Sports

APU skiers help U.S. to fourth-place finish in world relay race

A U.S. women's relay team featuring two Alaska Pacific University skiers finished fourth Thursday at the Nordic Ski World Championships, one spot out of the medals.

APU's Sadie Bjornsen and Rosie Brennan skied the two classic-technique legs for the Americans, who placed fourth in the 4x5-kilometer mixed-technique race in Falun, Sweden. The finish matched the best world-championship relay performance by a women's team in U.S. history.

Bjornsen, a 2014 Olympian from Anchorage, fell during her scramble leg and dropped into eighth place, but she recovered well enough to move into sixth place before tagging off to Brennan, who pulled the United States into fifth place.

Vermont's Liz Stephen and Minnesota's Jessie Diggins turned in blazing efforts in the freestyle legs to vault the Americans into fourth place.

"It was really an honor to be part of the relay team," Brennan said in a release from the U.S. Ski Team, "and it is amazing to do well in a relay because it means you have four girls that are skiing really well, which has not always been the case for the U.S.

"I never imagined I would be in a position to be racing the relay at the World Championships so I am very excited about today."

The Americans finished a distant fourth to Sweden and Finland, who dueled for the silver medal behind Norway, which cruised to the gold medal by a 29-second margin. Sweden outsprinted Finland for silver, 79 seconds behind the United States.

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The fourth-place finish matched the fourth-place relay showing at the 2013 World Championships in Italy, where Bjornsen, Stephen and Diggins raced with Anchorage's Kikkan Randall. Randall, a four-time Olympian who has been the leader of the U.S. team for more than a decade, was left off Thursday's relay team in favor of Brennan.

Bjornsen encountered trouble halfway into her five-kilometer leg.

"The relay is so special, because it takes four perfect legs, and that takes some luck, chances and skill," Bjornsen said in the ski team release. "I was on my way to chase my perfect relay leg, but unfortunately got my ski caught.

"As I jumped up, I hammered as hard as possible and made an initial flood of lactating (acid), making the pace hard to onto and I lost sight of the leaders."

Brennan managed to pass Russia on her leg, and then the technique switched from classic to freestyle for the final two legs, where the Americans were on fire. Stephen recorded the third leg's second-fastest time and Diggins, fresh off a silver medal in the 10-kilometer freestyle race, had the third-fastest anchor leg. Stephen kept the United States in fifth place and Diggins passed Poland to move into fourth place.

"We are chasing the podium every time we put our relay leg warmers on," Bjornsen said, "and sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. One thing is for sure, we have the fitness to get there."

The men's relay race is Friday. The four-man team will include APU skier Erik Bjornsen, Sadie's brother.

The championships conclude with mass-start distances races -- the women's 30-K classic on Saturday and the men's 50-K on Sunday.

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