Rosie Brennan
Rosie Brennan took the silver medal and Gus Schumacher took a sick day Thursday at the Tour de Ski in Davos, Switzerland.
Brennan, the two-time Olympian from Anchorage, finished less than one second behind the winner to capture second place in the women’s 20-kilometer pursuit race. Jessie Diggins of Minnesota placed third to collect her fourth medal in five Tour races.
The women’s race started amid heavy snow and low visibility. The men’s pursuit race started later, under clear skies and without Schumacher, who placed a career-best fourth in the day’s previous race but was absent Thursday because of illness.
The weather helped turn the women’s race into “arguably one of the most eventful races in World Cup cross-country skiing history,” according to an account by the FIS.
Some countries, like the United States, used grip wax, which brought the risk of snow collecting on skis and a subsequent need to slow or stop in order to clear the skis. Others went without grip wax, which meant skiers had to double-pole up hills and for much of the classic-technique race.
“It was a neat course, and it made it interesting with some people going without wax and some with,” Brennan said in the FIS report. “I wasn’t sure how it would work out but I’m glad the wax worked out in the end.”
En route to her fourth individual medal of the season and her first since Dec. 17, Brennan decided to test the double-polers by starting hard. She was the leader after 3.5 kilometers and was in fourth place at a midrace checkpoint.
ROSIE BRENNAN AND JESSIE DIGGINS GO 2-3 IN DAVOS CLASSIC PURSUIT❗️❗️
The momentum is NOT stopping at the Tour de Ski, with two more American podiums to add to the list 😤 @rosiewbrennan 2nd // @jessdiggs 3rd
📍Davos, Switzerland #stifelusskiteam pic.twitter.com/VPr1UpkMrD
— U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team (@usskiteam) January 4, 2024
“I had no idea people were going to double pole until we started. I wanted to keep the pace high to tire them out a bit,” Brennan said. “Sometimes it wasn’t smart to lead so I tried to sit in. It was a fight to the end.”
What appeared to be anyone’s race with a couple of kilometers remaining turned into a duel between a pair of 35-year-olds — Brennan and Finland’s Kerttu Niskanin, whose team also opted for grip wax.
Victory went to Niskanin, who nipped Brennan by eight-tenths of a second to win in 1 hour, 12 minutes, 0.7 seconds. Diggins, who overcame a fall at the start of the race, was 8.7 seconds off the lead in third place.
“A wild day of racing and finally finding some good feelings,” Brennan said on Instagram. “Thanks (U.S. wax technicians) for making a stressful day easier.”
All seven Americans who raced Thursday — five women and two men — finished in the top 30. Four of them ski for Alaska Pacific University’s nordic team.
In the women’s race, APU’s Novie McCabe was the third American in 19th place. In the men’s race, APU skiers Scott Patterson placed 25th and Zanden McMullen was 28th, both of them more than two minutes behind winner Harald Oestberg Amundsen of Norway, who clocked 57:57.7.
Anchorage’s Gus Schumacher. Photo courtesy Penny Smythe
Absent from the field was APU’s Schumacher, one of a couple of U.S. men who have withdrawn from the Tour de Ski because of illness — APU’s JC Schoonmaker and Vermont’s Ben Ogden are also sidelined.
Schumacher was poised to challenge for a medal in the pursuit race following an outstanding showing in Wednesday’s freestyle sprint. Never higher than 18th in a sprint race, he qualified 15th in the preliminaries and advanced to the six-man finals by securing lucky-loser spots in both the quarterfinals and semifinals.
Though his illness ended his hopes of chasing a medal in the pursuit, Schumacher nonetheless took an optimistic view of things.
“My sprinting, and skiing in general, has felt really good lately, so I felt confident about the qualifier, which is a super nice place to be,” he said in a statement released by APU. “And being in that final was sick! I wasn’t even really processing it, just kinda skiing without thinking, and I think that was the best way to do it. Really nice to have that feeling of relaxing mid-heat and making things happen when I get opportunities. Stoked about it!
“Bummed I’m sick now, but I’d rather be sick after racing fast than healthy and not knowing how to go faster.”