A silver medal, a sixth-place finish, seven events overall: These are a few highlights of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games for two athletes with local roots.
Loved ones from Platteville, Cuba City and the surrounding area cheered on Gus Schumacher, who competed in cross-country skiing, and Zach Stoppelmoor, a long track speedskater, in this winter’s games in Italy.
Schumacher, 25 — who is a civil engineer as well as a professional athlete — was on the team that claimed second place in a Wednesday Team Sprint Free race — earning a silver, according to the Olympics results site.
“I’m really happy and proud that he got a medal,” said his grandma, Jean Schumacher.
It’s an accomplishment that he’s been working toward his whole life— dating back to when he started toddling around with ski poles at around age 2, she recalls.
Watching Gus grow into the athlete he is today has introduced a whole new world to his grandparents, said his grandpa, Richard Schumacher, who grew up on a farm in South Dakota and hadn’t previously had much exposure to the world of competitive cross-country skiing.
Gus’ races were often in places far away from Southwest Wisconsin, as his parents relocated to Alaska shortly after Gus was born in Madison. As longtime Platteville residents and educators, his grandparents couldn’t always be there in person to watch him compete.
But they have supported him in any way they can — even when that has meant tuning into hours-long televised events before dawn, as they did when Gus competed in a 50km on his last day of Olympics competition Saturday.
Gus came in 13th in that race and was on the team that placed sixth in a Thursday 4 x 7.5km Relay.
During Gus’ first Olympics competition of 2026, he led Team USA in a 10km + 10km Skiathlon Feb. 8, placing 24th overall.
He competed in six events, including uded a Sprint Classic and a 10km Interval Start Free race.
Gus’ dad is Greg Schumacher, a Platteville native, and his mom is Amy Cooper Schumacher of Whitewater. He has two younger siblings, Rudy and Heidi, and his maternal grandparents are the late Rollie and Nancy Cooper.
Gus’ aunt, Kori Barry, and her son (Gus’s cousin), Andrew Barry, both live in Platteville and have also been cheering Gus on as he has taken to the international stage for his sport, Kori said.
This was Gus’ second time competing in the Olympics.
During the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, he competed in the Men’s 15km + 15km Skiathlon and the Men’s 15km Interval Start Classic. And his team placed 9th in the Men’s 4 x 10km relay.
Stoppelmoor finished 27th, with a time of 35.42 seconds, according to the Games’ result listings.
This was the first Olympics for Stoppelmoor, son of Dawn (Harwick) Stoppelmoor, who grew up in Kieler, and Tom Stoppelmoor. and grandson of Wayne Stoppelmoor, the late Shirley Stoppelmoor, the late Ed Harwick, and Sharon Harwick-Kieler — a Cuba City resident who previously worked at the hospital in Platteville.
