History was made for the U.S. during the shortest cross-country race at the 2026 Games.
WASHINGTON — American Ben Ogden broke a 50-year medal drought for Team USA on Tuesday, claiming silver in the men’s sprint classic at the Milan Cortina Games.
Ogden is now just the second U.S. man ever to win an Olympic cross-country skiing medal at the Olympics. He’s the first man to win a cross-country medal for the U.S. since 1976.
“It’s a dream come true,” Ogden said in a post-race interview. “Some days it just works and today was one of those days.”
Who is Ben Ogden?
According to his Olympic profile, the two-time NCAA national champion hails from Vermont, and has been with Team USA since 2019. Before that, he was a member of the 2018 silver-medal relay team that made history as the first-ever medal for the U.S. men at a World Juniors event.
The only other time an American man won a cross-country skiing medal at the Olympics was in 1976, when fellow Vermonter Bill Koch won silver for the 30 km race.
The 25-year-old credits his father, who died from cancer two years ago, with getting him into cross-country skiing.
Off the snow, Ogden is reportedly a craftsman who can be found tinkering with mechanics or an old truck.
What is the men’s sprint classic?
The sprint classic (not classic sprint) is the shortest cross-country race at the 2026 Games. It clocks in at around three minutes, with athletes ion skis doing a single lap around a 1.5 km course (just under 1 mile).
How did Team USA do in the men’s classic sprint?
The gold in the event was won by Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, who blazed to his second consecutive victory at the Milan Cortina Games to win his seventh Olympic gold medal and close in on the Winter Olympics record.
The 29-year-old Norwegian star separated from the field with a punishing late uphill run to finish in 3 minutes, 39.8 seconds, easing off in the home stretch to leave Ben Ogden of the United States 0.8 seconds behind. Another Norwegian, Oskar Opstad Vike, placed third, 6.8 seconds behind the leader.
Linn Svahn led a Swedish sweep in the women’s competition, edging defending Olympic champion Jonna Sundling with Maja Dahlqvist in third place in a race watched by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.
Top-ranked Jessie Diggins of the United States was eliminated in the quarterfinals, compounding her disappointment after a fall in her opening race at the weekend.
Diggins has won three Olympic medals, including the first cross country Olympic gold medal for the United States with teammate Kikkan Randall in 2018. She is planning to retire at the end of the 2025-26 season.
Klaebo’s seven gold medals are one shy of the Winter Olympics record shared by three athletes. After his latest triumph, the world’s top-ranked cross-country skier acknowledged that some of the pressure he felt at the start of the Games has now lifted.
“It was amazing,” he said. “My shape is good and I was a little bit more relaxed before this race than I was before Sunday.” America’s Ben Ogden grabbed his country’s first individual Olympic sprint medal in cross country, but said it was Klaebo’s race to lose.
“Unbelievable, unbelievable. I just can’t, I can’t put into words. I’m just so thrilled,” the 25-year-old Vermont native said. “I’m proud to be the first in the sprint but there will be more, don’t you worry.” Klaebo high-fived and hugged Norway fans after his race, among them his fiancé Pernille Doesvik, who wore a jacket bearing a large image of the champion skier.
But it was the Swedish fans who had the most to celebrate, singing the national anthem with their skiers on all three places on the women’s podium. “I think I have the best team and the best teammates,” said Sundling, who completed the sprint 1.5 seconds behind the leader’s time of 4 minutes, 3.1 seconds. “I’m really happy to be a part of the team, our Swedish team,” she said. “It’s such a strong team and we always push each other to be better.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.