measured.

    Bronze medallist Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), racing his first Olympic event, framed the day not as a shortfall, but as an arrival.

    Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), Harald Oestberg Amundsen (NOR), and Mattis Stenshagen (NOR), (l-r) all entered the day with hopes of an Olympic medal for Norway; two delivered, two did not. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)

    “I’m really happy and proud,” Nyenget said. “It’s a result of training, but also of time away from family and a lot of hard mental work. The past days and weeks, I’ve been nervous, so it’s good to be done with my first Olympic race.

    “To have this first race in this atmosphere, with these blue skies, and have my wife and little kid in the stadium somewhere—it’s a really good day.”

    Asked whether gold and bronze constituted a satisfactory outcome, Nyenget was direct.

    “I think so,” he said. “We have some really high pressure. We’ve been doing crazy good in the World Cup, but usually in championships, all racers are at their very best. You see today that there is strong competition from the French, and we took two podium places. It’s good.”

    After the fall Gus Schumacher (USA) spent the day racing his way through the field, eventually finishing in 24th place. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)

    United States: Disappointed, Not Discouraged

    For the U.S. team, the early crash changed everything.

    Schumacher and Ketterson were forced into playing chase. Zanden McMullen, who avoided the crash, felt the day slip away in the skate leg.

    “Today’s race was not great, but not horrendous,” McMullen said. “I felt really good in the classic leg and then I don’t know what happened in the skate portion. I was cramping up quite a bit and just didn’t have it.”

    Hunter Wonders (USA) on his way to 31st place. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Hunter Wonders, making his Olympic debut, focused instead on the scale of the task.

    “It was hard,” Wonders said. “It was a hard course with tricky conditions. The skiathlon is difficult because it mixes up the muscle groups you use and takes a second to transition, but it was fun. Great Olympic debut.”

    Whitcomb struck a measured tone.

    “I’m feeling good, not great,” he said. “Slightly disappointed, but not discouraged. Nothing about that feels negative to me. This is just one of the days of the Games, and now it’s behind us.”

    Xavier Mckeever (CAN) fighting for a top ten, eventually finishing in 13th place. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    Canada: The Race of a Lifetime

    For Canada, the day belonged to Xavier McKeever, who finished 13th after spending much of the race on the edge of the top ten.

    “Oh man—that was incredible,” McKeever said. “I can’t believe what just went down, to be honest.”

    He described a race that improved with each kilometer.

    “I felt like I skied it really smart—tried to conserve as much energy as possible—and I just felt better and better,” he said. “The skate felt really good, which is sweet, because that’s usually a weak spot for me.”

    Mid-race, the realization crept in.

    “You can’t really comprehend what’s going on,” McKeever said. “You’re just like, ‘Holy crap, I’m here right now, fighting for top ten.’ It’s surreal, but you’ve got to focus on the race.”

    The result carried deeper meaning.

    “To be honest, I was about a foot away from not making this Olympic team,” he said. “To come here and have the best race of my life so far on the first day at the Olympics—I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

    Mathis Desloges (FRA), Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR), and Martin Loewstroem Nyenget (NOR), (l-r) share the Olympic Men’s 20 k Skiathlon podium in Tesero, Italy. (Photo: Vanzetta/NordicFocus)

    One Race Down

    The skiathlon rarely offers mercy, and Val di Fiemme offered none.

    There will be more races, more chances, and more medals to chase. Klaebo will insist he is taking this one race at a time. Everyone else will count.

    On firmer snow, with no ambiguity left beneath the skis, the hierarchy revealed itself plainly—and the Olympic Winter Games began exactly where cross-country skiing so often does: with Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo setting the standard.

     

    Olympic Winter Games – Men’s Skiathlon – RESULTS

    On the ground reporting by FasterSkier’s Nat Herz.

     

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    Even Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo (NOR) gets excited to win an Olympic Winter Games gold medal. (Photo: Barbieri/NordicFocus)
  • Olympics face new blowback from skiers, activists over oil sponsorship

    Olympics face new blowback from skiers, activists over oil sponsorship

    This article was made possible through the generous support of our voluntary subscribers. If you value coverage like this, please support FasterSkier with a voluntary subscription.

    The Olympics are facing criticism from athletes and climate activists over sponsorship by ENI, Italy’s state-controlled oil company. (Nathaniel Herz/FasterSkier)

    PREDAZZO, ITALY — Two months before the Winter Olympics were set to kick off in Italy, the torch relay, carried by runners from Greece to the Olympic venue, made an unusual stop: the headquarters of Italian oil giant ENI, where an executive from one of the company’s lower-carbon subsidiaries acted as a torch bearer.

    The event tied in with what’s become, in recent days, a controversial endorsement deal — one that made ENI a “premium partner” of the Olympics at a time when athletes and fans are increasingly calling on winter sports organizers to renounce fossil fuel sponsorship.

    The company is also hosting the “ENI Winter Village” in Milan during the Olympics. Visitors can test out a snowboard simulator, have a virtual snowball fight and try an urban cross-country ski trail made with “innovative polymers” produced by ENI’s chemical company that “makes skiing possible in the city.”

