Anchorage will be well represented at the Nordic Ski World Championships next month in Sweden.
Of the 16 skiers named to the U.S. team for the world championships, one-quarter of them live in Anchorage and train at Alaska Pacific University.
Leading the Americans, and the Alaskans, is Kikkan Randall, a two-time world championship medalist.
Randall, a four-time Olympian who returned to Anchorage this month for rest and recovery after a difficult first two months on the World Cup circuit, will make her eighth appearance at the world championships.
She teamed up with Minnesota's Jessie Diggins to win the gold medal in the team sprint in 2013 and took home the silver medal in the freestyle sprint in 2009. Those are the only medals awarded to American women in world-championship history.
Other APU skiers joining Randall for the Feb. 18-March 1 championships in Falun, Sweden:
-- Sadie Bjornsen, a 2014 Winter Olympian who is ranked 20th overall in the World Cup standings after a strong first half of the season. She has scored World Cup points by finishing in the top 30 in 15 of her 17 races and has made it into the top 10 twice.
-- Erik Bjornsen, a 2014 Winter Olympian (and Sadie's brother) who is spending his first full season on the World Cup. He scored his first individual World Cup points of the season last week by placing 24th in a freestyle sprint.
-- Rosie Brennan, who won three of the four races at the U.S. national championships earlier this month to earn a trip to Europe to join the World Cup circuit. She made the most of the opportunity, claiming sixth place in a team sprint and 20th place in a skiathlon to merit selection to the world championship team.
Rounding out the women's team is Diggins, Liz Stephen, Sophie Caldwell and Ida Sargent of Vermont and Caitlin Gregg of Minnesota.
Joining Bjornsen on the men's team are Kris Freeman of New Hampshire, Simi Hamilton and Noah Hoffman of Colorado, Andy Newell of Vermont, Matt Gelso of California, Kyle Bratrud of Minnesota and Dakota Blackhorse-von Hess of Oregon.
Anchorage will have another representative at the championships -- Gregory Schumacher of the Anchorage Fracture and Orthopedic Clinic will travel to Falun to serve as a doctor for the U.S. team.