A summer's worth of work paid dividends Saturday for Anchorage's Sadie Bjornsen, who crafted her best performance in a World Cup freestyle distance race.
Bjornsen, a member of the 2014 Winter Olympics team, skied to 20th place in a 5-kilometer freestyle race in Lillehammer, Norway.
Though it wasn't her best result of the young season -- she placed 17th in a 10-K classic last weekend in Finland -- Bjornsen was excited about her performance. Until Saturday, she had never cracked the top 30 in a World Cup freestyle distance race.
"In the past few years, I have struggled with my skate skiing, preferring the classic technique," Bjornsen said by email. "This summer I worked especially hard in skating, trying to keep it more even with my classic skiing. Today was the first time that has happened in years."
Theresa Johaug and Martin Sundby helped Norway to a podium sweep, with Johaug winning the women's race in 12 minutes, 33.7 seconds and Sundby topping the men's 10-K in 22:55.8.
Jessie Diggins of Afton, Minnesota, led the Americans by placing 15th in 13:13.2. Bjornsen clocked 13:18.7, and Liz Stephen of Montpelier, Vermont, placed 22nd in 13:22.0.
"Lillehammer is unique because of its hard and extremely long climbs, so today made the legs truly burn," Bjornsen said. "I had great skis, there was a great crowd, and I finished with a smile.''
Kikkan Randall, the four-time Olympian from Anchorage who has been the top American for the last decade, placed 63rd, nearly 80 seconds off the winning pace. Slowed by illness, Randall has had a tough start to the season.
"Today was a small step in the right direction," she said by email. "It was a challenging course with lots of climbing. I felt like I skied the first half of the race stuck in a low gear but was able to find a better gear up the major climb around (three kilometers)."
Bjornsen's brother Erik led the American men with a 51st-place finish, 73 seconds behind Sundby. Placing 102nd for the Americans was Reese Hanneman of Fairbanks, who finished nearly 3.5 minutes behind the winner.
Randall, Hanneman and the Bjornsens all train in Anchorage with the Alaska Pacific University nordic program.
Saturday's race was the second of three in Lillehammer. Racing wraps up Sunday with mass-start classic races.