Ben Ogden delivered a landmark performance Tuesday in Italy, capturing a silver medal in the men’s cross-country sprint and ending a half-century drought for American men in the sport at the Winter Olympics. The 25-year-old Vermont native posted a time of 3:40.61, finishing less than a second behind Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo. The Norwegian star claimed gold in 3:39.74, continuing his dominance in the discipline, while compatriot Oskar Opstad Vike secured bronze several seconds back.

Ogden’s result marked the first Olympic cross-country skiing medal by a U.S. man since Bill Koch’s silver in 1976, making Ogden only the second American male ever to reach the Olympic podium in the sport. It was also Team USA’s first individual sprint medal in Olympic cross-country skiing.

After crossing the line, Ogden struggled to put the moment into words: “Unbelievable, unbelievable. I just can’t, I can’t put into words. I’m just so thrilled,” he said. “I’m proud to be the first in the sprint but there will be more, don’t you worry.”

Klaebo, widely considered the best cross-country skier in the world, surged clear of the field on a demanding uphill section late in the race before easing through the finish. The victory gave him another gold medal at these Games and pushed his Olympic total to nine medals overall, seven of them gold. “It was amazing,” Klaebo said afterward. “My shape is good and I was a little bit more relaxed before this race than I was before Sunday.”

The silver medal was a breakthrough moment for a U.S. program that has historically struggled in Olympic cross-country skiing. Since the sport debuted at the Games in 1924, American athletes had medaled only a handful of times, with women accounting for most of that success. Ogden’s performance continues a recent upward trend, adding to the medals won by U.S. skiers since 2018.

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