Ogden wins Silver, Brennan competes as Park City ties run deep in Olympic cross-country skiing

Ben Ogden (in front) of Team USA, with his Milano Cortina Olympic Cross Country gold medal Photo: Scott Amy

CORTINA, Italy — Cross-country skiing delivered exciting races at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, blending raw endurance with explosive speed. For Park City, the events carried a strong sense of familiarity.

Ben Ogden, who trains extensively at Soldier Hollow Nordic Center, captured the silver medal in the men’s sprint, finishing just fractions of a second behind Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klaebo in the 1.6-kilometer race. Klaebo finished in 3:39.74 and Ogden came in at 3:40.61. This is the first time a U.S. skier has earned a medal in this men’s event since 1976. 

Klaebo, a five-time Olympian, took the term sprint literally as he ran up the last hill, a technique for which he’s well known. Ogden was closing in on him, double-poling with mechanical precision. If two-time Olympian Ogden had just a bit more distance, it looked as though he could have challenged Klaebo for the gold. 

Luke Bodensteiner, the two time Olympic cross country U.S. skier whose now the Director at the Soldier Hollow 2002/2034 Olympic Venue, will be in Milan Cortina during these Games. In January he told TownLift, “If Klaebo indeed steps onto yet another Olympic podium this year, I guess we can take a tiny bit of credit to his master-class success as he has spent a month in Park City and at Soldier Hollow each summer for the past few years. he’s a great guy and it’s good to have him around. He is so kind to the local ski teams in Utah.”

Ogden’s connection to Park City runs so deep that his life-sized photo is permanently displayed at Soldier Hollow alongside Park City native Rosie Brennan.

Brennan, who grew up in Park City, was a member of the Park City Ski Team, and graduated from Park City High School, competed in the 20 km Womens Skiathlon Cross Country race in the Milan Cortina Olympics. 

While the gold and silver medals went to athletes from Sweden and the bronze to a Norwegian athlete, the USA women were a force all around.

Brennan finished 37th place in the race, six minutes behind the winner, and her teammates were on the board ahead of her. Jessie Diggins finished 8th, Julia Kern was 24th, and Novie McCabe, a former University of Utah athlete, placed 26th. 

Current coach of the Park City Ski & Snowboard Nordic Team, Liz Stephen, is herself a three-time Cross Country Olympian for Team USA. When asked in January about Brennan, also a three time Olympian, she told TownLift, “Rosie is an amazing athlete. She’s as strong, smart, and hard-working as anyone out there in Italy.”

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You can track all 41 Park City athletes competing at the Winter Games with TownLift’s Park City Olympic athlete tracker.