Rosie Brennan
The past, the present and the future — all were part of the story Sunday for the U.S. Ski team during World Cup relay races in Gallivare, Sweden.
The women’s 4×7.5-kilometer race was all about the present, with a healthy nod to the past.
Jessie Diggins of Minnesota and Rosie Brennan of Anchorage, who entered the race ranked first and second in the World Cup standings, continued their strong season by propelling the Americans to the bronze medal.
They skied the classic legs, with Diggins finishing a half-second out of the lead after the scramble leg and Brennan opening up a mammoth 19-second lead in the second leg. Sophia Laukli of Maine and Julia Kern of Massachusetts held on during their freestyle legs to keep the U.S. in the top three.
It’s the sixth time in history the American women have won a medal in a relay race, and this one came on the same trails as the first one. The last time the World Cup came to Gallivare was November 2012, when a U.S. relay team made the podium for the first time. Anchorage skiers Kikkan Randall and Holly Brooks teamed up with Diggins and Liz Stephens of Vermont for the ground-breaking bronze-medal performance.
“It’s so cool to be back here and have all these memories,” Diggins said.
The men’s 7.5K-race was about the future — a future that, quite possibly, is rapidly approaching.
An American team featuring three Alaskans — Gus Schumacher, Scott Patterson and Zanden McMullen — placed fifth for the first top-5 showing by the U.S. men in 20 years. They were 45.5 seconds off Norway’s winning pace but just 7.4 seconds off the bronze-medal position.
A second American team featuring two Alaskans — Luke Jager and J.C. Schoonmaker — finished eighth, 12.8 seconds behind the other American team.
Both teams were in the lead pack after the opening leg, with Vermont’s Ben Ogden finishing 1.2 seconds out of the lead and Jager finishing 1.6 seconds out of the lead.
Schumacher delivered the fifth-fastest time in the second leg and McMullen had the third-fastest anchor leg to lift Ogden’s team to fifth place.
Anchorage’s Gus Schumacher. Photo by US Ski Team
When they were teenagers, Schumacher, Jager and Ogden teamed up to win three relay medals at three consecutive World Junior Championships; in 2018 they won silver along with Anchorage’s Hunter Wonders, and in 2019 and 2020 they won gold along with Idaho’s Johnny Hagenbuch, who on Sunday recorded the fastest time in the third leg for Jager’s team.
“Today we got yet another glimpse of the true potential of the men’s team in relays,” said Chris Grover, the program director for the U.S. cross country team. “We’ve known the talent is there given their World Junior Championship relay medal pedigree, and we know we need patience as these men make the step to World Cup (racing) and build critical experience.
“In the next seasons, these men will clearly challenge for the podium. We’re likely on the cusp of a period of truly inspiring USA men’s success.”
All five of the Alaska men who raced Sunday train with Alaska Pacific University’s nordic team, and all but Schoonmaker grew up training and racing in Anchorage. McMullen, 22, thinks the familiarity breeds confidence.
“I think being such good friends and being so close to your teammates, it relieves a lot of pressure and feels very familiar,” he said.
The U.S. women alleviate pressure on relay days by embracing the chance to ski as a team in a sport where most races are individual efforts.
Though their six World Cup medals are spread across 11 seasons, they’ve put an indelible stamp on the event by showing up for relays wearing glitter and paint on their faces and matching red, white and blue socks on their feet.
“Relay podiums are always special,” Brennan said. “It’s just always fun to have a joint effort out there and then everyone shares the emotion. If it’s a good day everyone’s happy; if it’s a bad day, everyone’s less happy.”
On days when people are racing individually, “it’s mixed vibes,” she said. “So it’s always fun to have the same things going on.”
Anchorage’s Rosie Brennan. Photo by Nordic Focus
So far Brennan, a two-time Olympian, is feeling nothing but good vibes this season. Five races into the season, she and Diggins each own three medals — a gold, silver and bronze for Diggins, and silver, bronze and bronze for Brennan.
Usually they both ski freestyle legs in relay races, with Diggins anchoring the team with the idea that she might make up ground in the final leg.
This time they both skied the classic legs, with the idea they might hand an early lead to Laukli and Kern.
It turned out to be a very good idea.
“It was really nice … to try something different in our order and see how it went down,” Brennan said. “I think we’re building up a new team, and I think it’s looking good.”
New teams or old teams, the medal-winning U.S. relay teams have always included at least one Alaskan.
Brennan, 34, has been on four of them, as has now-retired Sadie Bjornsen Maubet. Randall has been on two and Brooks and Hailey Swirbul were each on one.
Diggins, 32, is the only woman to ski on all six medal-winning teams — a point of pride for the three-time Olympic medalist.
“One of things I’m most proud of in my entire career is to be part of all the relays that have medals and seeing how the team has changed over the years and also how it hasn’t changed,” she said. “Obviously we still have the socks and the face paint and the glitter, but all these amazing women are coming up and putting their heart and soul into this team and racing so hard for the team.”
Diggins came into Sunday’s race fresh off a victory in Saturday’s 10-kilometer freestyle race. Brennan tied for sixth place, Laukli was 13th, Kern 18th and APU’s Novie McCabe was 29th, giving the Americans five in the top 30.
Two Americans scored World Cup points with top-30 showings in the men’s 10K. Schumacher led the way in 16th place and Ogden was 25th. Halfway through his race, Schumacher was 10 seconds out of the lead.
Schumacher has been the top American in all three distance races this season; a week earlier in Finland, he placed 16th in a 20K freestyle, 22nd in a 10K classic and had his best qualifying result in a sprint, though he didn’t advance to the quarterfinals.
He ranks 18th in the overall World Cup standings.
“I’m feeling really happy where I’m at,” Schumacher said prior to Sunday’s relay. “It’s been four really solid races now, and I feel like my body hasn’t really gotten to full race mode yet, so I hope to keep it rolling.
“My goal moving forward is to just try to make the right training decisions and start to reframe my mindset to be ready to really fight for those top positions. At halfway (on Saturday) I got a split that I was 10 seconds out of the lead and I honestly wasn’t really ready for that feel, but going forward I will be.”