For much of the past century, the prospect of Americans winning Olympic medals in cross-country skiing seemed about as likely as Norway taking over baseball.
The sport was so closely woven into the fabric of Nordic culture that U.S. skiers knew they started every race as mere afterthoughts. Since cross-country was introduced at the Games in 1924, more than 500 medals have been awarded. Only one had gone to an American.
But in the space of nine days this week, Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher doubled that haul by grabbing two of the most stunning underdog medals of the Milan Cortina Olympics. Ogden took silver in the individual sprint on Feb. 10, before combining with Schumacher on Wednesday for silver in the team sprint.
Those medals seemed to come out of nowhere. They were actually almost a decade in the making.
Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics – Cross-Country Skiing – Men’s Team Sprint Free Victory Ceremony – Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium, Lago, Italy – February 18, 2026. Silver medallists Gus Schumacher of United States and Ben Ogden of United States celebrate with their medals during the victory ceremony REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Back in 2018, Ogden and Schumacher had broken through with a silver in the men’s 4×5-kilometer relay at the Junior World Ski Championships. That was the same year that Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins combined to win Team USA’s first ever Olympic gold medal in cross-country skiing.
“They came up in an era where American skiers can be good,” Randall said.
As it turned out, Ogden and Schumacher were living in the exact right places and stepping into their cross-country skis at the exact right time. Ogden grew up near Stratton, Vt., training on the same trails as Diggins. The mullet-rocking Schumacher was raised in Anchorage, Alaska, skiing for the same club as Randall. But even they couldn’t have imagined Randall and Diggins winning their miraculous Olympic relay gold until they watched it happen in Pyeongchang.
“I would like to see us get to where the girls are,” Schumacher said then.
Until that point, it’s almost impossible to overstate how far behind the Nordics the Americans were.
They were fighting an uphill battle in a sport that already requires them to sprint up a mountain. Norway and Sweden arrived at races with double-decker wax trucks and fleets of expert technicians. The U.S. waxers had a cargo van. The Scandinavians were fueled by chefs and nutritionists. The Americans cooked their own meals.
Things began to evolve when Randall and Diggins reached the podium on the World Cup circuit in the 2010s. And they really started to change when subpar waxing cost Randall a medal at the 2014 Olympics. It’s not a coincidence that the Americans have won six of their seven medals in history since that moment.
“Like, ‘Oh, we can clearly see this is something that resources can fix,” Randall said.
“Right there, that momentum started.”
When donors pooled around $750,000 to upgrade the waxing, the team welcomed Yolanda, a custom-built lorry with eight work stations, binders of waxing data, more than 600 skis and a snack table filled with cheese.
After Ogden and Schumacher’s impressive win as juniors in 2018, Team USA pulled out its calendar and circled 2026—the next Olympics when the team sprint would be contested in their preferred free style. For years, Randall told anyone who would listen, “I am picturing us dancing on a rooftop in Val di Fiemme celebrating a men’s relay medal.”
That vision inspired a $5 million anonymous donation in 2018 to cover the cross-country team’s budget for the next five years. With that funding, the team added a full-time nutritionist, massage therapists and a new ski-service truck affectionately known as Nelly.
It also bought a machine for grinding skis, which is like putting tread on tires. The Scandinavians who dominate the sport have had their own grind machines for decades. Only last season did the Americans install one in their truck.
“We’re seeing medals come out of that truck,” said Eli Brown, Ogden’s wax technician.
Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics – Cross-Country Skiing – Men’s Sprint Classic Final – Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium, Lago, Italy – February 10, 2026. Ben Ogden of United States celebrates after finishing second place in the Men’s Sprint Classic Final. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
Now that they have three here—Diggins took bronze in the 10-kilometer interval start—Team USA expects more. Though Diggins is retiring after this season, Schumacher and Ogden are both in their mid-20s, several years from the age when cross-country skiers typically peak.
“They’re just hitting their stride,” Randall said.
