After two weekends of World Cup competition, the U.S. Ski Team heads this week to Davos, Switzerland, where Alaska's Kikkan Randall and Sadie Bjornsen hope to keep improving.
The leader of the team so far has been Bjornsen, who on Sunday had the best finish in a classic-technique pursuit race, the last of three races in a World Cup mini-tour in Lillehammer, Norway. Bjornsen placed 18th after starting in 17th place.
Randall, the World Cup's reigning sprint champion who battled illness at the start of the season, improved from 63rd place in Saturday's skate race to 58th in the pursuit.
"It was nice to start in a pack of skiers and have lots of people to ski with today," Randall said in an email. "I got to put in another hard effort to bring me closer towards better race shape. I had some strong sections out there, especially climbing, and moved up a few places."
Bjornsen's brother Erik was the top American man in Sunday's 15-kilometer pursuit, jumping all the way from 53rd place to 39th place. Reese Hanneman, who trains with Randall and the Bjornsens at Alaska Pacific University, placed 92nd.
"Sadie had a super solid day," said U.S. Ski Team coach Chris Grover, who grew up in Anchorage. "She was in there fighting all day and that's really cool because she recognizes that she's not at her top fitness. When she gets it all together, she'll be a threat in all disciplines and can do well in these tours.
"On the men's side, Erik Bjornsen was really stoked for his race, felt like he had really good skis and could attack and chase on the downhills and really go for it. For Erik, he's learning the ropes and I'm excited to see what he'll be doing in the weeks to come."
Sadie Bjornsen, who gave rave reviews to both the crowds and courses in Lillehammer, said in an email that her goal is to be in top form in January and February. The world championships are February in Sweden.
"Each race is another opportunity to get closer to my best race shape," she said. "From here we leave for Davos, Switzerland... There is currently no snow there, much like most of central Europe, so we will doing some running until they make enough snow to ski a couple kilometers on."