The only thing U.S. skier Gus Schumacher could do was wait.

After crossing the finish line with a time of 20 minutes, 52.7 seconds on Sunday at Theodore Wirth Park, Schumacher took his rightful place in the leader’s chair. Still, the staggered start in the men’s 10-kilometer freestyle race, with competitors going off every 30 seconds, made it so Schumacher wouldn’t know his fate until the distance race was over.

The reality of the situation started to hit Schumacher the longer he remained in the leader’s chair. As soon the final racer crossed the finish line, Schumacher burst into tears. He had just become the first man from the U.S. to win a World Cup distance race since 1983.

“I’ve spent like a total of 30 seconds in the leader’s chair before today,” said Schumacher, who was born in Madison, Wis., and grew up in Anchorage, Alaska. “To see that time keep holding up, I was like, ‘Oh my god. I really did ski a crazy race.’ ”

The loud “USA! USA! USA!” chants morphed into even louder “GUS! GUS! GUS!” chant as Schumacher praised the crowd for willing him to a gold medal for the first time in his career.

“I’m so grateful to everybody who made this the best atmosphere of any World Cup I’ve ever skied,” he said. “This means so much to me.”

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