One of the best chances for an Olympic medal from Alaska athletes is coming up Wednesday.
Anchorage cross-country skier Gus Schumacher is paired with Vermonter Ben Ogden in the team sprint at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic games, and the two Americans are expected to vie for a podium.
Schumacher and Ogden are good friends. But they’ve had very different Olympics so far, with Ogden winning a silver medal and Schumacher struggling to reach his potential.
Anchorage reporter Nat Herz is in Italy, and he talked to Alaska Public Media's Casey Grove about what’s turned into an interesting story about team dynamics and managing expectations.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Casey Grove: So, Nat, maybe let's start by setting up this race very early Wednesday, and why it's worth paying attention to.
Nat Herz: Yeah, I mean, quite honestly, there are a lot of reasons you can watch the Olympics, but I think one of the reasons people watch the Olympics is to see who wins the medals. And I think in this race, there's quite a decent shot that we see one of Alaska's own, Anchorage-raised Gus Schumacher, win a medal in cross-country skiing.
And Gus and his teammate, Ben Ogden, are both really strong. They have sort of complementary strengths. Ben has traditionally been more of a faster sprinter-type guy. Gus has been more of a longer distance-type guy but also shown some real speed recently. And paired together on what's expected to be a really challenging course, they make a really solid team. This is actually one of the most exciting events of the Olympics. I think it's one where there are always surprises and dark horses and stars can be born and stuff like that. So really looking forward to this one.
CG: Yeah, it does sound, though, like there have been some doubts about Schumacher, the star American skier from Anchorage, and whether he'd be there, is that, right?
NH: Yeah, I don't actually know if there was consideration given to not putting Gus Schumacher on the team. The coaches hold their cards pretty close to the vest. Schumacher looked really strong just before the Olympics in the last set of races against basically the same field, before the games started. He was on the podium, but then in his first two races here, it was a really rough go. He had a crash that took him out of contention. He didn't really perform well in the next race. And then, meanwhile, this guy, Ben Ogden, who's from Vermont but a longtime teammate and close friend of Schumacher's, had basically the best race of his life, and he won a silver medal in the individual sprint race. Not only that, but Ogden and Schumacher are rooming together, which you can imagine actually presents some pretty complicated emotional territory.
CG: Yeah, complicated emotional territory. Tell me more about that.
NH: Yeah, I mean, if you think about it, it's like both of these guys are the same age, they're peers, they're essentially chasing the same athletic goal their whole lives. One of you has the best day of your life. The other is watching, had a not great day, performance-wise, and has to see their teammate basically deliver on this goal that both of you had.
I think it's kind of obvious stuff but also pretty sensitive and something you have to kind of reflect on to sort of realize how significant that dynamic is. You know, Gus had definitely not been in the best mood, coming through after the race, to talk to reporters. I think very reasonably it didn't seem like a great time right after these tough results to plumb the depths of his psyche. So I waited a few days, asked if he wanted to talk, and he surprised me by saying yes. And so here's what he had to say about Ben Ogden winning a medal when, you know, Gus Schumacher himself was having a tough day:
Gus Schumacher: 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.
NH: So, yeah, again, this is a guy talking really directly about hard emotions with his teammates, which is not stuff I think you normally hear, honestly, from athletes in this kind of context, where everyone's just trying to be pro and move past this kind of stuff. But it was really interesting to hear how these guys handled it. Ben Ogden, who won the individual sprint medal, he's actually known for just being beloved by everyone in the sport of cross-country skiing. And here's how Schumacher described what happened later that day that Ogden won the medal, once Ogden got back to the hotel:
GS: I just been at home basically stewing about myself and about the whole situation. And the first thing he said, basically, when he came in the room, was like, "I've been thinking about you," and that meant so much to me, like, that he would go through all of this and basically recognizing, "Yeah, I know how it feels to be on the other side."
NH: So you can really hear the level of directness and honesty there from two teammates, which I think is actually pretty rare, at least to see it publicly, and it shows a lot about how much work goes into managing these intense expectations and pressures and relationships that all kind of swirl around an event as big as the Olympic Games.
CG: Yeah, that is interesting. So, now, what happened next?
NH: Well, I think Schumacher had a lot of work to do after those first couple races to move past them. But he did that work and spoke about how he thought those kind of challenges in the first races were probably related to problems with his skis and his ski wax. And then in this distance relay event we had a few days ago, Schumacher was pretty much back to his normal self. He was mixing it up with the very best in the sport, and now he's been chosen as one member of this really elite two-person team to compete in this team sprint with Ogden, the medal winner.
CG: Now, how good are their chances at medaling really?
NH: Yeah, it's a good question. I'm glad I don't have to bet. I think Ogden and Schumacher are actually ranked second out of all 27 teams on the startlist, and I think this event really does favor them pretty well. But Norway has two insanely strong skiers: Johannes Klæbo who's won gold in literally every event so far, and he's paired with this upstart guy, Einar Hedegaard. They're basically a lock to win, unless there's a lightning strike or five crashes.
And then there are a few other really strong teams. There's Italy and France and Switzerland. Italy's anchor is this legendary sprinter named Federico Pellegrino, who's not just fast, but he's also really fit and can hold this for a long time. And then France's team has this guy, Mathis Desloges, who's really young but has been absolutely on fire at the Olympics. He has three silver medals here already, so it's gonna be really tough battle, but I think Schumacher and Ogden will be in the mix.
CG: Nat, the American cross-country ski team has some history with surprises in this event, but on the women's side, right?
NH: That's a good point. Yeah, Casey, you are correct. Back in 2018, we saw Alaskan Kikkan Randall pair with now-superstar Jessie Diggins from Minnesota to win gold in the team sprint at the Olympics in South Korea in a fairly surprising, unexpected way. And, you know, that really capped Kikkan Randall's career. She's now working as a broadcaster on NBC at this Olympics. And it really launched Jessie Diggins' career. That was sort of a star-is-born moment for her. And so I think that is a good sort of example of just how anything can happen in this race.
CG: Yeah, definitely. And then this men's team sprint — again, early Wednesday — with Anchorage's own Gus Schumacher paired up with Vermonter Ben Ogden, sounds like one that's definitely worth tuning in for.
NH: I will be watching, but it does not entail as early a wake up for me as it would for everyone back in Alaska. So pick your poison.
