By Gavin Kentch
Gus Schumacher never stopped caring. In 2014 he was a novelty act, the 13-year-old jumping into the classic sprint qual at Spring Series, because it was here at home in Anchorage and he was clearly a fast kid with big things ahead of him who might as well get this race experience. “We could have some future Olympians out here” said one Kikkan Randall at the time of Schumacher’s participation, in a comment that has, shall we say, aged well.
In 2016, Schumacher was 16, and I wrote an article on a local Besh Cup weekend (Alaska JNQ series) entitled “APU Prevails While Schumacher Turns Heads at Besh Cup 1 & 2,” because, in my telling, “the single most noteworthy result may have come from U18 skier Gus Schumacher (Alaska Winter Stars), who was third overall in the distance skate.”
In January 2019, Schumacher was 18, best-known for his all-time anchor leg performance in the World Juniors relay in Goms the year before, but with the next two relay medals, and a certain individual World Juniors title, still in the future. I spoke with him slightly in advance of that year’s U.S. Nationals; he said at that time, with an absolutely straight face, that he just hoped to qualify for that year’s team. That article (which you can read here) was titled, “The Phenom Next Door: Gus Schumacher Looks to Lahti.”
In February 2022, Schumacher was 21, and was no longer being graded on a curve. “In harsh Olympic glare, Anchorage skier Gus Schumacher shows how to struggle with grace” was the title of Nat Herz’s fine report from the Beijing Olympics. “I don’t want people to doubt me. I don’t really care that much, but that’s something that’s on my mind, because I’ve doubted people before,” said Schumacher in that piece.
I normally try very hard not to represent how athletes feel about their performance without asking them, but in the links section of his blog Schumacher has blurbed this article as “Sucking at the Olympics,” so I think that tells you something about his views on how he skied here.
Schumacher pulled the plug early on the 2021/2022 race season, after running out of gas near the end of the year. He did the following in the 2022/2023 race season. His World Cup results weren’t bad, but they were worse than they had been in 2020; something wasn’t working here.
Through it all, Schumacher never changed. He showed up to practice with Alaska Winter Stars. He did his homework for his engineering degree at University of Alaska Anchorage. He trained with Luke Jager and went running in the mountains. He was nice to me, he was nice to his teammates, he was nice to, well, everyone. He is the Sara Lee of American skiers; nobody doesn’t like Gus Schumacher.
And then, slowly, imperceptibly at first, things began to change. He moved down the street to other local club APU Nordic Ski Center. He worked more with USST coach Kristen Bourne. He made some small changes to his training, nothing much but enough to help him better absorb the volume.
Whatever it was, it seems to have worked. Schumacher became a more consistent top-20 skier on the World Cup this year. He was a stunning, breakthrough fourth in the skate sprint in Davos last month in the Tour de Ski.
And then, well, this happened.
This wasn’t supposed to happen today, not out of bib 35. Schumacher wasn’t even in the seeded group of athletes, and “never really skied with anyone,” he told Expressen at the finish.
Take a look at today’s start list; all the other expected big names are arrayed in the latter half of the field, with a bold “seeded” next to their name. The FIS points system is not infallible, but is a pretty good baseline indicator of likely performance; there’s a reason that Harald Østberg Amundsen started farther down in the field in bib no. 56, and Simen Hegstad Krüger in bib 68, and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo in bib 64, and so on.
But that’s why you play the game. After three laps around a 3.3-kilometer course in Wirth Park this morning, Schumacher came across the finish line in first, in a speedy time of 20:52.7. Schumacher told me last weekend that he’s “built for more like transitional sea-level stuff like Kincaid” than long grinds at altitude, and he found some sea-level transitions today. Schumacher duly went to sit in the leader’s chair, an appropriate destination after that performance, but also not completely surprising for an early starter.
But then Schumacher just… never left. Amundsen came in, close but 4.4 seconds back, and did not dislodge him. Klæbo came in, close but 6.5 seconds back, and did not dislodge him. Simen Hegstad Krüger, bib 68, didn’t come within 10 seconds, and at this point Schumacher was likely starting to believe.
(For perspective, these are huge margins on a day when the top four men were all under 21 minutes for 10km, and the top 15 athletes all finished within 30 seconds of the lead. At the front of the field, on average, two seconds were worth one place.)
The last big threat to a history-making day for American skiing was Pål Golberg, bib 70. He came in, close but 5.8 seconds back, and that was presumptively it. Schumacher started crying. I started crying. You probably started crying. I am crying again as I type this.
Schumacher was mobbed by the American team. They were crying, too.
It was the first podium for an American male distance skier in decades. Bill Koch won four races in the 1981/1982 World Cup season; Koch had three podiums and Tim Caldwell one in 1982/1983; and… I think that’s it. This moment has been a long time coming.
I don’t have much for you from on the ground in Minneapolis right now; I suspect that everyone there is still going apeshit, as they should be (oh looks like Jessie just hit the podium too, so not a bad day for the home team). Schumacher spoke briefly with Nat Herz soon after his finish; you can hear that here on a quick hit from the Devon Kershaw Show.
“I’m just so grateful to everyone who made this the best atmosphere of any World Cup I’ve ever skied,” an understandably still disbelieving Schumacher told Herz. He then shouted out his family and fans, among many others, because that’s what Gus does.
“I’m almost kind of sad that none of my teammates won, but happy that one of us did,” Schumacher told Expressen in the mixed zone. “Because I know that everyone wants to be there, but we all want each other to be there. I’m just so happy to help represent our guys team. … I couldn’t be more thankful for the American skiing community right now.”
“I felt really good and the cheering just got louder and louder, which I think helped the pacing,” said Schumacher to FIS media. “The second-to-last hill the fans coordinated in a ‘U-S-A’ chant and I couldn’t feel my body. I knew I was going fast, and I knew I could go faster, but I didn’t know I was going to win.”
I was able to connect with Luke Jager, Schumacher’s longtime friend and biggest cheerleader, who gave me this all-time quote for an all-time day:
“He was inevitable and no forces in the universe could have stopped him today. One of one.”
So for now, the final word goes to Jan Buron, Schumacher’s coach for the first decade of his ski career, another man who never stopped caring and never stopped believing:
“I am speechless,” wrote Buron to Nordic Insights earlier Sunday. “But I was sure from long time ago if he will be patient, he will be able to win the WC and championship events. Good birthday present (Feb 16).”
You’re reading this on Nordic Insights, one man’s labor of love project dedicated to publicizing American nordic skiing. Last season’s GoFundMe is literally the only reason why I turned a profit in year one of Nordic Insights, and in turn the only reason why there is a year two of Nordic Insights for you to be reading now: I was okay with working for very little money to get this love letter to American cross-country skiing off the ground, but I didn’t want to lose money for the privilege of doing so. If you would like to support what remains a brutally shoestring operation, this season’s GoFundMe may be found here. Thank you for your consideration, and, especially, for reading.
