In what many would say was one of the most eventful races in World Cup cross country skiing history, the race could have been anyone’s up until the last kilometer. At the end of the day, two Americans were on the podium - Rosie Brennan in second and Jessie Diggins in third. Every single starting American  landed in the top 30. 

With snow accumulating quickly, it made for a complicated kick wax situation, but on the start line, all athletes pushed on the two-lap 20k course. With the high altitude of Davos and limited visibility because of the snow, it made for a fascinating race that kept the fans on the edge of their seat until the bitter end.

Racers were seeded at the start according to their qualifying times in Wednesday’s sprint – minus the bonus time accumulated from the final results, which meant Diggins was not leading off the line. Yet, fresh off a podium result in the skate sprint the night before, Diggins was once again back in the top three - notching her 54th career World Cup podium and fourth podium of the Tour de Ski in the process. Brennan was also back on the podium in second, putting a gutsy and tactical race together. It was Brennan's 11th career podium, and nearly remade the Tour de Ski race from a year ago when Brennan and Diggins were on the podium together in the 20k skate.

In the first lap, the pack was tight together through the long gradual climbs, with limited spots that allowed movement from the line. Due to the challenging wax conditions, all countries were trying something different - some using kick wax and some not - but in the end, the Stifel U.S. Ski Team athletes put all the pieces together to make it work. At the finish, Brennan was just 0.8 seconds back with Diggins overcoming an early fall and pushing through the pain to cross the line in third.

Sophia Laukli, Novie McCabe and Sammy Smith were also in the top 30, led by McCabe in 19th, Laukli in 25th and Smith in 28th, respectively.

For the men, the race seemed like it was on an entirely different day. With the sun shining, the temperatures consistently climbing, making it the Davos World Cup scene so many fans have come to love.

Scott Patterson and Zanden McMullen were the only ones to kick off the start line. Over the two laps, with endless movement and variable speeds, this race proved to be just as exciting as the women’s just an hour before. With strong double pole, tactical moves on the steep climbs, Patterson crossed the line first in 25th with McMullen not far behind in 28th.

Looking ahead to the last two stages in Val di Fiemme, Diggins continues to lead the overall, putting herself in a solid position going into the final two races, with Brennan back in the top 10.

The Tour de Ski now packs up for Val di Fiemme, Italy for two final races, starting with a 15k classic mass start.

RESULTS
Women
Men

TOUR DE SKI OVERALL STANDINGS
Women
Men

The Tour de Ski continued today with an exciting skate sprint in Davos, Switzerland. Jessie Diggins claimed her spot on the podium for the third time this tour, finishing in third place, while Gus Schumacher was just off the podium in fourth - a career-best result. Diggins maintains her lead in the overall standings, while Schumacher rose to fourth place overall.

The first stage in Davos and the fourth stage overall kicked off with more ski racing, featuring a lively skate sprint in the sunny mountain town with fans filling the sprint course to cheer. In the qualifier round, seven Americans, including Diggins, Sammy Smith, Julia Kern, Rosie Brennan, Zanden McMullen, Schumacher and Kevin Bolger, advanced to the heats. Notably, it was McMullen's first time qualifying for the heats in his World Cup career.

The challenging course included a long approach to a steep hill, a fast downhill stretch and a sharp, technical right-hand turn. The strategy was clear – go hard from the start and maintain the effort until crossing the finish line.

Into the quarterfinal heats, where to advance, athletes must be top two in their heat, or hold one of the two third fastest times (commonly referred to as the “lucky loser”), Diggins won her heat, Kern was second, and Schumacher became the lucky loser to secure a place in the semis. Brennan, Smith, Bolger and McMullen did not advance.

In the semifinals, Diggins once again won her heat and Schumacher put the hammer down to post a fast time to secure the lucky loser position again and punch his ticket to his first-ever final sprint round.

