Gus Schumacher earned our Alaska Athlete of the Week honors after his historic performance at the Milan Olympics in Italy.
The Anchorage skier teamed up with Vermont’s Ben Ogden to claim the silver medal in the team sprint. It was the third medal in Olympic history for the U.S. men.
Schumacher, 25, skied a gutsy final leg to keep up with Norway super-human Johannes Høsflot Klæbo for most of the race’s final 1.5 kilometers, a tactic that paid off.
Later in the week Schumacher finished a respectable 13th in Saturday’s punishing 50-kilometer men’s classic race to cap off the Olympic Games as one of only a handful of nordic skiers to compete in all six races.
- Braden Birnie – The UAF hockey senior totaled two goals and two assists in UAF’s sweep of UAA at Sullivan Arena that helped ensure the Alaska Airlines Governor’s Cup stays in Fairbanks.
- Chris Grover/Erik Flora – Grover and Flora of Anchorage contributed immensely to the success of the US Nordic Ski team at the Winter Olympics – Grover as the US Ski Team program director, Flora as the APU Nordic Ski Center program director.
- Kristen Faulkner – The cyclist from Homer won double gold in the individual pursuit and team pursuit at the Pan American Track Championships in Santiago, Chile.
- Luke Jager – The Anchorage skier shattered the American Birkebeiner course record by more than six minutes Saturday in Hayward, Wisconsin. He won a fierce sprint to the finish line to win the 50-kilometer freestyle race in 1 hour, 50 minutes, 44.95 seconds.
- Jack Leveque/ Mia Stiassny – Leveque of Service High and Stiassny of South High were named boys and girls Alaska Skimeisters respectively at the Alaska high school cross-country ski championships. Leveque, a junior is a repeat champion. Stiassny is the first Wolverine girl to win the award in 19 years.
- Alex Unks – The junior basketball player at Service High hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to lift the Cougars to a dramatic 48-47 victory at East Anchorage to remain undefeated in the Cook Inlet Conference. Unks has been a major factor behind Service’s (20-2) strong play this season.
The Alaska Athlete of the Week is selected by a panel each Monday. If you have an athlete of the week recommendation you can email it to info@alaskasportshall.org.
