American skiing reached a milestone Wednesday when it was the first time an American man and an American woman won a World Cup race on the same day.
Gus Schumacher and Jesse Diggins achieved a historic double on the third stage of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy, and both were victorious in the newly introduced 5K mass start event, which rewarded speed, pace and collective tactics rather than head-to-head positioning.
Schumacher set the tone in the men's race, riding aggressively from the start in a format that divided the field into several stages, with final placings determined by time. The 25-year-old crossed the line in 9:35.4 to claim only the second world championship victory of his career, beating Austria's Benjamin Moser by two-tenths of a second. Norwegian Lars Heggen finished third, four tenths back.
The victory lifted Schumacher to sixth place in the overall Tour de Ski standings and capped a remarkable performance in a discipline rarely seen on the World Cup circuit in recent years.
Diggins repeated the women's achievement later that day, adding another chapter. in the final season of an already decorated career. The American claimed her 31st World Cup victory in a race that was less a traditional mass start and more a test of overall pace and efficiency as athletes traded leads to maintain top speed.
Diggins finished well ahead of Swedish podium finishers Emma Ribohm and Moa Ilar to extend her lead at the top of the overall World Cup and Tour de Ski standings.
Beyond the results, the day had symbolic significance for Team USA, which gradually narrowed the gap with traditional European powers. Julia Kern finished 10th in the women's race, her first top-10 finish of the season, while Schumacher's victory underscored the growing American presence in the men's race.
The Tour de Ski continues on Thursday with the 20km pursuit, where athletes will start under accumulated time deficits, chasing overall points as the series approaches the new year.
