Gus Schumacher
The Tour de Ski is turning into a tour de force for Anchorage skier Gus Schumacher.
In a men’s freestyle sprint race Wednesday in Davos, Switzerland, Schumacher registered the best result of his career — one that left him 1.62 seconds away from the medals podium.
Schumacher, 23, claimed fourth place in the men’s race to shoot up to fourth place in the Tour de Ski’s overall standings with three races left in the demanding series. Skiers race seven times in nine days, using their days off to travel from Italy to Switzerland to Italy again.
Schumacher is enjoying a career week in the Tour with three top-15 finishes in four races. It may be a stretch to call it a breakout performance, because he’s been in the top 20 a few times already this season.
He was coming off a standout effort in a 20K freestyle pursuit race on Monday, when he placed 10th after clocking the sixth-fastest time of the day. The day before, he placed 15th in the 10K classic.
Coming into Wednesday’s race, Schumacher ranked 19th in the World Cup overall standings, a position built nearly entirely on his results in distance races. In his previous four sprint races this season, Schumacher finished 18th in one and failed to advance to the heats in three others.
Now he has sprint racing to thank for his career-best result.
“Pretty sick to have it come in a sprint, because I really wasn’t ready to let that side of my skiing die,” Schumacher said in a statement from the U.S. Ski Team. “I feel like it speaks a lot to the strength of my training partners at home and at camps … those boys have really, really helped me learn how to ski fast while relaxed.”
Anchorage’s Gus Schumacher (right) at the start of Wednesday’s finals.
Schumacher had little time to relax Wednesday. After qualifying for the heats with the day’s 15th fastest time, he advanced through the quarterfinals and semifinals as a lucky loser — the term given to skiers who don’t automatically advance by placing in the top two of a heat but move on anyway based on their time.
By claiming a lucky-loser spot in the semifinals, Schumacher raced in a sprint final for the first time in his four-year World Cup career.
One of six men in the finals, he finished a couple of heartbeats behind lead pack — gold medalist Lucas Chanavat of France, who won in 2 minutes, 15.07 seconds, silver medalist Edvin Anger of Sweden (2:15.32) and bronze medalist Federico Pellegrino of Italy (2:15.51).
Schumacher (2:17.13) was 2.06 seconds behind the winner and 1.62 seconds off the bronze-medal time. He was .47 seconds ahead of the fifth-place finisher.
In the women’s race, Minnesota’s Jessie Diggins captured third place for her third podium finish in four Tour de Ski races and her seventh individual medal of the season. Julia Kern of Massachusetts placed 11th and Rosie Brennan of Anchorage was 14th.
In all, seven Americans — four women and three men — advanced to the heats. Among them was Zanden McMullen of Anchorage, who placed 25th after making it to the quarterfinals for the first time in his career.
Vermont’s Ben Ogden and Anchorage’s Gus Schumacher from earlier this week. Photo by US Ski Team.
Schumacher, 23, was vying to become the third American man to reach a World Cup podium this year — something that’s never happened. Anchorage’s JC Schoonmaker and Vermont’s Ben Ogden each pocketed third-place sprint finishes earlier this season but neither raced Wednesday — both have withdrawn from the Tour because of illness, according to various news reports.
On Thursday, Schumacher will get another chance to chase a medal. He’ll be the fourth skier to leave the start line of a 20K pursuit race in Davos, just two seconds behind the leader.
Skiers get Friday off before wrapping up the Tour de Ski with races Saturday and Sunday in Val di Fiemme, Italy.