    Nikolai Schirmer, a Norwegian extreme skier and YouTuber who’s helping lead a campaign called Ski Fossil Free, said it makes no sense for athletes and events dependent on snow to be advertising for the businesses whose products, through the greenhouse gases emitted by their combustion, pose an existential threat to winter sports and future Olympics, said 

    “Winter sports, right now, are like a string quartet on the Titanic, playing as the ship is sinking,” Schirmer said. “Not only that, they’re advertising for icebergs while they’re doing it.”

    Nikolai Schirmer is a Norwegian extreme skier known for his human-powered ascents. He also has a law degree and once spent a winter living in Alaska. (Nathaniel Herz/FasterSkier)

    Schirmer, 35, spoke in an interview Wednesday outside the main media center in Milan, just after he’d delivered a stack of more than 20,000 petition signatures to Olympics officials. 

    His campaign — endorsed by Olympians like Alaskan cross-country skier Gus Schumacher and Greenlandic biathlete Ukaleq Slettemark — is making what Schirmer describes as a very modest ask: that the Olympics and the umbrella organization that coordinates global ski competitions, the International Ski Federation, examine the ethics of winter sports taking money from fossil fuel companies and draft a report.

    A separate letter calling for the Games to reject future fossil fuel sponsorships, with current and former Olympian signatories, is set to be released in the coming week, said the Swedish cross-country skier who coordinated it, Björn Sandström. And Greenpeace, the international environmental advocacy group, has debuted its own protest video showing animated Olympic skiers, skaters and bobsledders being washed away by a flood of crude oil.

    In past years, climate campaigners have disrupted top-level cross-country ski races in Europe. And in 2025, they threatened a demonstration at the World Championships in Norway over sponsorship by state oil company Equinor — though they ultimately stood down after a group of top athletes agreed to press ski race organizers for more stringent sponsorship guidelines.

    International Olympic Committee officials, asked at a Wednesday news conference about Schirmer’s initiative, praised athletes for speaking up, with President Kirsty Coventry saying they “have a platform to speak up, and to say, ‘Hey, these are the things that we want to see you do better.’”

    “We’re always going to try to be better, and ask our stakeholders to be better,” said Coventry, a former Olympic swimmer. “But that also takes time.”

    Committee officials also pointed to sustainability efforts for this winter’s Games: renewable electricity at venues, a fleet of cars that includes 21% electric vehicles, and more than 20,000 pieces of recycled furniture from the last Summer Olympics. 

    But Christophe Dubi, the Olympics executive director, did not respond directly to the petition’s request.

    “We have to recognize one thing: Climate is a challenge for all of us,” Dubi said. “As sport, as well, we’re not immune to those climate challenges, and we have to hear voices.”

    Officials from state-controlled ENI did not respond to requests for comment. The company told Reuters in a statement that it shares “the importance of addressing climate change” and will continue investing in renewables to hit its net‑zero emissions target by 2050.

    At the Games in Italy, numerous athletes have arrived with stories about witnessing the loss of winter and snow.

    U.S. downhill star Lindsey Vonn, at a separate news conference this week, said she’s seen, firsthand, “what global warming has done.”

    “I’ve been skiing on glaciers since I was nine years old,” said Vonn, 41. “And most of the glaciers that I used to ski on are pretty much gone.”

    Another U.S. athlete who has engaged in climate advocacy for several years, 25-year-old Gus Schumacher, lived through some mostly snowless winters growing up in Alaska; he’s also endorsed Schirmer’s campaign.

    U.S. cross-country skier Gus Schumacher. (Federico Modica/Nordic Focus)

    “We want to be able to ski, and want to be able to ski on natural snow, because that’s the best way to do it,” Schumacher said in an interview. “And I don’t want to support companies that are adding fuel to that not being a possibility.”

    Fossil fuel companies like ENI are using their association with events like the Olympics to help burnish their image and diminish public pressure to more quickly transition away from fossil fuels, argued Schirmer.

    ENI is using its Olympics sponsorship to advertise sustainability and renewable energy focused business lines. But its oil production has grown in recent years — and is set to keep growing through 2030. The company’s biofuels and renewables companies still bring in less than one-tenth of the earnings as its oil and gas holdings — though its chief executive last year told the Financial Times that profits from the green energy businesses should be equal to those from hydrocarbons by 2035, and exceed them by 2040.

    “The Olympics are willingly greenwashing ENI — an energy still heavily invested in fossil fuels,” Schirmer said. “And it doesn’t look like that’s going to change any time soon. So, in my mind, it looks like the Olympics, and organized skiing and snowboarding, are promoting their own demise.”

     

    Help Support Our Olympic Coverage!

    FasterSkier has our own Nat Herz on the ground at the Olympics, which is a significant financial lift for us. If you value the thoughtful work and access FasterSkier provides at championships like this one, please consider becoming a Voluntary Subscriber. Your support directly fuels our work to cover the people, places, and moments that make our sport special.

    Join the FasterSkier community!