As the sun set over the mountains, the final race unfolded with USA staff lining the finish stretch with the stadium lights illuminating the course and flame-throwing pyrotechnics decorating the stadium. Diggins showcased tactical moves, up and down the course and ultimately finished third behind Sweden's Linn Svahn and Norway's Kristine Skistad. For the men, Schumacher finished fourth, securing his career-best result in the process. His previous top sprint result was 18th place. 

Smith and McMullen also had career-best results, finishing in 22nd and 25th, respectively.

The Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team continues to excel, thanks to the athletes' incredible efforts and the dedicated staff working behind the scenes. The team looks forward to the 20k classic pursuit Thursday in Davos before heading to Val di Fiemme, Italy for the final two stages of the 2024 Tour de Ski. Heading into stage five with a podium in every stage so far, the Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team is establishing itself as the team to beat.

RESULTS
Women
Men

TOUR DE SKI OVERALL STANDINGS
Women
Men

On the third stage of the 2023-24 Tour de Ski, Jessie Diggins clinched her 17th career World Cup victory in the 20k pursuit, maintaining her firm grip on the overall Tour de Ski standings. Meanwhile, Gus Schumacher secured his first top 10 result of the season to solidify his 10th place position in the overall Tour de Ski standings. Each of the first three Tour stages in Toblach, Italy featured a Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team athlete on the podium, as the Tour moves on to Davos, Switzerland.

Despite the appearance of a mass start, a pursuit race can come across as complicated from the outside. A pursuit-style race in the Tour de Ski means that those who are leading the overall standings are off the start line first and are “pursued” by those in second place, third place and so on. The first person to cross the finish line at the end wins. The ‘time of day’ result reflects the athlete’s overall speed and is calculated separately than the overall result.

Navigating the challenging five-lap course on slow, wet snow, the racers put the hammer down and showed impressive skiing at each point on the course. The men were on the snow first, with Ben Ogden, fresh off his inaugural podium in the skate sprint, starting third based on his overall Tour ranking. However, Schumacher was the top American for the men and consistently posted top-10 times at each marker, elevating his race in the challenging conditions. His chip time placed him sixth overall in the time of day standings, but he crossed the line in 10th place, adding his first top 10 of the season to his resume. Accompanying him, Scott Patterson secured 28th overall with an impressive 20th in the time of day standings, followed by Zanden McMullen in 48th, Ogden in 63rd, and Kevin Bolger in 65th. 

Diggins, donning the coveted overall leader bib for the pursuit, started seven seconds ahead of the second place athlete, Victoria Karl of Germany. Diggins embarked on the course with a clear mission to widen the gap. Through the splits, Diggins kept on it, leading the race at every turn. Skiing the entire 20k by herself, Diggins had to dig deep and put together a race without any competitors around her. Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team athletes Rosie Brennan, Sophia Laukli, Novie McCabe, Sammy Smith and Julia Kern also raced, with Laukli putting together a strong race—highlighting by her winning the ninth fastest time of the day, showcasing her skill in longer distances skate races. Brennan finished 15th, Laukli 21st, McCabe 27th, Kern 45th and Smith 47th.

As the final racer crossed the line, the victory belonged to Diggins, securing her second win in the initial three stages of the Tour and fortifying her leadership in the overall rankings as the race heads to Davos, Switzerland. Stage four features another skate sprint on Jan. 3.

RESULTS
Women's pursuit
Men's pursuit

TOUR DE SKI OVERALL RESULTS
Women
Men

The momentum kept on moving for the Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team in the second stage of the Tour de Ski with Jessie Diggins clinching the podium in third place in Toblach, Italy. Rosie Brennan was just off the podium in fourth place and Ben Ogden was ninth in the 10k classic.

It was Diggins' 52nd career podium and fifth individual podium of the 2023-24 season, and she now officially leads the Tour de Ski overall standings by seven seconds going into Monday's 20k skate pursuit. Right in the fight with Diggins was Brennan, who crossed the line in fourth place, adding another top-five result to her stellar 2023-24 resume.

