Ben Ogden of Landgrove, Vermont, is the most decorated American man in cross country skiing history. At the 2026 Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina, Ogden won silver in the men's sprint classic — the first Olympic medal won by an American man in cross country skiing since Bill Koch in 1976, ending a 50-year drought, and then days later, added a second silver alongside Gus Schumacher in the team sprint. 

At the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, his 12th-place finish in the sprint freestyle was the best individual sprint result ever recorded by a U.S. man at the Olympics. Ogden has three World Cup podiums: third in the skate sprint at the 2023-24 Tour de Ski, third in the 10k skate in Les Rousses in January 2025 and third with Schumacher in the team sprint in Goms, Switzerland in January 2026.

He has represented the U.S. at three World Championships (2021, 2023, 2025), reaching the quarterfinals in the sprint at each. In the 2022-23 season, he earned the Under-23 Green Bib as the fastest male U23 skier on the entire World Cup circuit and finished eighth overall. 

A two-time NCAA National Champion at the University of Vermont, he holds a degree in mechanical engineering. Ogden grew up in Landgrove in a three-generation Vermont family and learned to ski in the backyard of Olympic silver medalist Bill Koch and spends his free time rebuilding old Land Rover trucks, knitting, welding, etc etc etc. 

He is known for his aggressive, full-gas racing style and, occasionally, for doing backflips off the Olympic podium.