XC Ski Team nominations announced including Brennan, Palmer-Ledger

Park City's XC ski two-time Olympian Rosie Brennan. Photo: Nordic Focus courtesy of U.S. Ski and Snowboard

PARK CITY, Utah — U.S. Ski and Snowboard announced on Wednesday the 23 athletes who have been nominated to represent the Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team for the 2023-24 season. Park City’s Sydney Palmer-Ledger moves up from the Development Team based on her strong results from the previous season. Parkite Rosie Brennan and University of Utah athletes Novie McCabe and Sophia Laukli continue to compete.

The nominations include active athletes who qualified based on predetermined selection criteria.

The team is a blend of seasoned veterans and promising newcomers, ready to compete in the upcoming season. The A Team women’s roster will be led by three-time Olympic medalist and 2023 individual World Champion Jessie Diggins, two-time Olympian Rosie Brennan and 2023 World bronze medalist Julia Kern. The men’s A Team includes 2022 Olympian and 2022-23 FIS U23 Green Bib winner Ben Ogden and 2022 Olympian JC Schoonmaker.

Returning to the B Team are 2022 Olympians Gus Schumacher, Luke Jager, Scott Patterson, Sophia Laukli, and 2023 NCAA Champion Novie McCabe. Zak Ketterson rejoins the roster.

The Development Team welcomes several new athletes, along with returning stars, including Sammy Smith, who raced her first World Cup in Drammen, Norway, at the end of the 2022-23 season. Walker Hall, Zanden McMullen, Will Koch, and Michael Earnhart return to the Development Team roster for the men after a successful 2022-23 season. Five new athletes will be joining the D-Team, including Brian Bushey, Max Kluck, Ava Thurston and Haley Brewster, who represented the USA at the FIS World Junior Ski Championships, along with Derek “Buster” Richardson.

“This past season was an important one for USA XC ski racing, with the men moving up to sixth in the Nation’s Cup standings and earning the maximum World Cup quota for the first time in our history,” said Chris Grover, the Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team Program Director in a statement. “We also witnessed the USA squad fighting for third in the Overall Nation’s Cup going into the last weekend of racing. As we set our sights on the 2023-24 season, we have aspirations of exceeding this past year’s performances by focusing on key strategies in technique, equipment and preparation. We have a young team that is still building valuable experience on the World Cup, and will no doubt turn more heads in the coming years.”

The 2023-24 World Cup calendar is robust and features two new races in North America, including the highly anticipated 2024 Loppet Cup, a Coop FIS Cross Country World Cup in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Supported by the Loppet Foundation and Share Our Winters, the Loppet Cup will be the first FIS World Cup on U.S. soil since 2001. The 2023-24 FIS Cross Country World Cup calendar will be confirmed by the International Ski Federation later this month.

Each athlete who accepts the nomination to the Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team will receive top of the line athletic and medical support, world-class coaching, sport science, sports medicine and access to the USANA Center of Excellence facilities, including on-site high performance staff and education.

An official Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team announcement will be made in the early fall.

Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team

(Hometown; Club/School; Birthdate)

Men

A Team