Ben Ogden snapped a selfie, handed off his Olympic silver medal and the plush mascots of Tina and Milo, after which did what few would dare.
He launched right into a backflip off the rostrum.
The 25-year-old American misplaced his hat mid-rotation, amusing the 2 Norwegians on the rostrum who adopted with playful jumps of their very own after Tuesday’s skiathlon. The celebration marked a breakthrough for American cross-country snowboarding — and, Ogden hopes, a catalyst for the long run.
Earlier than the Milan Cortina Video games, an American man hadn’t received an Olympic medal within the sport in 50 years. Ogden believes a generational breakthrough is now doable.
“There’s been a very robust group of youthful males developing by way of the game that I’ve had the pleasure of racing in opposition to for my entire life,” Ogden instructed The Related Press on Wednesday.
“I’ve seen it many instances all through the course of our careers,” added Ogden, who has a level in mechanical engineering. “It simply takes one in all us to crack by way of to that subsequent degree. After which abruptly, it’s like an onslaught of teammates following.”
Ogden took on Norway’s snowboarding phenomenon
Ogden completed Tuesday’s race 0.8 seconds behind Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, the Norwegian star who claimed his second gold of the Milan Cortina Video games and is concentrating on a file profession haul.
As Klaebo sprinted up the ultimate hill, Ogden broke from the opposite opponents and unleashed a strong ending kick.
“I simply powered over the end line and ended up getting type of near Johannes,” Ogden mentioned. “However he received outright, and he had the gasoline on the hill that no person else had.”
A breakthrough 50 years within the making
The final U.S. Olympic medal in males’s cross-country snowboarding was a silver by Invoice Koch on the 1976 Innsbruck Video games. Ogden grew up in the identical southern Vermont space as Koch and skilled at his academy within the Inexperienced Mountains. Their households are pleasant.
Ogden, who comes from a household of skiers, mentioned he’s not an outlier as U.S. opponents proceed to climb the world rankings. He’s presently ranked fifth within the World Cup dash standings — behind 4 Norwegians — and fifteenth general. Different friends gaining floor and worldwide recognition embody J.C. Schoonmaker and Gus Schumacher, adopted by a crop of youthful athletes.
On the U.S. workforce, Ogden mentioned, success is contagious. He cited Schoonmaker’s 2023 World Cup podium end for example.
“As quickly as one in all us did it, the others have been fast to comply with go well with,” he mentioned. “So I’m actually hopeful and excited for what’s coming with our group.”
The backflip and significance of household
The backflip celebration was performed on impulse.
“Once I was younger, I had a few years the place I wished nothing greater than to discover ways to do a backflip,” Ogden mentioned. “Yesterday, once I was up there on the point of go on the rostrum, I assumed to myself, man, no higher alternative to indicate off my hard-cultivated expertise than proper now. So I made a decision to go for it.”
His mom, Andrea, watched from the stands in northern Italy, protecting her fingers crossed on each fingers in the course of the race. However Ogden’s ideas have been additionally along with his father, who died three years in the past at age 56.
“It was spectacular to have my mother within the stands,” Ogden mentioned. “It’s a complicated set of feelings for me as a result of I definitely want and crave my father’s presence at moments like these. I miss him each single day. … I’ve been telling all people and reminding myself that he knew I used to be able to this lengthy earlier than I ever did.”
Energizing followers again house
Again house in Vermont, followers gathered earlier than daybreak to observe the race.
“I noticed some movies — there have been every kind of individuals up in Vermont at 5 a.m. watching the race,” Ogden mentioned. “From the movies, it would as effectively have been 9 p.m. They have been as amped up and celebrating as a lot as any.”
Ogden hopes the silver medal will assist develop the game in america, which this season will host the ultimate World Cup occasion at Lake Placid, New York.
“My hopes for this and the remainder of this championship are that we are able to simply get extra eyes on cross-country snowboarding within the U.S. and get extra younger children fired up about it,” he mentioned. “The U.S., being such an enormous nation, may have 10 instances that success if we may simply proceed to develop the game.”
