As competitors, Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher go back about a decade. They first competed against each other at the cross-country skiing junior nationals in Truckee, California, but lived far apart in Alaska and Vermont.
In those early years, they would race by using each other as the standard for what pace they should target.
“I distinctly remember back in the day, like, doing extra pull ups during stretch thinking about Gus,” Ogden said.
“Definitely got me through a few extra pushups, yeah, [thinking] about how Ben was doing,” Schumacher added.
The years of friendship and racing together enabled both men to develop confidence in one another. It’s created trust that goes both ways.
Before the men’s cross-country skiing team sprint free at the Milan Cortina Games, Ogden was the most nervous he has ever been for a ski race because he knew his teammate was counting on him. Neither he nor Schumacher could eat breakfast. As the race started at the Tesero Cross-Country Stadium, that pressure turned into motivation which morphed into enjoying themselves.
“If I have a good day and Gus has a good day, I know that that's enough,” Ogden said. “And that's a really nice feeling going into a team event.”
Trial & Error
The team sprint at the Milan Cortina Winter Games had been marked on the U.S. cross-country ski team’s calendar for years. According to Ogden, it’s been a tough event for the team to crack.
“We've had the fitness, and we've had the speed to get it done, but we've just struggled a lot in the chaos of the rounds," he said. "We've had crashes and broken poles, and we've had bad positioning and all this stuff.”
At the World Cup competition in December in Davos, Switzerland, the team hoped to have a good race in preparation for the Olympics. But things didn't go their way.
“Davos was just a mess," Ogden said. "Gus got sick the morning of the race and didn't end up going. And then I crashed in the qualification, and our team didn't even make the round. So it was just another blow to our confidence in the team sprint format.”
The team didn’t let it get them down. In January, at the World Cup race in Goms, Switzerland, Ogden and Schumacher earned the first-ever podium for the U.S. in the men’s team sprint.
It was a preview of what was to come at the Olympics in Italy. Norway’s Harald Oestberg Amundsen and Einar Hedegart came in 1st, and Italy’s Elia Barp and Federico Pellegrino came in 2nd. Schumacher crossed the finish line just 0.82 seconds behind Pelligrino.
“The Goms one was partly nerve-wracking, because it was so similar to the Olympic one. The course was pretty hard, and people were starting a lot of their best teams,” Schumacher said. “So, it's sort of like, if we can't do well now, it was going to be hard to be confident.”
Because of his distance stamina, Schumacher had mostly been the first-leg skier throughout his career. But in Goms, their coach decided to switch things up.
It worked. After years of trial and error, the U.S. men’s cross-country skiing team had cracked the men’s team sprint.
Dialed Up at the Olympics
Schumacher went so hard in the qualifying round that he threw up afterward. It was tough, but he finished his qualification lap in 2 minutes, 52.81 seconds.
In the team event, a good qualification time is crucial for a good position in the finals. The duo's combined time (5:45.72) was 2.67 seconds better than Norway's, moving the Americans into the top position.
“You obviously can't read too much into it, because the race, the actual race, isn't even started, but it's nice to have the ‘Okay, we're doing all right today, and we've got a job to do now,’” Schumacher said.
In the first half of the race, Team USA’s ranking ebbed and flowed after each exchange. Even though it wasn’t his plan, Schumacher conserved energy on his first two laps. Ogden did his part to push through the pack and ultimately chase Norway’s Hedegart.
This set up Schumacher to go ski-to-ski with the most-decorated cross-country skier of all time, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo.
“Honestly, I was just trying to follow the red suit. You know that he's fast, and if you can be as close to him as possible, that's gonna guarantee the best outcome,” Schumacher said. “I was pretty psyched to be able to close the gap to him right in the beginning, take a little breather in a way behind him, just drafting. I'm really proud of how I skied that last hill.”
Schumacher matched Klaebo’s pace until they reached the Norwegian's signature climb, and the was furthered. Up until the finish line, Schumacher went stride for stride for a finish line time just 1.37 seconds behind Norway.
"In the last lap, everyone was at full speed," Klaebo said afterward. "It could’ve been a harder race, but for me it was perfect, and I had some power left at the end."
Finish-Line Friendship
A team cross-country skiing event combines the strengths and weaknesses of two skiers.
It can bring two friends, teammates, and competitors together, to create an exciting race result. In the men's team sprint free, Ogden and Schumacher experienced hectic tags, decisive moves through the pack, and went up against fierce competition on the Olympic stage. It was a race where two teammates motivated each other to not give up, no matter where they were ranked in the field.
What comes next will be the race memories, the celebrations, and the accolades. Ogden will remember it as "probably the most fun race I've ever done," because he didn't do it alone.
As Schumacher crossed the finish line Ogden greeted him with an exuberant tackle. They had the U.S. cross-country skiing men’s first silver team sprint medal, and they had a great time doing it.
“You can be real with each other. And that makes it easy to just be yourself on the racecourse,” Schumacher said.
"Totally, just ski fast and hard," Ogden agreed. "It's a pretty nice position to be in."