This month’s coverage of [global sporting event in Italy] is supported by Runners’ Edge Alaska. We sincerely appreciate their belief in what we are doing here.
By Gavin Kentch
This is a quick-hit recap. Full article up later today. Check back here for more.
LAGO DI TESERO — Relay days hit different. But not as hard as Ben Ogden hit the gas near the end of the scramble leg.
“That was awesome,” said an ebullient Ogden shortly after handing off to Gus Schumacher in second, a fraction of a second off the lead, having dropped the field on the final climb of leg one.
(Okay, so Emil Iversen caught back up on the descent to the stadium to hand off first by 0.6 seconds. It was still the best Olympics opening leg of all time for an American men’s relay team, supplanting Dan Simoneau’s third from leg one of the 1984 Games in Sarajevo.) (cite: John Estle told me this, and he would know)
“That was a dream,” Ogden said of his experience in leg one today. “I’m so glad I got to scramble because I love that. I love how in the scramble leg it’s kind of like relaxed for a bit, but then all of a sudden it’s like somebody decides when it’s time to go. And today I got to be the one to decide, and that’s a memory I’ll never ever forget.”
Schumacher skied near the lead throughout his lap, coming into the exchange in fifth, one second out of third and just 15 seconds back of classic maestro Martin Løwstrøm Nyenget of Norway in first.
“It was good,” Schumacher said of his performance today. “I think that’s maybe more representative of results of how I’ve been feeling.”
[see this very good piece by Nat for more on Schumacher’s start to these Games]
“It takes a lot to get four people really having their best days,” Schumacher said of relays, “so they can be really special in that way. They can also be hard, but it’s fun to be doing something together, like truly together.”
Leg three was where things got hard for the Americans. John Steel Hagenbuch gamely skied with the group through the main climb, then “lost everyone on the downhill.” It appeared to me that the glide on the Americans’ skate skis was not competitive today.
“I think I did the fullest extent of what I could do,” was Steel Hagenbuch’s considered take on this moment in the race after I gently asked him about ski speed. “I think I had good energy and was skiing well, but there wasn’t a ton I could do from the top of the climb.”
Zak Ketterson brought things home for the U.S. “It’s a big honor” to be on the relay team, he said, “and especially to get the task of being the anchor leg. I think every kid dreams of that chance.”
The U.S. would finish sixth. Norway won, of course. France was second. Italy took the bronze, with anchor Federico Pellegrino going out with the first relay medal of his career, at home, after four Olympics and eight World Championships. It was an easy outcome to root for.
Full article up later today; check back this evening local time. Thanks.
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 at 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.
