Ben Ogden set an ambitious pace in the men’s cross-country ski relay. Here’s how Team USA finished.

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Province of Belluno — Freshly minted silver medalist Ben Ogden kicked off an aggressive first leg of the men’s 4 x 7.5km cross-country ski relay Sunday morning. 

Ogden of Landgrove, Vermont, who celebrated his win Tuesday with a podium backflip after breaking a 50-year medal drought for Americans in the sport, dug deep to lead the pack in an ambitious start and challenge the typical frontrunners in the sport. 

Conditions worked in favor of the men’s relay, with blue skies and bright sun a stark contrast to the wet, slushy conditions the women’s relay faced just a day earlier.  

Four skiers participate in the event, with each skier racing their individual 7.5-kilometer leg. The first two skiers compete in the classic technique, where the skier glides along the grooved tracks in the snow, and the final two skiers compete in the free technique, which is also called skate. Each competitor must tag off their next teammate. The final skier to race in the relay group is called the anchor.

Ogden set a tough pace that the typical frontrunner nations struggled to reach. By the time Ogden tapped in the next Team USA relay competitor, the Americans were comfortably poised to stay at the top of the pack. 

Ogden handed off to two-time Olympian Gus Schumacher of Anchorage, Alaska, who maintained a competitive pace for the Americans in the second leg. By the third and fourth leg, the competition widened, and the chance for Team USA to get on the podium slipped further and further away.  

First-time Olympian John Steel Hagenbuch of Ketchum, Idaho, was the third U.S. competitor. Hagenbuch raced shirtless and with an American flag stamped on his forehead. He tagged in anchor Zak Ketterson of Bloomington, Minnesota, who was also a first-timer at the Winter Games. 

The day belonged to Norway, though, as soon as Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo hit the course. The Norwegian anchor, who has been called “King Klaebo” and is widely considered the Michael Phelps of the Winter Games, crushed competitors to take gold.

France took silver, and Italy took bronze. The U.S. finished sixth. 

Klaebo’s jaw-dropping uphill climb during men’s cross-country skiing sprint Tuesday went viral after he reached speeds of nearly 11.5 miles per hour. 

Klaebo set a new Winter Games record for gold medal wins with Norway’s gold medal victory Sunday. Four of those medals have been won during the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, and he has two more chances this month to continue his winning streak.