Key points:
- Alaska Pacific University, a small college with strong United Methodist ties, is sending nine cross-country skiers to the 2026 Winter Games.
- Eight of the university’s athletes are part of Team USA, and another is representing Slovakia.
- The university also has a strong commitment to raising up Alaska Native leaders.
Half of the U.S. Olympic cross-country ski team glides into the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games with experience training and studying under the United Methodist Cross and Flame.
All told, eight of the 16 U.S. Olympic cross-country skiers are part of the ski team at Alaska Pacific University — a small, United Methodist-related liberal arts college in Anchorage that combines a commitment to Alaskan Native education with a tradition of excellence in snowy athleticism.
“Alaska Pacific University is living into the whole-person educational model that was part of John Wesley’s legacy,” said the Rev. Tammy Gieselman, who works with United Methodist schools as director of education for the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
“We celebrate APU and the student-athletes who are competing at the highest level in the 2026 Winter Olympics.”
This year is particularly momentous for the university’s Nordic Ski Center with so many of its skiers meeting the selection criteria to join Team USA.
Gus Schumacher, JC Schoonmaker, Hunter Wonders and Zanden McMullen are skiing with the U.S. men’s team.
Rosie Brennan, Hailey Swirbul, Novie McCabe and Kendall Kramer are skiing with the U.S. women’s team. All but Wonders, McMullen and Kramer have competed in the Olympics before.
How to watch
Cross-country skiing includes a total of 12 events and, for the first time in Olympic history, men and women will race the same distances at the 2026 Games.
All cross-country skiing events will be held at the Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium in Val di Fiemme, Italy.
The Alaska Pacific University athletes will compete across six events: four individual races — 20km skiathlon, Classic Sprint, 10km Interval Freestyle, 50km Classic Mass Start — and two team events: the team freestyle sprint and 4×7.5k relay.
Cross-country events will take place throughout the Winter Olympics, with a number of qualifiers and quarterfinals scheduled on Feb. 10.
See a full list of Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center’s Olympians.
In addition to the Team USA members, the university program will have a ninth athlete competing in the Olympics: Peter Hinds, representing the country of Slovakia.
Schumacher, who competed in the 2022 Winter Games, said he and his U.S. cross-country teammates have a real chance this year to end the U.S. men’s 50-year medal drought. Schumacher and fellow American Ben Ogden in January became the first U.S. men’s sprint team to ascend the World Cup podium, with a third-place result.
“It’s exciting to be feeling good, and have a big opportunity to do something that hasn’t been done in a long time,” Schumacher told Alaska Public Media. “And yeah, it’s exciting. It’s a little daunting, but just got to go there and experience it and realize how lucky we are to be able to do this.”
Erik Flora, the university ski center’s head coach and director, also told Alaska Public Media that it’s unusual for so many cross-country skiers on Team USA to come from one state, let alone one club.
He added that Alaska Pacific University is one of the biggest, strongest ski clubs in the country.
In fact, the university — established in 1957 — has had at least one skier in the Winter Olympics since 1972. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the university’s ski center had 10 athletes compete.
Flora is in Italy as part of the Olympic Cross Country Ski coaching staff supporting the athletes throughout the Olympic races.
Alaska Pacific University also counts among its alumni Kikkan Randall, who will be announcing the races live on NBC/Peacock. Randall is a five-time winter Olympian and Olympic gold medalist for the cross-country women’s team.
Subscribe to our
e-newsletter
The university has an astonishing global reach while sustaining its Alaska roots.
Peter Gordon Gould, an Unangax from the village of Unga, founded what was initially named Alaska Methodist University with the goal of lifting up Alaska Native leaders. Gould himself was the first Alaska Native to become a fully ordained Methodist pastor.
The university offered its first classes in 1960, a year after Alaska became a state.
Ever since, the university has maintained its strong ties to both the Indigenous community and what is now The United Methodist Church. Even now, 30% of its roughly 600 students are Alaska Native. The university’s president, Janelle Vanasse, serves on the denomination’s University Senate, which sets and maintains the standards of United Methodist-related education.
“They are serving the Native people in Alaska and beyond,” said Gieselman of Higher Education and Ministry.
Hahn is assistant news editor for UM News. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or [email protected]. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.
