The pair of Jessie Diggins and Julia Kern will aim to cruise into podium position in the women’s team sprint, while Klaebo Joahnnes Hoesflot and Einar Hedegart will try to capture another gold for Norway in the men’s team sprint on Wednesday at the Milan Cortina Games. 

At the Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium in Val Di Fiemme, Italy, two-member teams will compete for the fastest time using the freestyle technique. In the qualification, each skier does one lap and their times are added together. The 15 fastest teams advance into the final, where a two-person team skis six laps (three laps each alternating) around 1.5km (0.93-mile) for a total of 9km (5.6 miles). 

In the women’s final, 26 teams are competing and are expected to finish in about 18 minutes. In the men's final, 27 teams are competing and are expected to finish in about 17 minutes. The team whose anchor crosses the finish line first wins.

At this event at the 2018 PyeongChang Games, Kikkan Randall (who is now an NBC analyst) and Diggins stormed past Norway and Sweden to win the United States' first Olympic gold medal in cross-country skiing. In 2022, when the event was contested using the classic technique, Diggins and Rosie Brennan finished 5th.

It's a swan-song sprint for Diggins, who is retiring at the end of the season. With Kern, the two will try to showcase their endurance and their ability to push themselves into medal position. Together, they have reached the podium at the last two world championships, earning bronze in 2023 and silver in 2025.

But the Americans will have to contend with the strength of the Swedish women. Jonna Sundling and Maja Dhalqvist will be out for redemption after Germany overcame them for the gold medal at Beijing 2022. At Milan Cortina, the Swedish women have repeatedly been on the cross-country podium and will likely catapult to the front of the pack while keeping an eye out for another surprise end sprint.  

Norway and Switzerland are also in the running for the podium. Norway won gold in the women’s 4x7.5km relay after taking the opening left by the Swedes, who fell in the snowy conditions. Switzerland’s Nadine Faehndrich and Anja Weber earned a World Cup podium in this event in March 2025.

Keep an eye on Klaebo of Norway. In his career, he has won over 12 team sprint races, with two Olympic golds, four world titles, and six World Cup victories. In Italy, he has won four gold medals to give him a career total of nine and make him the winningest athlete of all time at the Winter Games. If he wins the team sprint, which Norway is likely to do, it will be his fifth gold medal at the Milan Cortina Games.

Italy has never won an Olympic medal in this event and will look to change that on home snow. With sprinter Federico Pellegrino, who is retiring at the end of the games, and 23-year-old Elia Barp, the two could replicate their 2nd-place World Cup win in December.

Hoping to build a bridge to bronze is France, whose Mathis Desloges has already won three silvers in Italy. He and Jules Chappaz may just cinch that 3rd-place spot. Sweden, which frequently finishes on the podium in this race, could also contend for a medal.

The Americans will race to the finish with Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher. The United States' best finish in the event was 6th, and they are expected to make it into the top five — or possibly the podium, if any of their competitors get caught on the snow.

The FIS cross-country account summed it up on social medal: "It looks like a lot of teams could be in the fight for a medal 👊🏼"