Ben Ogden won silver in the men's cross-country skiing sprint Tuesday at the Milan Cortina Olympics, becoming just the second U.S. man ever to win an Olympic cross-country skiing medal and the first in 50 years.
Bill Koch, a fellow Vermonter, won silver in the 50k classic at the Innsbruck 1976 Winter Games. Ogden actually grew up in the Bill Koch Youth Ski League and has skied with Koch.
With his fantastic classic technique, Ogden surged to silver with a time of three minutes and 40 seconds. Norwegian Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won his seventh Olympic gold medal with a time of three minutes and 39 seconds, and his teammate Oskar Opstad Vike won bronze in his Olympic debut.
From the start, Ogden was on fire and set the second fastest time in qualifications. In the quarterfinals, Klaebo utilized his energy-saving strategy. In another heat, Ogden surged from second to first by hitting the gas on the incline and leaving the other skiers behind.
In the narrowed field of the semifinals, Klaebo trailed Ogden at the start of the race before sprinting forward. Ogden and Finland's Lauri Vuorinen fought for second with a photo finish giving the win to Vuorinen. Ogden advanced to the finals as the fastest "lucky loser."
Three of the American men qualified for the sprint classic. In the semifinals, JC Schoonmaker waited until after the climb to use the draft for a late surge, but he did make the finals.
The Swedish sprint sweep
Team Sweden swept the podium in the women’s sprint classic. Linn Svahn won gold with a time of four minutes and three seconds, Jonna Sundling won silver, and Maja Dahlqvist place won bronze.
All four of Team USA's women — Jessie Diggins, Sammy Smith, Lauren Jortberg, and Julia Kern — qualified for the sprint classic quarterfinals. After the qualification, Diggins told NBC Sports she had bruised her ribs in the skiathlon event. In her quarterfinal heat, she started strong but couldn’t push through due to her injured ribs.
In the quarterfinals, the top two finishers automatically qualify. Kern advanced to the semifinals and then the finals as a “lucky loser,” a progression rule that allows the two fastest 3rd-place finishers that did not win their heats overall to move forward. Kern's solid and hopeful performance placed her 6th overall in the women's sprint.