Coming into the Milan-Cortina Olympics, an American hadn’t won a medal in men’s cross-country skiing in half a century. A few days into the Games, though, Vermonter Ben Ogden squeaked through the classic sprint semifinals. Suddenly there was hope. In the final, Ogden pushed across the Tesero Stadium finish line in second — breaking the drought.
Asked afterward if he thought it might take another 50 years for the next podium, he said no. Five days later, he and Gus Schumacher made good on that when they took silver in the team sprint.
With two days of competition remaining, U.S. skiers and snowboarders have already earned more than a dozen medals at these Games — including Mikaela Shiffrin’s gold in the alpine slalom, Chloe Kim’s silver in halfpipe snowboarding, and Jessie Diggins overcoming a bruised rib to win a Nordic bronze. The cross-country ski team’s three-medal haul is its largest ever.
The hardware is historic for another reason as well: It was won despite the first-ever Olympic ban on fluorinated ski waxes ... Read more
