By Noah Eckstein
It did not take long for the Norwegian men to break out the brooms and stamp their mark on the young season with a podium sweep. In Sunday’s Ruka World Cup 20-kilometer mass start skate race, Harald Østberg Amundsen led compatriots Jan Thomas Jenssen and Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget to the top of the results sheet.
Lifting American spirits after a disappointing sprint day on Saturday were Zanden McMullen and Gus Schumacher, who skied side-by-side to 7th and 8th place, respectively. McMullen’s seventh was a huge career best for the 23-year-old just starting his second full year of World Cup racing; he was 17th and 20th in two classic sprints last March. McMullen’s previous career best in a distance race was 23rd, also in March 2024.
The day dawned a bit warmer than Saturday, with temperatures in the mid-20s, as an 86-man field set out on five laps of a slightly modified four-kilometer race loop. Perhaps drunk on the cheers of trailside fans chanting his name or maybe the glow of his fresh distance leader’s red bib, earned with his win on Friday, Finn Iivo Niskanen shot to the front, only briefly supplanted by a frantic hare literally playing the role of rabbit for a lap around the stadium.
Not necessarily renowned for his skating ability, Niskanen sat near the front for the first 10 kilometers or so, trading pulls with Swedes Jens Burman and William Poromaa. His plan for the day came into clearer focus at the 8.8-kilometer mark as he eased off the front to take the maximum 15 points in the first of two primes. Is it too early to break out the “Iivo for the overall!” signs? Perhaps, but Iivo stans can dream.
During the first three laps, Schumacher and McMullen slowly worked their way from starting positions of 20 and 33, respectively, up toward the top 15. Both looked profoundly at ease in the crowded World Cup field, staying out of the wind, skiing smoothly, and calmly covering moves as the race started to heat up around the halfway mark.
Schumacher is practically an old hand at this point, having made his first European World Cup starts during the 2020/2021 season and now with 70+ races at this level to his name. McMullen, though, only raced a nearly-full World Cup schedule for the first time last year, so his poise is notable.
Speaking of being where you need to be when you need to be, the red suits of Norway (and I have to admit I really like these new ones, although perhaps I’m just a sucker for a snowflake motif) had been notably absent up to this point. That all changed around 10 kilometers in when Nyenget worked his way to the front and began upping the pace, assisted by the darling of the Beitostølen opener Andreas Fjorden Ree. Amundsen, interestingly, appeared to back the pace off when he eventually came to the front, seeming to trust his sprint for the final.
Breaking up the Norwegian hegemony at the head of the race was Austrian spark plug Mika Vermeulen. First storming onto the scene with a fourth place in this very same race last year and showing off strong early-season form with a second place in Beitostølen last weekend, Vermeulen again demonstrated the clean technique and gritty determination that have turned him into one of the best skaters in the world on his day.
The leaders really only found separation as the pace went up even further on the final lap, with Vermeulen and Norwegians Ree, Amundsen, Jenssen, Nyenget, and Simen Hegstad Krüger coalescing into a front group. Dangling just barely off the back were McMullen, Schumacher, Friedrich Moch of Germany, and Frenchmen Mathis Desloges and Jules Lapierre.
As it so often does in Ruka, it all came down to a glorious hop-skate competition up the final hill into the stadium. Amundsen’s chops as a sprinter shone through and he turned into the finish lanes with a few meters of daylight to Jenssen and Nyenget. Just behind, Vermeulen dropped Ree and Krueger for another fourth place in Ruka, and McMullen and Schumacher fended off the Frenchies to punctuate an excellent day for both of them.
Despite the pack staying relatively large until the late stages, this was a truly difficult race, not the sort of sit-and-sprint situation Johannes Høsflot Klæbo sometimes creates. Jan Thomas Jenssen was shown on the live broadcast vomiting in the finish pen from the effort, and the rest of the top five looked genuinely gassed. This was gritty Norwegian distance hardmen doing gritty Norwegian distance hardmen things, which makes Schumacher and especially McMullen’s ability to stick with them all the more impressive.
Schumacher was effusive in written comments to Nordic Insights. “I didn’t expect too much out of the weekend,” he wrote, “but this Ruka skate race has been a good one for me, and it’s really cool to build on that and have a truly very good race today. It’s super fun to ski well with Zanden, and just so cool to see him come into great form and be skiing super well! Gonna be a great season.”
In further audio comments to Nordic Insights, Schumacher explained his rationale to sit out the sprint on Saturday. “I had a month-long sickness this fall,” he said, “which led to a little less intensity through the later fall. Since I was sick I’ve been talking to coaches about not racing so much during Period 1 and making sure it’s a good building time for me because it’s a long season. I think I’ll just get better results if I can make sure I’m feeling good and absorbing races. So the sprint was a pretty easy decision to sit out for me. I never want to miss a race but I am trying to get to February feeling good.”
McMullen, too, was thrilled with his race. “This result is definitely huge for me,” he wrote to Nordic Insights. “I think it’s mostly about confidence. I knew I had it in me, but it’s a lot different to actually do it.”
When asked if this career-best finish shifted his outlook on his potential for the rest of the season, he responded assuredly: “This result doesn’t change any season result goals for me; it actually puts me right where I want to be :).”
McMullen attributed the result, in part, to now having a full year of World Cup racing under his belt. “It came very naturally today,” he wrote. “My goal was to ski as relaxed as possible and make every additional energy expenditure worthwhile. I absolutely feel more comfortable than ever racing on the World Cup circuit. Being able to race a near-full season on the circuit last year allowed me to experiment and better my race tactics. Also, skiing with more confidence allows me to be much more relaxed and make clear decisions while racing.”
The rest of the credit here may go to the hills of humble Government Peak Recreation Area in Palmer, Alaska. “If I have a good race in Ruka, I will attribute it to this” McMullen said two weeks ago today, after winning the Race to the Outhouse #2 in a final pre-season tuneup.
Fortunes for the rest of the North American field were a mixed bag. Canadians Olivier Léveillé and Antoine Cyr snuck inside the top 30 in 24th and 28th, respectively, with Max Hollman following them in 33rd and Canadian-racing-for-Britain Joe Davies posting a strong 16th.
As for the remainder of the Americans, Hunter Wonders finished 45th, Michael Earnhart 62nd, and John Steel Hagenbuch — presumably fresh off Dartmouth fall term final exams and with quite a lot of volume in his legs — 77th. Ben Ogden and Zak Ketterson didn’t start after a grueling previous two days, but neither did Klæbo (he felt unwell this morning, according to according to NRK) so at least they’re in good company.
Racing recommences next weekend in Lillehammer with a 10-kilometer interval-start skate on Friday. Expect a similar set of American names on the start list.
You’re reading this on Nordic Insights, one man’s labor of love dedicated to publicizing American nordic skiing. Last season’s GoFundMe is literally the only reason why I turned a profit in years one and two of Nordic Insights, and in turn the only reason why there is a year three 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, last season’s GoFundMe may be found here. Thank you for your consideration, and, especially, for reading.