For the men, Ogden led the team in ninth place after his podium finish on Saturday and now is the overall points leader for the Tour de Ski points standing - celebrated after the conclusion of the men's race with Ogden doing a backflip off the podium wearing the yellow bib. He is also third in the chase for the Tour de Ski overall. Off the start line, he was posting positive splits and never ventured out of the top 10, and is in a good place entering the third stage. Gus Schumacher also skied a strong race and finished in 15th, another strong result for the Alaskan. 

In stage two of seven, athletes attacked a fast, icy and challenging 10k classic. With 91 starters for the men and 66 for the women, the field was stacked in Toblach. With women out of the gate first on the two-lap course that featured steep uphills and fast downhills, each athlete pushed to end the year 2023 on a good note with top results. 

In the women's race, Novie McCabe was the first American out for the interval start format. Following McCabe was Sophia Laukli, Brennan, Sammy Smith, Diggins and Julia Kern. Through the splits, Brennan and Diggins were in the fighting position for podiums throughout the entire race, with Brennan leading at 2.1k, 3k, 5k, 8k time checks. Brennan's result adds to her stellar 2023-24 season, where she has only ventured out of the top-10 twice. 

"I wanted to ski with conviction today and go out and see what was possible, so I tried to set a good pace from the beginning and hold on," said Brennan, post race. "I did that relatively well, I lost some time at the end, but sometimes that the way it works! But I am really proud about how I was skiing today and am happy to have a stronger race than yesterday."

At the end, Diggins pushed into another gear to land on the podium, with Brennan just seconds out of the top three. 

"Today was really cool to get to share my day with my family. I heard them out on the course and that was amazing to have them there in person, as they don't get to see many races live," said Diggins. "Also, my skis were amazing again today. I mean, this is a team sport, not an individual sport; it's a team effort and you can't succeed in this sport without competitive skis and our techs are working so hard and our success today was in a big part because of them. I'm just really grateful and really proud about today!"

McCabe scored top-30 World Cup points in 29th. Laukli took 39th, Smith 52nd and Kern 59th. 

Rounding out the men, Scott Patterson was 40th, Zanden McMullen 50th and Kevin Bolger 72nd. 

On Monday, the journey in Toblach ends with the 20k pursuit skate race, with men kicking off the line at 4:00 a.m. ET and women at 6:30 a.m. ET. 

RESULTS
Women
Men

TOUR DE SKI OVERALL RESULTS
Women
Men

On the first stage of the 2023-24 Tour de Ski, under the sunset over the Dolomites mountain range, Ben Ogden went on to secure his first career podium in the Toblach skate sprint.

Alongside Ogden, Jessie Diggins finished in the top 10 in ninth place.

The Tour de Ski has officially started, with hundreds of athletes lining up at the start line to kick off the first stage with a skate sprint in the city of Toblach, Italy. As the Tour de Ski rules state, an athlete is eliminated from the Tour if they do not start a race, and in today's sprint, the Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team showed up strong, with six Americans advancing to the sprint heats, a feat not easily done. 

Today was Ogden's day. Coming off a strong period one in Scandinavia, Ogden was restless to get the Tour started, starting off with his preferred race style - a sprint. In the qualification round, he was in a good position, crossing the line in eighth place. Alongside him going into the heats were teammates Kevin Bolger and Gus Schumacher. 

Into the rounds, Ogden kept the momentum going all the way through to the final. Towards the end of the heats, the snow was getting choppier and messier by the second, but that did not stop Ogden from pushing it around every corner, each downhill and up the steep uphills (even the one that goes over a building) to snag third place.

"This was really fun. I just feel like I was able to execute every heat and it worked well for me. I couldn't believe I was in that position at the finish line and I just thought to myself that I had what it takes to just land on the podium," Ogden said, seconds after spraying his celebratory champagne over his whole team. "This is a crazy feeling. A fantastic race to start the tour after a hard summer and a hectic start to the season. I'm really proud of myself for today."

Ogden's hard summer references his father John Ogden, who passed away after a decade-long battle with cancer. John Ogden was beloved in the cross country world, having coached for many years and passionately cheered on his children - Ben and former U.S. Cross Country Ski Team athlete Katharine - as they raced throughout their careers.

