The U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced the 21 athletes who will be on the 2026-27 Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team. A big surprise - for me anyways - was that not one women was named to the A Team.
The press release (full text below) says "All athletes qualified for the team based on the published selection criteria." So I did a little research:
For the 2026–27 Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team, the A Team standard is extremely high and entirely performance-based. The criteria state that an athlete qualifies for the A Team by achieving either:
- An individual medal at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, or
- A specified elite-level World Cup performance benchmark during the selection period.
Looking at the announced roster, the three men on the A Team all had standout results during the Olympic cycle:
- Ben Ogden won Olympic silver and had a historic season.
- Gus Schumacher won Olympic silver.
- JC Schoonmaker recorded World Cup podium-level results and met the published criteria.
The key factor on the women's side appears to be retirement. Jessie Diggins, who won Olympic bronze in 2026 and almost certainly would have satisfied the A Team standard, retired after the 2025–26 season.
For the remaining women:
- Julia Kern is a two-time World Championships medalist, but World Championship medals are not necessarily one of the automatic A Team criteria for this cycle. She was placed on the B Team.
- Sophia Laukli, Kendall Kramer, and Novie McCabe all had strong international results, including World Cup top-10s, but they evidently did not hit the specific A Team benchmark laid out in the criteria.
What I could not verify from the publicly accessible material is the exact numerical cutoff and which women's results fell short by how much. The criteria document available on the U.S. Ski & Snowboard site points to PDFs, but the search results expose only a summary and not the detailed qualification table needed to calculate the misses precisely (2027 U.S. Cross Country Team Nomination Criteria and 2026-2026 Cross Country World Cup Team Selection Criteria)
I suspect the absence of women on the A Team was probably not a policy decision or a downgrade of the women's program. Rather, after Jessie Diggins' retirement, no female athlete met the very specific automatic A Team performance standard during the selection period, while three men did.
What do you think?
The official press release by Leann Bentley - Stifel U.S. Ski Team:
PARK CITY, Utah - U.S. Ski & Snowboard officially announced the 21 athletes who have accepted their nominations and have been named to the 2026-27 Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team. All athletes qualified for the team based on the published selection criteria.
After the most successful Olympic Winter Games in U.S. cross country program history, with three athletes winning three medals (two silver, one bronze), the team aims to carry that momentum into the upcoming season. The A Team is led by Ben Ogden, a two-time Olympic silver medalist and the most decorated American man in cross country history, Olympic silver medalist Gus Schumacher, and two-time Olympian JC hoonmaker. The B Team features a majority of Team USA's Milano Cortina Olympians, plus a new face, Ava Thurston, who qualified for the B Team for the upcoming season. Two-time World Championships medalist Julia Kern leads the B Team, which also includes World Cup top-10 finishers Jack Young, Kendall Kramer, Novie McCabe, Zanden McMullen, Zak Ketterson and Sophia Laukli, among others.
The Development (D) Team welcomes several new athletes to the national team, including University of Utah athlete Neve Gerard, University of Alaska Anchorage athlete Corbin Carpenter and Alaska Winter Stars athlete Jack Leveque, all of whom have represented the U.S. at the World Junior & U23 World Championships in 2026.
“We are very excited to start the new Olympic cycle with some proven veterans, some exciting new talent and a revitalized coaching and service team,” said Chris Grover, Program Director of the Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team. “New this season on the staff are World Cup Coach Ville Oksanen, Development Coach Lizzie Larkins and three new World Cup Service Team members: Nick Brown, Esben Tøllefsen and Simen Finjord. This staff brings years of experience from the highest levels of the sport and is passionate about supporting U.S. athletes. The team has had a very productive preparation season and the athletes have their eyes set on the 2027 World Championships in Falun and World Junior and U23 World Championships in Otepää.”
The 2026-27 World Cup season will feature 13 race weekends, including the Tour de Ski. The World Cup season begins in Ruka, Finland, Nov. 27-29, 2026, and ends in Ulricehamn, Sweden, March 19-21, 2027. The calendar also features three championships: FIS Junior World Ski Championships and the U23 World Ski Championships in Otepää, Estonia, Jan. 19-24, 2027, and the FIS World Championships in Falun, Sweden, Feb. 24-March 7, 2027. The FIS event calendar is available here.
2026-27 Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team
(Hometown; Club; College; Birthdate)
A TEAM
Men
- Ben Ogden (Burlington, VT; Stratton Mountain School; University of Vermont; 2/13/2000)
- James “JC” Schoonmaker (Lake Tahoe, CA; Alaska Pacific University; University of Alaska Anchorage; 8/12/2000)
- Gus Schumacher (Anchorage, AK; Alaska Pacific University; University of Alaska Anchorage; 7/25/2000)
B TEAM
Women
- Julia Kern (Waltham, MA; Stratton Mountain School; Dartmouth College; 9/12/1997)
- Kendall Kramer (Fairbanks, AK; Alaska Pacific University; University of Alaska Fairbanks; 6/26/2002)
- Sophia Laukli (Yarmouth, ME; Aker-Dæhlie; University of Utah; 6/8/2000)
- Novie McCabe (Winthrop, WA; Alaska Pacific University; University of Utah; 12/15/2001)
- Samantha “Sammy” Smith (Boise, ID; Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation; Stanford University; 9/22/2005)
- Ava Thurston (Waterbury, VT; Dartmouth College; 10/6/2004)
Men
- John Steel Hagenbuch (Ketchum, ID; Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation; Dartmouth College; 10/1/2001)
- Zak Ketterson (Bloomington, MN; Snø Racing; Northern Michigan University; 4/2/1997)
- Zanden McMullen (Anchorage, AK; Alaska Pacific University; 5/31/2001)
- Jack Young (Jay, VT; Craftsbury Green Racing Project; Colby College; 12/17/2002)
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Women
- Haley Brewster (Avon, CO; Stratton Mountain School; University of Vermont; 6/6/2003)
- Neve Gerard (Bend, OR; University of Utah; 3/20/2006)*
- Sydney Palmer-Leger (Park City, UT; Mansfield Nordic Pro Team; University of Utah; 2/4/2002)
Men
- Corbin Carpenter (Aspen, CO; University of Alaska Anchorage; 12/2/2004)*
- Tabor Greenberg (Moretown, VT; University of Vermont; 5/4/2006)
- Zach Jayne (Bend, OR; Stratton Mountain School; University of Utah; 3/30/2004)
- Murphy Kimball (Anchorage, AK; Alaska Winter Stars; University of Alaska Anchorage; 7/16/2006)
- Jack Leveque (Anchorage, AK; Alaska Winter Stars; 5/3/2009)*
*Newly named to the Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team
2026-27 Stifel U.S. Cross Country Ski Team Coaches & Staff
- Chief of Sport: Anouk Patty
- Senior Vice President of High Performance: Gillian Bower
- Cross Country Program Director: Chris Grover
- Head Coach: Matt Whitcomb
- World Cup Coach: Kristen Bourne
- World Cup Coach: Ville Oksanen
- Development Coach: Lizzie Larkins
- World Cup Service Manager: Jason Cork
- Cross Country Sport Development Director: Bryan Fish
- Cross Country Press Officer: Leann Bentley
Service Staff
- Head of Service: Oleg Ragilo
- World Cup Service: Tim Baucom
- World Cup Service: Nick Brown
- World Cup Service: Paul Choudoir
- World Cup Service: Simen Finjord
- World Cup Service: Bjørn Heimdal
- World Cup Service: Bernie Nelson
- World Cup Service: Esben Tøllefsen
