The top cross-country skiers in the world, including some from Alaska or with Alaska connections, are competing this weekend in a rare World Cup tour stop in the U.S.
In fact, it’s been 23 years since there were World Cup races on U.S. soil, and this weekend’s event in Minneapolis will be held on a thin layer of snow covering that soil, due to very little snow in the region this year.
And while the Alaskan skiers in the races are used to better snow coverage back home, Alaska reporter Nat Herz, who’s in Minneapolis for the event, says there are some Alaskans among the top contenders.
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This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Nat Herz: We call the athletes from America that compete on this European World Cup circuit, we tend to call them, “the U.S. Ski Team.” We probably could call them, like, “the U.S.A. Ski Team,” for “United States of Alaska Ski Team.” I’m looking at some of the ones that either are from Alaska or train in Alaska, and we’ve got, you know, Rosie Brennan, who’s one of the best female racers in the world, Renae Anderson, who trains with the Alaska Pacific University team. So does Michael Earnhart, Luke Jager, Zanden McMullen, JC Schoonmaker, Gus Schumacher. The list really like goes on. So it’s there are a ton of athletes who train in Alaska who are competing down here, because Alaska really has some of the best cross-country ski trails, the best maintenance of those ski trails and just sort of the best overall, kind of, seasonality and conditions for cross-country skiing anywhere in the country.
Casey Grove: Yeah, it’s interesting. And I mean, some of those folks, you might actually see when they’re not competing on the World Cup, you might actually see them, like, skiing around Anchorage or out at Kincaid Park. I’m pretty sure that I’ve been passed by those guys, you know, where I looked like I was standing still and they weren’t even trying. But can you tell me a little bit about some of those folks, some of those Alaska folks or the, you know, Alaska-connected skiers, what their prospects are for victory or placing?
NH: Yeah, I mean, on the women’s side, there’s Rosie Brennan, who has, you know, become close to a superstar for the U.S. Rosie trains, again — she’s from Utah — has trained with the Alaska Pacific University team for probably close to a decade now, if not more, and, you know, she has I think a fourth place from the Olympics was on the podium a number of times early on in this season. And she would be a podium threat in these races here in Minneapolis and would have been one at these races last weekend in Canada. However, you know, Rosie has been, she had a really, sort of, hot start to the season, and it’s kind of tailed off a little bit and (she) seems to be just kind of struggling a little bit to find her fitness over the past few weeks on the World Cup. And so I think at this point, it would really be a pretty big surprise if she was on the podium, but, you know, at the same time, (I) wouldn’t wouldn’t bet against her.
And then we’ve also got JC Schoonmaker and Gus Schumacher, two of the stronger men. Gus Schumacher, he won a world championship in the junior division a few years ago and has been a really, like, promising young talent for the U.S. He grew up in Anchorage, and he’ll be racing here, has had some strong results on the World Cup this year. You know, not really an obvious podium contender, but he’s a guy that’s gonna get a lot of love from the crowd. And then JC Schoonmaker, also a younger guy, grew up in Tahoe, went to University of Alaska Anchorage, and now also trains with Gus at the Alaska Pacific University Program. And JC has been on the podium this year. He’s sort of more of a sprint specialist. So he is really good in these shorter events, and I think, you know, he’s been kind of knocking on the door for the past few weeks. He was on the podium earlier this year, I think in December. It’s a little more chaotic to get on the podium in sprinting, so it’s not something you can easily count on, but I think JC has got a legit shot to be on the podium here in Minneapolis this weekend. And, you know, folks are going to be watching for that for sure.
CG: Yeah, definitely. I guess another person that folks are watching pretty closely, who is not from Alaska, but, you know, definitely a contender, is Jessie Diggins who’s on kind of her home turf there in Minnesota, right?
NH: Yeah, totally. So Jessie Diggins was born and raised Minnesota. Definitely, I think it’s fair to say, (she) is the best and certainly most accomplished American cross-country skier of all time. She is the one who actually teamed up with Kikkan Randall to win a gold medal in the Olympics in South Korea in 2018. She has also won, I think, two more medals at the Olympics in China in 2022 and won a gold medal at the World Championships last year. And this event here it feels like in some ways, like it’s all about her. She is the leader of the overall World Cup standings. So she’s like, ahead of all the Swedes and the Norwegians. And there are going to be literally 30,000 people likely out on the side of the trails here in Minneapolis Saturday and Sunday just absolutely screaming their faces off for her. So it’s cool to have her, you know, as as one of the best athletes ever, just in what seems to be really peak form heading into these events, because I think it has the potential to be a real crowdpleaser.
Casey Grove is host of Alaska News Nightly, a general assignment reporter and an editor at Alaska Public Media. Reach him at cgrove@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Casey here.