Ogden had shown his speed last season on the World Cup, securing six top-10 results and coming away from the season with the U23 green bib, distinguishing him as the fastest male athlete under the age of 23 on the circuit. This season, he was just off the podium in fourth place in Östersund, while his teammate JC Schoonmaker became the first American man to step on a World Cup podium since 2017. With Ogden's podium in Toblach, it marks the first time two different American men have been on the podium in the same season since 1983 (Tim Caldwell and Bill Koch).

Rounding out the men's race, Schumacher and Bolger did not punch their ticket to the final, but it was a highlight for Schumacher, who walked away with the best sprint result of his career in 18th. Bolger was 24th.

For the women, Diggins led the way, landing in the top 10 in ninth place, with teammate Julia Kern right behind in 11th. Rosie Brennan was 27th. In the qualifications, Diggins qualified second, Kern was sixth and Brennan 14th. The day came to a close for Brennan in the quarterfinals, but her focus is now on her favorite race, the 10k classic. For the World Cup overall leader Diggins, a top 10 is a race to celebrate and for Kern, an 11th is added to her impressive World Cup resume. 

Sammy Smith, Novie McCabe, Sophia Laukli, Zanden McMullen and Scott Patterson did not qualify through to the heats, and will now look to Sunday's race.

Tomorrow, the team is back in Toblach for the second stage of the Tour, the 10k classic. Watch LIVE on skiandsnowboard.live, with women starting at 6:15 a.m. ET and men at 9 a.m. ET. 

RESULTS
Women's sprint
Men's sprint

In the final race of a three-race series in Trondheim, Norway, the Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team athletes were once again back on top with Rosie Brennan on the podium in second, Jessie Diggins only seconds behind in fourth and Ben Ogden in eighth in the 10k classic.

The classic tracks were wet from moisture, the air was warm and the start list was packed with talent. Athletes skied around the course twice, racking up 11k of trail when it was all said and done. Among the seven American men starters, Ogden led the way. At each time check, he was in the mix, skiing a smart and tactical race, honing in on his classic ski strength to finish in eighth. Not far behind was the young Alaskan Zanden McMullen in 29th, adding another World Cup top-30 result to his resume. 

For the women, Brennan reaffirmed her dominance, showcasing her versatility in every event. Starting conservatively, Brennan accelerated mid-race and never relinquished her podium position. At the 5.2k mark, she trailed the leader by a mere 10 seconds, closing the gap the more she skied. In the final stretch, Brennan put down a powerful sprint, crossing the line in second place, just two seconds ahead of Sweden's Ebba Andersson and 19 seconds behind the day's victor, Victoria Carl of Germany. Diggins was just off the podium in fourth place. 

Reflecting on the team's exceptional performance, Brennan said, "It's been an incredibly strong start from our entire team. It's not something we planned, but we'll gladly take it. Our team is in excellent shape, skiing well, and things are moving in a positive direction."

After four weeks of racing, the Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team closed out the first period of racing with one of the program's most impressive starts to a season in history. Throughout the 10 races, spanning four different venues and three countries, the team landed on the podium nine times, in both individual and team pursuits. Overall, the 23-athlete-strong roster is third in the Nations Cup standings, ahead of powerhouse countries like Finland, Germany, France and Italy. 

In the battle for the overall title, Jessie Diggins maintains her lead, with Brennan closely trailing in third—a historic positioning with two Americans occupying the top two spots. Individually, Brennan, currently ranked second in the World Cup overall, has consistently finished within the top 10 in every race of the season but one. On the men's side, Ben Ogden continues to make waves, securing another top-10 result and hovering on the edge of the top 10 in 11th place for the World Cup overall.

As the team looks back on the achievements of period one, there is much to celebrate—multiple podiums, outstanding skis in each race, career-best results and a strong sense of camaraderie within the team.

