TESSELLO, Italy — Ten days ago, U.S. men’s cross-country skiing had not won a medal in 50 years. Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher won silver in Wednesday’s team sprint relay, so they will now return home from Italy with at least two pieces of hardware.

Norway’s Johannes Hosfrod Klaibo won the men’s team sprint with teammate Einar Hedegard, breaking away from the pack in the final six laps to claim his fifth gold medal of the tournament. If he wins Saturday’s 50km race, he will be one step closer to winning the gold medal in cross country history.

Klebo, 29, had already broken the all-time gold medal record earlier in the Winter Olympics. Wednesday’s victory marked his 10th gold medal, two ahead of any other athlete. His fifth gold medal in Milan-Cortina tied American speed skater Eric Heiden’s record for most gold medals at the Winter Olympics.

The team sprint relay consists of six laps, with each athlete taking turns skating three laps. The US selected Schumacher to complete the anchor leg.

Hedegard gave Kläbo a small lead going into lap six, but Schumacher put pressure on the Norwegian on the final loop. The American climbed the final hill in second place, winning the silver medal ahead of Italian cross-country icon Federico Pellegrino.

“I think it was the first time in my life that I felt anxious,” said Matt Whitcomb, the pair’s coach. “My chest has been feeling tight for the past few days. I was really nervous today.”

Ogden and Schumacher finished ninth in this same event at the 2022 Olympics. Four years later, they’re seven better. This is the first medal for the United States in this event since Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins won historic gold medals at the women’s competition in Beijing in 2018.

Randall and Schumacher are both from Alaska, and years ago Randall gave him her old pole. The torch, or rather the pole, has now been officially passed from Randall, who retired in 2018, and Diggins, who plans to retire after this season, to Ogden and Schumacher.

Schumacher collapsed into the snow after crossing the line, and Ogden threw his body over his exhausted teammate. Meanwhile, Ogden said he was too tired to celebrate from the podium with his signature back somersault.

“That’s insane,” Ogden said. “Hey, today we proved we’re here to stay, and this week we proved we’re here to stay. And the American players were in good shape, they were great.”

Their success came despite the failure of the tactical plan set before the race. The two were scheduled to compete on the right side of the crowded and chaotic exchange zone.

“Each time we came in from the other side and had to cross about 15 people,” Ogden said. “Between us, we both knew it wasn’t working, but we couldn’t go to the left side and risk him not seeing us. So we had to stick with it.”

The U.S. team had advanced to the finals earlier in the day by beating Norway by more than two seconds, and expectations were high after scoring the first podium in World Cup history at the tournament in Switzerland last month.

Meanwhile, Ogden’s form was self-evident as he ended his U.S. cross country drought last week with a second-place finish in the individual sprint, an emotional moment for a team that has spent years building its men’s program behind a group of young athletes.

“(Ben) set me up perfectly on the last lap,” Schumacher said. “So, it was a very easy job to do, but I was really happy to do it.

“I had to come today and I believed I could do it, so I looked at Klebo’s butt and locked in and chased him all the way to the finish line. I know technically I can come out of the corner just like him and I felt like I came into the hill with good speed.”

“I was really proud of being able to stay within range. … I felt so calm and light today, like I was freeskiing.”

Schumacher endured a tough start to the event, crashing on the opening lap of the men’s skiathlon. He also missed out on qualifying for the knockout stage of the individual sprint two days later, watching Ogden, his roommate at the Olympics, win the silver medal.

Schumacher said, “It’s great to win a medal, but it’s a result of what I’ve been doing for the past 10 days.” “They weren’t that easy.”

Schumacher’s mother, Amy, said: “It’s really hard for everything to work out, so when it does, it’s really amazing.” The Athletic A moment after the medal ceremony. She was filming the race on FaceTime for Schumacher’s girlfriend.

“I love the idea that in order to feel the highs in life, you have to feel the lows,” Amy said. “Please accept.”

Ogden’s father, John, died of cancer in 2023. Before he died, he told his son that he had the ability to run the best race in the world.

“When he’s been texting me or talking on the phone, he’s been lumping me in with the best players in the world. He’s lumping me in with (Klaibo),” Ogden said. The Athletic last week. “He thought I was the same as other top-level skiers, and I couldn’t believe it at first.”

Claibo’s family agreed.

“Ben is getting closer and closer,” Norwegian’s father Haakon said after last week’s individual sprint. “He will beat Johannes at some point. I know Johannes was anxious during the sprint because he kept looking back at himself in the last sprint. He was really pushing him.”

Ogden will be 30 and Schumacher 29 at the next Olympics. As they prepared to leave for an official press conference, they were asked if it would be another 50 years before the next U.S. men’s cross country medal.

“Someone asked me that last time and I said no,” Ogden said, celebrating his second silver medal. “And five days later, here we are. So, no, I don’t think it will take another 50 years.”