Landgrove’s Ben Ogden wins silver in XC sprint

By Kevin O’Connor
©2026 VT Digger

The Green Mountain State has its first winners at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy.

Fifty years after Bill Koch scored the nation’s first cross-country medal, fellow Vermonter Ben Ogden became the second U.S. man to do so by nabbing silver Tuesday in the men’s sprint.

Ogden, a 25-year-old from Landgrove — population 177 — is a member of Stratton’s SMS T2 elite training team co-founded by Koch, who himself won silver in 1976.

Shortly after on Tuesday, fellow Vermonter Paula Moltzan and U.S. teammate Jackie Wiles snagged bronze in the women’s Alpine combined event.

Moltzan, a 31-year-old former University of Vermont NCAA champion, skied fast enough in her concluding slalom run to elevate her team to the podium after Wiles’ fourth place in an initial downhill round.

The Chester Telegraph republished this article with permission.