LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – The cross country ski world came to the United State for only the third time since the Olympics in Utah in 2002. Much of the Vermont ski community joined the 10,000 plus fans to cheer on local heros Ben Ogden (Landgrove, Vt.), Jessie Diggins (Stratton, Vt.), Julia Kern (Burlington, Vt.), and Jack Young (Jay, Vt.). Spectators lined the course hours before racing action began cheering on every athlete that passed by. Jessie Diggins, Gus Schumacher or Ben Ogden were nearby hearing the screams and clapping from a half mile away.
The Craftsbury Green Racing Project had three athletes in the mix: Jack Young (Jay, Vt.), Brian Bushey (Montpelier, Vt.), and John Schwinghamer (Mora, Minn.). They and the other two dozen U.S. athletes received nearly the same attention as the Olympic medalists. And the crowd cheered and supported everyone, not just the Americans and Canadians. During the sprint warm-up, Benjamin Moser from Austria, stopped in the middle of the course smiling. He lifted his arms a half dozen time to encourage more cheering and then gave a bow of thanks with hands clasped together. Swedes, Czechs, Japanese and Italians were giving high fives to the crowds as they skied by soaking up the energy.
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And there were some races too. First off was the 10 km classic individual start where skiers head out on course every 30 seconds for two laps around one of the most challenging courses in the North America. The course has multiple major climbs and six screaming downhills similar to Elinor’s Hill in Craftsbury. It makes the Craftsbury 5 km race course seem like beginner green trail. Brian Bushey in his second-ever World Cup, started 30 seconds ahead of possibly the best cross country skier in history, Johannes Klaebo from Norway. Klaebo took six gold medals at this year’s Olympics. Bushey held him off until the 2.5 km mark. Klaebo went on to win the race in 26:44 followed by Norwegian teammates Andreas Fjorden and Mattis Stenshagen. U.S.’s Gus Schumacher skied to a really strong 7th, and Ben Ogden had possibly his best distance race of the year placing 11th. Bushey finished a respectable 50th. In the women’s 10 km, Linn Svahn and Frida Karlson went one-two for Sweden 1.4 seconds apart with Norways’ Heidi Weng 3rd. Jessie Diggins finished 5th, and Waterbury’s Ava Thurston had a really good race placing 33rd. Thurston is a senior at Dartmouth College.
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The second day of racing was super exciting with the 1.5 km freestyle sprint. All the skiers raced in the qualifier in the morning going out every 15 seconds. The top 30 men and women moved on to the five quarterfinal heats. Craftsbury’s Jack Young fed off all the cheering from friends and family placing 6th in the qualifier. In his quarterfinal he made his way up to 2nd place at the top of the biggest climb but Ansgar Evenson rode his tails on the downhill taking advantage of the draft and was able to sneak ahead of Young in the final sprint leaving Young in 3rd just out of reach of making the semifinals. The top 12 skiers move on to the semis. Young would end up 13th overall, pretty amazing for a recent college graduate who played football at North Country Union as a main sport in high school only six years ago. GRPer John Schwinghamer skied to 54th in the qualifier. Italy’s Frederico Pelligrino stole the fans hearts and cheers by skiing the most spectacular and daring finish in the six-person final by blowing away his competitors on the final climb and holding the lead over the final downhill of the course. Chants of “Pelligrino” echoed on and off the remainder of the day especially at the awards ceremony. Pelligrino is retiring at the end of this season along with U.S. legend Jessie Diggins. Diggins would end up 9th in the sprint with three Swedes taking the top spots, and Linn Svahn winning her 2nd race of the weekend.
The final day was the mass start 30 km freestyle. The men’s race stayed packed together until about the midway point when five Norwegians and one Italian started making a gap. Klaebo would take the win in 41:57 securing the overall World Cup title. Schumacher held with the lead group for the first two-thirds of the race before fading to 20th. Brian Bushey kept pace with a group of fellow Americans and finished 47th. Jonna Sundling bested Swedish teammate Linn Svahn in the final stretch skiing 20 km in 48:17. Diggins was just behind the lead pack on the final downhill when she caught an edge and crashed. She got up quickly and held on for 12th. Diggins won her 4th overall World Cup title and crystal globe. Her retirement party then began among her thousands of fans and fellow racers from across the globe. For Young, Bushey, and Schwinghamer, their young ski careers are just beginning.
