Here’s how Team USA did in the cross-country ski men’s and women’s team sprint

MILAN, Italy — Team USA cross-country skiers won another medal Wednesday, finishing second in the men’s team free sprint final at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. 

The American men’s duo of Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher, making history again for Team USA.  

Ogden broke a 50-year medal drought for Team USA earlier in these Games, claiming silver in the men’s sprint classic at the Milan Cortina Games. He is the second U.S. man ever to win an Olympic cross-country skiing medal at the Olympics and the first American man to win a cross-country medal for the U.S. since 1976. On Wednesday, a third U.S. skier joined the ranks.

Ogden and Schumacher finished second with a time of 18:30.3, 1.4 seconds behind Norway’s gold medal time. 

Ogden’s aggressive fight for speed was on full display, especially in the second to last lap, pulling the U.S. racers from the back of the pack into second behind Norway in the final lap exchange. 

Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, whose nearly superhuman speeds have gone viral, pulled far ahead of the pack on the race’s final lap, but Schumacher was at his heels for the entire sprint. 

This is Klaebo’s fifth gold medal in the 2026 Winter Games and his 10th Olympic gold medal overall, setting another Winter Games record. 

Jessie Diggins and Julia Kern did not not reach the podium Wednesday in the women’s cross-country skiing team free sprint at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, finishing fifth. 

Diggins pulled ahead of the pack at the start of the race and pushed hard to widen her lead from the pack in an ambitious the first round. By the final exchange, Sweden pulled far ahead to finish first. Switzerland attempted to close the gap to the finish line, but there was no catching the Swedish skier. Sweden won gold with a finish time of 22:29.99, followed by Switzerland for silver and Germany for bronze.  

Team USA finished the race fifth with a time of 20:41.53, 11.54 seconds behind the gold medalists. 

Diggins was going after her second medal in the 2026 Olympics after winning bronze in the 10km freestyle. Diggins narrowly missed a second-place finish in that event, even with her ribs bruised after a fall earlier in the Games. She earned a gold, silver and bronze medal from three previous Winter Games.

In the cross-country skiing team sprint free, skiers start individually at 30-second intervals. Teams of two alternate laps for six laps. The event begins with two semi-final races. The top two teams, along with six “lucky losers” advance to the final, according to Olympics.com.