By Devin L. Ward, Ph.D.
We begin the last weekend of a long season with a skate sprint in Lahti. The course features alternating climbing and rest, benefiting those who took strategic positioning, sitting back in second until the final stretch. Maybe it was the darkness, but we couldn’t see any grass or rocks sticking out of the snow around the course, which was a nice change from warm, wet conditions over the past few weeks. We saw the usual tacticians work their magic, but racing was still very tight and fast.
Five American men qualified, with three choosing the first heat: JC Schoonmaker, Gus Schumacher, and Jack Young. It likely wasn’t much of a choice, given that they qualified 29th, 26th, and 27th, respectively. Schumacher finished second in this heat, with Schoonmaker snagging a lucky loser spot to join him in the semifinals.
Young finished 3.5 seconds back after a long week of travel and mid-week racing. When asked how he was managing his recovery with a fairly grueling schedule, Young told Nordic Insights, “I felt recovered enough. It’s been a lot of travel over the past week, but I felt good enough to throw down a solid qualifier and lead out the quarterfinal fast. I’m happy with today.” Young is not on the start list for tomorrow’s team sprint and, per USSS, is not racing on Sunday; this seems like a nice note to finish out the season.
Ben Ogden and Kevin Bolger also made the heats, but were unable to step up into the semifinals. Both finished fourth in their respective heats, with Ogden just .28 seconds from winning his heat but nonetheless on the wrong end of a tight finish.
all photos: screenshots from broadcast
I asked Bolger if his recent success in distance races has impacted his preparation for sprint races. He responded, “No — not really, I haven’t had many sprint opportunities this year — and have been racing a lot more distance so maybe that has been a contributor to my success in Distance.”
When asked to consider how this might impact his longer-term training, Bolger continued, “But as of now I won’t be changing anything in my training. I still have the sprint capacity maybe missing a bit of spark — but all in all I’m quite happy with where I am right now overall — with how my season started.”
Schoonmaker and Schumacher ended up in a very fast Semifinal 1 that would produce both lucky losers for the final (Erik Valnes and Schoonmaker). Schumacher did not make the final and told Nordic Insights, “Just fun to realize these are the last chances of the season and it’s worth it to make them count for everything you’ve done to get here!”
Semifinal 1 also produced everyone involved in the drama of the final.
In that final: Jules Chappaz worked hard from the gun, having led in prior rounds with success. Those rounds did not feature Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, so that strategy did not quite work for him here.
Taking no risks, Klæbo pulled clear in the finishing stretch and avoided a bit of a mess behind him. Valerio Grond looked potentially good for bronze as late as three meters from the finish, but he and Pellegrino clashed skis amidst a spirited sprint down the homestretch, leaving Grond to (literally) bounce off the snow in a full faceplant across the line.
There was some visible hesitation mixed with celebration among the athletes at the finish. Grond initially remained on the ground holding his chest, clearly winded, as Pellegrino helped remove his skis. Everyone seemed friendly and upright in the end, awaiting the result of the jury deliberation, although one may wonder as to the tone of Pellegrino’s finish-zone conversation with Grond. After an extremely lengthy review, the race jury did not change the finish order on the ground (as it were): Klæbo took gold, Chappaz silver, and Pellegrino bronze.
This was a great performance from Schoonmaker, who has some excellent sprint results in the past (I’m thinking in particular of his bronze in the Östersund skate sprint of 2023, but more recently fifth in the 2025 Les Rousses classic sprint). Schoonmaker told media, “I feel proud of how I raced this season. It was the best preparation period for me before the season so I’m happy to come out with some good racing given the circumstances. I feel that I was able to learn a lot and gain more experience so it makes me extra motivated for next year.”
To recap the American results: JC Schoonmaker (6th), Gus Schumacher (12th), Ben Ogden (19th), Kevin Bolger (20th), Jack Young (30th), and Zanden McMullen (61st).
Racing continues tomorrow with a skate team sprint; you can find the start list and team pairings here. Ogden and Schumacher will be team USA I, with Bolger and Schoonmaker carrying the flag for USA II. Three-sixths of the overall podium from this event in Trondheim will also race: Dark horse medal hope Johannes Hosfløt Klæbo (tomorrow paired with Even Northug), Lauri Vuorinen for Finland (with Joni Maki), and Edvin Anger for Sweden (with Måns Skoglund, in a team where both athletes were born in 2002).
Men’s qualification starts tomorrow at 9:40 a.m. local time (3:40 a.m. EST, 23:40 p.m. Friday evening in Anchorage). The finals will start at 12:12 p.m. local time (6:12 a.m. EST, 2:12 a.m. in Alaska. Spare a thought for Anchorage resident Andrew Kastning on the call.)
You’re reading this on Nordic Insights, one man’s labor of love dedicated to publicizing American skiing. We started with nothing and now we’re going to the Olympics. You can read more about our first three years here, and donate to the Olympics fund here. Thank you for consideration, and, especially, for reading.
