Milano Cortina 2026 - Team USA - Cross-Country Skiing Road to Milano Cortina 2026

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Team USA 2026

 

Men - 8 athletes - TBD

 

Women - 7 athletes - TBD

 

History

 

This is a sport dominated by the Nordic countries.  Out of 544 medals ever awarded, the USA has only earned 4.  But!  Jessie Diggins won two of those (a silver and a bronze) in the W 30km event and the Individual Sprint (respectively) in 2022.  Additionally, Diggins and teammate Kikkan Randall won gold in Pyeongchang in 2018 in the Team Sprint.  Before that, you have to go back to Innsbruck in 1976, where the lone male cross-country skiier Bill Koch won silver in the M 30km event.

Edited September 28 by clemsonbeav

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While the team won't be announced until January, NBC Olympics has some athletes to keep an eye out on:

 

• Ben Ogden took third place in the 10km freestyle in Jan. 2025. It marked his second career World Cup podium finish.
• Gus Schumacher earned his first-ever World Cup win in Feb. 2024 in the 10km freestyle and became the youngest U.S. athlete ever to win a World Cup race.
• Schumacher also became the first American man ever to reach the World Cup podium in a 20km freestyle mass start race in Feb. 2025. The second-place finish was his second career World Cup podium appearance.
• Ogden and Schumacher are the best chances for the U.S. men to end the team's 50-year medal drought.

 

• Jessie Diggins is the most decorated U.S. cross-country skier of all time with an Olympic medal in every color. She won the 2025 FIS World Cup Crystal Globes for distance and overall. Diggins is expected to compete for gold in the 10km freestyle. She also has predicted to be a podium contender in skiathlon.
• American Julia Kern teamed up with Diggins in the women’s team sprint classic at the 2025 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships and took home silver.

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Announcement of the team from US Ski & Snowboard: https://www.usskiandsnowboard.org/news/2025-26-stifel-us-cross-country-ski-team-announced

 

(This is the overall team, not who is going to the Olympics.)