Sports

Bjornsen wins again at Sun Valley ski series

Anchorage's Sadie Bjornsen was the skier to beat for the second day in a row at the Super Tour Finals in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Bjornsen won the women's freestyle sprint race in dominating fashion, winning the 1.2-kilometer finals by 1.6 seconds. She finished in 2 minutes, 43.65 seconds to beat runner-up Kelsey Phinney of Vermont, who finished in 2:45.25.

Bjornsen, who is coming off the best World Cup season of her career, also won Saturday's 10-K classic.

She was one of two Alaska women to make the six-skier finals. Becca Rorabaugh, her Alaska Pacific University teammate, placed sixth in 2:50.99.

The course was icy and Bjornsen said she made a move on the final corner.

"I really tried to charge out of the corner since I knew the finishing stretch could be my strength," she said in a press release.

Four Alaska skiers were among the 12 men and 12 women who advanced to the semifinals. Only Bjornsen and Rorabaugh made it into the finals.

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APU's Chelsea Holmes and Lauren Fritz placed eighth and 12th, respectively, among women.

Reese Hanneman and Tyler Kornfield, who also train at APU, placed 10th and 11th among men. Kornfield had the second-fastest qualifying time but a fall during the semifinals cost him a spot in the finals.

APU's Thomas O'Harra was the top junior for the second day in a row, placing 19th among the men.

Skiers get Monday off before competition resumes with the first of two national championship races – the mixed relay on Tuesday and the women's 30-K and men's 50-K on Thursday.

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