"Podiums are always fun for the team, and even when it’s coming from just one athlete," said Matt Whitcomb, Head Coach. "So imagine what it feels like to come out of period one with five athletes that have stood on it. And beyond that, we have new athletes in the top 30 and top 15 for the first time. We’ve built some depth, and that depth is like a ladder of possibility that extends down to the racers back home. More American athletes know they can do it. And they are going to. You’ll hear their names soon."

Anticipation builds for the upcoming Tour de Ski, with the American team emerging as the one to watch, but for now, the entire team will take a break for the holidays.

RESULTS
Women
Men

In today's 20k skiathlon, Jessie Diggins was back on the podium in second, clinching her fourth podium of the 2023-24 season and 51st podium of her career. Rosie Brennan finished the day in eighth, tallying another top 10 to her impressive season.

As a test event for the 2025 FIS Cross Country Ski World Championships, the skiathlon gives spectators and fans the opportunity to see athletes ski both skate and classic in the same race. For the 20k skiathlon format, athletes kicked off the start line in classic skis, with 10k ahead of them. After more than 25 minutes of hard-fought classic skiing, racers switched to skate skis to finish out the remaining 10k.

It was a warm day in Trondheim, with light rain and the warmest temperatures the athletes have raced in this season. Coming off a fourth place result the day prior in the skate sprint, Diggins started off fast, alongside her teammates Brennan, Novie McCabe and Alayna Sonnesyn. Through the first 10k, Brennan was in the lead pack, skiing comfortably behind the ultimate winner of the day, Ebba Andersson of Sweden. At every time check, Brennan maintained her second position, but on the skate leg, Diggins found her found her way to the front, leading the chase group.

Through the checkpoints, Diggins went from seventh place up to second, making moves to position herself for the finishing stretch, in which she turned on the gas to cross the line in second, 15 seconds behind Andersson. Across the line, Brennan was 52 seconds behind the winner in eighth and McCabe finished within the top 30 in 23.

For the men, Ben Ogden led the U.S. men, finishing in the top 20 in 17th.

Tomorrow, the Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team will wrap up the first period of racing with a 10k classic before a well-deserved holiday break.

RESULTS
Women
Men

The Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team started off strong in Trondheim with three Americans in the top-15 in the skate sprint, led by Jessie Diggins in fourth, Julia Kern in ninth and Kevin Bolger in 12th. 

In the debut skate sprint of the year, at the site of the upcoming 2025 FIS World Cross Country Ski Championships, the competition was stacked. With 57 on the startlist for the women and 77 for the men, the last sprint race of period one was set to be exciting. 

On the American side, six athletes advanced to the heats, based on landing in the top 30 in the qualification round. For the women, Kern had the fifth fastest qualification time, with Diggins and Brennan not far behind in 10th and 11th. On the men's side, JC Schoonmaker, coming fresh off his first World Cup podium in the Östersund classic sprint qualified eighth, with Bolger in 13th and Ben Ogden in 18th. 

In the men's quarterfinal heat, Bolger was the only American to advance, winning his heat. For the women, Diggins won her heat and went on to eventually win her semifinal. Kern was second in her quarterfinal, punching her ticket to the semis, but ultimately did not advance through to finals. Brennan, despite a fast quarterfinal heat, did not advance. 

"I was really happy to be out there and have one of my best sprints," said Kern, post-race. "The best part of the day was just getting out there and skiing."

In the final, Diggins was the lone American, alongside Sweden, Germany and Norway. In the finishing stretch of the technical, hilly sprint course, the eventual winner of the day, Kristine Skistad of Norway turned on the gas to out-sprint both Linn Svahn and Emma Ribom of Sweden, who filled the remaining podium positions. At the end of the day, Diggins was just off the podium in fourth, adding another top 10 to her outstanding 2023-24 resume and further solidifying her leading position in the World Cup overall standings. 

The team is back on snow for the 20k skiathlon on Saturday, where they will race 10k in classic skis, switch mid-race, then 10k on skate skis. 

RESULTS
Men
Women