By Merridy Littell
The team sprint is, in my opinion, the most complicated and chaotic race format on the World Cup circuit. Teams must first go through the qualification process to get to the final, in which 66 racers from 33 teams ski the course in an individual start. Their times are combined to create a total time, which is then ranked against other teams. From qualification, the 15 fastest teams advance to the final.
Each nation can field up to two teams, labeled (for example) “United States of America I” and “United States of America II” if there are two teams from one country, or “Spain” if there is only one. This does not cause any confusion, especially given that the two teams are wearing the same suits. To further complicate matters, international teams can be created and labeled “FIS 1” and “FIS 2” (note the numerical inconsistency).
France II topped the qualification round, just ahead of Norway I and Switzerland I; upsets like this, where the purported “slower” team qualifies faster than its counterpart, are not uncommon. Indeed, USA II (Kevin Bolger and JC Schoonmaker) qualified in sixth (5:38.77), just 2.2 seconds ahead of USA I (Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher, 5:40.97), putting both teams well into the field of final qualifiers.
In the final, each athlete will complete the 1.5-kilometer course three times, alternating with their partner. This course began with a doublepole start which quickly transitioned into a right-curving uphill, doing nothing to spread out the field. Ogden and Bolger, the scramble (first) legs for the USA teams, started well, sitting near the front of the pack the entire first lap. As they swept into the stadium and around the bend into the tag zone just under three minutes later, their teammates waited for their turn to throw themselves at the course.
all photos: screenshots from broadcast
To tag off and have the next racer start their lap, the first racer’s hand must make contact with the other’s body. If this contact is not made, the team can be disqualified. This maneuver is especially tricky when 14 other pairs are trying to do the same, but both USA teams managed a mostly clean transition despite a fall from Ogden after the handoff, mirroring Janik Riebli of Switzerland. France II was not so lucky, with their second leg Lucas Chanavat losing a ski while tripping over a fallen Ogden during the tag-off. This first exchange would set the tone for the rest of the race.
Coming off the first hairpin turn and sitting in sixth, JC Schoonmaker broke a pole. While V2ing up and over a small rise, his pole got caught by Edvin Anger’s ski. It’s a blink-and-you-miss-it situation: Schoonmaker quickly realized what had happened and, instead of panicking, asserted his space and adjusted his technique accordingly. He smoothly transitioned into a freeskate and then flew down the hill without falling behind the lead pack. It wasn’t until the next hill, where he had to awkwardly hop-skate to maintain momentum, that the announcer and I noticed the mishap.
On the downhill, Schoonmaker presumably took off his pole strap to allow for a rapid transition once he got a pole. Coming into the coaches’ area, he raised his hand in the universal signal to request a pole; when we saw him next he had a pole in hand and was skiing like nothing happened. By the time he’d skied around the corner, he’d already passed Czechia II.
In reflecting on this moment to Nordic Insights, Schoonmaker said, “I broke a pole on the first lap so we fell back a little there. From there I just tried to move us up little by little and I think that worked well.” I highlight this mishap not because of the drama (ok, partly for the drama), but because I agree with Schoonmaker: he handled this moment wonderfully. It is a textbook case of what to do when you break a pole.
Spot the skier with a broken pole — oh wait, you can’t
While all that was happening, Switzerland I’s Valerio Grond had been pushing the pace from the front. After tagging off to Riebli, the pace only increased, with Riebli maximizing speed on every inch of the course. France II’s Richard Jouve also picked up the pace, moving up to ninth and making up the full 10-second gap his team had from the lost ski in the first exchange. Making up a total of 12 seconds on a 1.5km course that took 2:45 to ski is impressive; it’s about 7% of the total time of one lap. Adrenaline and fast skis are a powerful combination.
