By Angie Kell
Day two of racing in Cogne, another picturesque World Cup venue located in northwest Italy, commenced earlier Saturday with a classic sprint on a course last seen on the World Cup in 2019. It’s an arguably uninteresting course, flat and fast and mostly doublepole.
In an effort to mix things up on such seemingly uninspiring terrain, there were two technique zones on small inclines, thereby mandating diagonal striding (or herringbone). Coming out of the inclines were short descents with fast turns and limited space for movement. All of which is to say: Transitions, positioning, and fast skis with limited kick zone were extremely important factors today.
Before the race, Italian athlete Federico Pellegrino, who adorned the top podium spot in 2019, waxed poetic on the live feed about returning to the venue in his home region. “It seems like I closed my eyes six years ago and nothing changed except Chicco is older,” he said.
Nothing has changed so far in 2025 for the World Cup either, it seems, with athletes from Norway and Sweden flexing early and often, even with overall World Cup leader Johannes Høsflot Klæbo opting to return to Scandinavia for this race weekend. In the early qualification round, Erik Valnes of Norway surprised no one with the fastest time here, 2:43.53. Edvin Anger of Sweden came in second at 2:43.95 and fellow Swede Anton Grahn rounded the top three, just over 10 seconds back from Valnes.
Team USA also performed well in this round, as three Americans moved onto the quarterfinals. APU skier JC Schoonmaker finished just behind Grahn in 4th with a time of 2:45.16. Ben Ogden finished 11th and Team Birkie’s Zak Ketterson placed 17th to advance. Zanden McMullen, reportedly returning from illness, and Luke Jager did not advance, placing 44th and 62nd overall, respectively.
McMullen, understandably disappointed, told Nordic Insights of the day, simply, “I just had another off day after getting back from illness. Hoping for better tomorrow!”
In the quarterfinals, both Ogden and Ketterson opted for the second heat, along with two Norwegians, Ansgar Evensen and Even Northug. The Americans and Norwegians had great starts, and Evensen took control the entire lap. Behind him, Northug, Ogden, and Ketterson battled for positioning, and upon the first technique zone, it was Ketterson whose smooth transition bolstered him safely to second position, behind Evensen.
The battle of two Norwegians and two Americans continued to the finish, and it was clear in the final meters that Evensen and Northug were getting more bang for their doublepole buck to finish first and second in the heat. It seemed that even a continuous loop of the Dukes of Hazzard horn in the stands could not overcome optimized Norwegian skis (or perhaps the entire crowd was too young to understand the potential performance-enhancing effect of such things).
Ogden would finish 12th for the day (he did go out in the quarters, but after Jules Chappaz was disqualified for a second yellow card this season he ended up with a final position of twelfth), and Ketterson 22nd.
Ogden, who started the day tenth overall in the World Cup standings, told multiple media outlets, “I felt the effects of the last week in the qualifier for sure but started to feel better later in the day which was nice. Unfortunately, I couldn’t capitalize in the quarterfinal and just didn’t have the positioning that I needed for who knows what reason. Still happy to put down a decent race and grab some World Cup points given the events of this last week.”
Ketterson was more reflective to Nordic Insights on his body, technique, and his ski prep. “I felt great today,” he mused. “Wasn’t sure how my body would respond after the Team Sprint yesterday, but I felt even better today than yesterday.”
He continued, “I am not often complimented on my transitions, but it is something I have been working on for sure. I feel that I have been a good ‘straight line skier’ for some years now but have struggled to piece the technical parts together. So it’s nice to hear it’s looking better.”
Regarding the team’s skis today, Ketterson commented, “Our skis held up great, I have no complaints on that end. Was a pretty flat course with a lot of double poling so we intentionally went with as little kick wax as possible. I think it is worth it for the extra gliding speed.”
Pellegrino, despite a vivacious roar from the crowd when he was announced in the third quarterfinal heat, did not advance to the semis and finished 14th overall for the day.
Schoonmaker, who opted for the fourth heat, found himself amongst a blazing group, including French sprinter Richard Jouve. Schoonmaker looked poised and strong the entire loop, including in the final few, tight meters with a powerful finish, and in what was the fastest heat of the day, secured one of two lucky loser positions along with Grahn to advance to the first of two semifinal heats.
No stranger to fast heats, the first semifinal featured Schoonmaker among an entire field of Scandinavians that included Valnes, Evensen, and Northug of Norway and Måns Skoglund and Anger of Sweden. It was a clean start, and the 22-year-old Skoglund advanced to the front early.
Schoonmaker took an outside line on the corner following the first descent to skirt toward the back of the field, but after a clean transition and an acceleration, found himself in third position. However, after a minor slip in the second technique zone and a particularly aggressive sprint to the finish by Valnes, Evensen, and Anger, Schoonmaker placed fifth in a time of 2:40.98, narrowly missing the lucky loser spots.
Valnes won in the heat in 2:39.83, with Evensen second in 2:39.97. Anger and Northug were close behind in 2:39.99 and 2:40.67, respectively, as both lucky loser spots came from this heat.
Schoonmaker finished ninth overall in what was Team USA’s second top-10 finish of the day (Jessie Diggins had earlier finished tenth in the women’s sprint). Schoonmaker spoke to Nordic Insights of contentment yet disappointment after coming within three-tenths of a second of making the final. “I am fairly happy with the day but wanted more for sure,” Schoonmaker said. “The semifinal was super tough, and those guys were strong today.”
In his critique of the day, he continued, “The technique zones were better than yesterday but did make it a bit choppy and hard to ski the way I naturally would on that course. Skis felt great all day and was super stoked on both speed and kick.”
As far as moving forward from this race, Schoonmaker told media, “I do feel like my fitness is coming around and I’m in a good spot heading into this World Champs prep block.” He continued, “I think there are things I can work on and improve, especially my finishing speed, but I think I’m in a good place to do some key sessions for that and really improve it. Falun will work well as a race/intensity before World Champs and around that I’ll try to fill in some other high-quality sessions specifically aimed at the skate sprint in Trondheim.”
The French dominated the second semifinal, where Jouve and Lucas Chanavat advanced to the final with what were notably slower times than the sixth-place finisher in the first semifinal heat.
The final, predictably featuring names such as Valnes, Anger, Chanavat, and Jouve, also contained 24-year-old Norwegian Evensen and his teammate Northug.
At the gun, Evensen, in pursuit of his first World Cup win, pushed to the front of the pack in an aggressive tempo, as seemed to be his tactic for the day. Soon thereafter, his teammates Northug and Valnes followed his pace and pushed to eventually form a gap to rest of the field.
The lone Swede, Anger, sitting in the back, looked a bit impatient with his position at the beginning, but the few steep uphills appeared to be Anger’s undoing, and he was never able to improve his position. A slip in the first technique zone by Chanavat, and an acceleration by Valnes in the second zone, all but determined the podium. Valnes exerted his dominance in the final few meters by outsprinting Evensen, and Northug followed closely behind in the third, securing a Norwegian podium sweep.
The weekend in Cogne concludes tomorrow with the 10-kilometer interval-start skate. Americans on the start list include Ogden, McMullen, Ketterson, Gus Schumacher, Hunter Wonders (APU), and Walker Hall (University of Utah).
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