By Adele Haeg
What a year for Gus Schumacher. He had his first World Cup win in Minneapolis in February and he has spent the past two weekends proving to the world that it was no fluke. He was the first non-Norwegian finisher in Lillehammer today in the skiathlon. First place among the rest of the world is certainly something to celebrate!
Now, for those Norwegians. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won the skiathlon in Trondheim last World Cup season. Simen Hegstad Krüger is the defending World Champion in this event. But this morning in Lillehammer it was the 2023/2024 World Cup overall winner and current points leader Harald Østberg Amundsen who took the win, in 49:20.8.
The rest of the top five all finished within a second of Østberg Amundsen. In order: Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget, Jan Thomas Jenssen, Simen Hegstad Krüger, and Gus Schumacher. Andrew Musgrave in sixth was all of 1.7 seconds back, with this season’s breakout Norwegian star, Andreas Fjorden Ree, 2.2 seconds back in seventh. It was about as tight a race as it gets (watch the final 400 meters in the second slide below).
Østberg Amundsen told FIS: “It was really hard from the beginning with a high pace and I was struggling on the classic part, but on the skating part I felt really strong. I was a bit surprised that I was the one who picked up the pace on the last longest climb but I felt strong and I knew that I had to be in front on the last uphill.”
Today 20 kilometers of racing came down to that last uphill and sprint to the finish line, and Østberg Amundsen proved he had the sprint in him today. Such is the excitement of ski racing, especially the 20km skiathlon format: it is really two techniques and formats in one. It’s a distance race but it’s split into two 10-kilometer segments, and for the men 10km is not far from a sprint, so, if you agree with my logic, the 20km distance is really a slightly more calculated sprint. That’s what it looks like to me anyway. Østberg Amundsen commented on the “high pace” today. Snow was fast, skis were fast, and the skiathlon is a fast, fast format.
The skiathlon is a unique prize: It’s a race that favors the very best overall skiers more than any other format. Take Iivo Niskanen for example, who won the mini sprint for the bonus points on the classic course in the first half of the race, but was out of the top ten by the final few kilometers of the race. Niskanen finished 13th. He is a phenomenal classic skier but he could not hold on during the skate leg of the race. He couldn’t make the transition.
Into the transition zone at 10 kilometers it was a pack of 12 at the front, led by Klæbo, Krüger, Nyenget, and Hugo Lapalus. Schumacher was up there, and so was Niskanen. Lapalus and Andrew Musgrave led out of the transition zone with a lot of Norwegian red in tow. The top six finishers today could each have won this race. It could have easily been Schumacher or Musgrave at the end.
Østberg Amundsen had the classic and the skate form today and the speed and the strength. So did everyone who finished with him in that 49th minute. Østberg Amundsen only won by a hair, though that does not make his win any less impressive. He is looking very strong this season, even more so than last. Østberg Amundsen is not as flashy as Klæbo or as tactically tricky but he has proven he can be consistent and he’s earned that yellow overall bib. He is the best overall skier in the world right now. And he’s competing against Klæbo. Round of applause for Østberg Amundsen. He’s a star in his own right.
Us Americans can certainly admire Østberg Amundsen but our star in Lillehammer today was of course Schumacher. He skied smart today. His form looked relaxed, almost as relaxed as he sounded in comments after Friday’s race. The last 100 meters he broke into a free skate that was Diggins-esque. (“Frog brain felt like V2 would be too complicated,” Schumacher wrote of this moment in an Instagram story.) In Diggins fashion, he got gritty. It paid off. This is an exciting result for the American, his best of the season so far and a career-best finish in a World Cup mass start race. And it wasn’t just any format. It was the skiathlon, and a very fast and competitive race at that. Schumacher is now ninth in both the overall and distance standings. I just want to cheer. So woohoo!!!
Here’s Schumacher on today’s race, in comments to multiple media outlets:
“I was feeling like I was skiing pretty well. Like obviously, I knew I was very close to the front. I think I’m probably still contending with feeling like I’m fighting for a podium for a lot of the races because this is my best mass start. So it was a new position for me. But definitely in the final, final moments I wasn’t thinking much. I was just feeling like the speed was still high so I could stay in this free skate, and I kind of don’t trust myself sometimes in the end there. When I’m a little bit tippy and switching over to V2, watching the video back, it probably would have been a good choice. But I don’t entirely know if that would have changed it. But good practice and fun to be close. Just exciting to be that close.”
Schumacher said he was proud of how he tested skis today. He noted it was tough to find kick right away but he and his wax techs evidently ended up finding the best skis they could have. “Such nice classic skis to get me to the end of a ripping classic leg of the skiathlon” wrote Schumacher on Instagram, tagging @usaxctechs and @rossignolnordic.
Schumacher added, “I’m proud of skiing relaxed and coming around in the race and being like, All right, I can fight for this podium. And yeah, I’m just excited to be in the top ten.”
For the Americans, Zanden McMullen finished in 26th today, a substantial improvement over 45th in his first career World Cup skiathlon, in Trondheim last December. McMullen was a half-second behind Ben Ogden, who finished in 25th. Hunter Wonders finished in 46th, and John Steel Hagenbuch in 57th.
Here’s McMullen, in comments shared via USSS:
“I’m most proud of being able to gather myself for the last two laps after blowing up. Also working together with Ben on the skate legs was so fun and beneficial for both of us! Overall, so proud of the American boys for getting it done in a challenging race on an even tougher course.”
And Ogden, also via USSS:
“Most proud of Gus for sure, he’s just proving himself to be rock solid in these 20ks which is not an easy feat, you have to be extremely fit to do what he is doing and it’s really cool to see his dedication and patience paying off in a big way. He’ll be back on top soon, mark my words.”
To summarize this weekend: it’s starting to look like we’ll see Østberg Amundsen and Nyenget in Trondheim, but also, to a certain extent, all bets are off. And go USA.
Bye bye Norway. We’re in Davos, Switzerland next weekend for the third stage of World Cup racing. If the past two weekends are any indication we are in for some superb ski racing in Switzerland. Tune in for our coverage of the team sprints on Friday.
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 youto 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.