However, catastrophe struck again during the fourth exchange: Jules Chappaz (France I), in podium position, broke both poles right before the tag-off while hop-skating to get moving. Jouve smoothly handed off his own pole to replace the shorter one, helping Chappaz get more momentum before the sharp uphill. Chappaz got up and over the hill before casting off the other pole and receiving a replacement from a coach on the sidelines. Once again, an impressively fast transition where every factor that could be controlled was accounted for. How did he do it? “I chose not to panic,” he told FIS.
In the chaos, Johannes Klæbo, whose team (composed of himself and Even Northug) had been sitting near the front of the pack throughout the race, took the lead from Edvin Anger. With the kind of precision that only comes with a sweep of every gold medal at World Championships, Klæbo sent Northug into his final lap with the lead in their second-to-last exchange of the day.
Ogden and Bolger decided to abide by the theory of “last one, fast one” and surged past Northug to the front of the field. Ogden sat in second behind Riebli up the second hill, with Bolger not far behind. Up this same hill, Renaud Jay tangled with a Swedish skier, cementing both teams’ results. This shakeup had both American teams and Great Britain’s Andrew Young in the lead pack, but not for long. On the next hill, Young went down, taking Ogden with him. Ogden rolled, landing on his skis and pushing himself up with his poles without missing a beat.
Coming into the final exchange, Bolger tagged off to Schoonmaker just 0.3 seconds behind Finland I. 8.5 seconds later, Ogden (in 13th) did the same to Schumacher putting him in striking distance of the lead pack. Speaking of which, the lead pack quickly became a total of one skier: Klæbo. With a powerful V2 up and around the second hairpin turn, Klæbo eliminated the draft effect that Grond (Switzerland I) and Schoonmaker, in second and third, might have been able to capitalize on.
As Klæbo — for not the first time in his career — celebrated before even crossing the line, Grond, Schoonmaker, Lauri Vuorinen, and Jouve sprinted for second and third. Grond took second, staying off the ground and on the podium this time. Jouve came from behind to outsprint Schoonmaker by 0.1 seconds, both of them lunging for the line. Remember that just three laps ago, Chappaz (Jouve’s teammate) had been dead last. Gus Schumacher was close behind in sixth, rounding out a red-letter day for the U.S. in men’s team sprinting.
“We wanted to ski near the front,” Schumacher told Nordic Insights, “which is what everyone wanted to do. It usually helps avoid chaos, but in this tight of a race the front was hectic too.”
Bolger also noted the chaos, saying, “Trying to be close to the front but managing space was key today. I just think JC and I both are super aware and agile guys; we are able to read the pack and make smart decisions.” In a race where FIS themselves made a slo-mo video of some of the catastrophes of the day, just staying on your feet was an accomplishment.
“Kevin skied so well and put us into a great position on his last lap and from there I just tried to hold and push as hard as I could,” said Schoonmaker. “I ran out of gas a little in the final stretch but I feel like we skied great and I’m proud of that race.”
After two days of great sprint racing on the part of the American men, only one more race remains. Tomorrow’s 50-kilometer mass start classic is the last race of the season. Schumacher, Zanden McMullen, Ogden, Bolger, and Schoonmaker will all be starting for Team USA.
I’m sure there will be more end-of-year reflections tomorrow, but for now, I’ll leave you with these two quotes from Schoonmaker and Bolger:
“Something I learned from this year is that I race my best when I keep things simple and trust myself. Sometimes I overcomplicate stuff and get a bit stuck in the weeds but I feel that my best races are when I let some of those things go and just try to have a present and focused mind.” -JC Schoonmaker
“I think the biggest thing I’ll take away is that the season isn’t over just after 1 period of shitting racing and some bad luck… I definitely started slow and was unlucky, but was able to stay somewhat positive through the season — and the results came in a more surprising way than I’d ever [thought]. Being so consistent not in distance and sprint — that feels really good. I just wish we had a few more World Cups to keep the momentum going. But that is something that will really motivate me this summer!” -Kevin Bolger
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.
