(NEXSTAR) - U.S. cross-country skiers Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher won silver medals at the Milan Cortina Winter Games, making the games the most successful Olympic performance in the history of the American men's team. Ogden earned an individual silver in the sprint, while the duo teamed up to take second place in the men's team relay. The achievement marks a historic turning point for the U.S. men's cross-country program, which had only won one Olympic medal in its history prior to these games. Before Ogden's sprint medal on Feb. 10, the only American man to reach the podium in the sport was Bill Koch, who won silver at the 1976 Innsbruck Games. Ogden's achievement followed years of preparation and goal-setting for the American team. "It was incredible and yeah, really like a huge goal of ours that we've talked about and worked on and sort of like had on the calendar for many years, honestly," Ogden said. "To be able to like get it done on the day was just like so incredible." Schumacher anchored the two-man team relay that secured the silver behind Norway and ahead of Italy. Schumacher said the result was particularly meaningful because of the difficulty in executing at the right time. "Whether you know our race didn't go perfectly, but we just like kept finding ways through and uh skied really well, and I'm really proud of just truly how we skied," Schumacher said. He added that the achievement helps demonstrate to young skiers that Americans can compete at the highest level. The athletes credit much of their success to the culture of the Stratton Mountain School T2 program in Vermont. Ogden noted that previous team members like Sophie Caldwell, Simi Hamilton and Andy Newell helped establish the professional standards he follows. "They sort of taught me everything that they knew about training and how to sort of be a professional athlete and get the most out of every single day," Ogden said. He described the medal as a collective success for the hundreds of people involved in U.S. coaching and athlete support. Schumacher noted that the U.S. team has long embraced its role as an underdog, especially when competing against dominant programs like Norway. He said the team's internal culture is more important than external expectations. "It's easy to look at results and feel like you're not a skier unless you're from Norway, but I know that we have great team culture," Schumacher said. He emphasized that in a sport where Norwegian skier Johannes Klebo has won nearly every recent championship medal, "silver feels pretty close to gold." Fans from Vermont and Alaska supported the athletes throughout the games, with many traveling to Italy to watch the events in person. Ogden said the visibility of supporters from home provided extra motivation during the races. "They don't spend the money and spend the time and travel halfway around the world just because they want to say hi," Ogden said. "They believe that we can do something cool." All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by Nexstar. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by Nexstar staff before being published