After another strong finish, Maubet Bjornsen ranks 8th going into final Tour de Ski race

After finishing fourth in the penultimate race of the grueling Tour de Ski, Anchorage cross-country skier Sadie Maubet Bjornsen expressed excitement, not exhaustion.

“Hard to believe we can find sprinting muscles after so many days of racing, but somehow I felt amazing today!” she said by email from Val Di Fiemme, Italy.

Bjornsen lost a podium spot in Saturday’s classic sprint race when teammate Jessie Diggins of Minnesota edged her by .52 of a second. The race was the the sixth of seven competitions in the annual Tour de Ski, which takes skiers to three resorts in two countries over the course of nine days.

Two other Alaskans scored World Cup points in Saturday’s sprint. Logan Hanneman of Anchorage posted a career-best result by placing 18th in the men’s sprint, and Rosie Brennan of Anchorage placed 19th in the women’s sprint.

Hanneman’s previous best result in a World Cup individual race came on the first day of the Tour de Ski, when he finished 21st in the freestyle sprint race in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

The Tour wraps up Sunday with the most arduous race of them all — a 10-kilometer freestyle climb up an alpine ski slope in Val Di Fiemme.

Bjornsen is the top American in the standings going into the race. She’s in eighth place overall, followed by Diggins in 11th place and Brennan in 18th place.

Norway’s Terese Johaug and Johannes Klaebo lead the women’s and men’s standings, respectively. David Norris of Fairbanks is 38th overall and Hanneman is 59th.

Bjornsen was coming off a strong seventh-place finish in Friday’s 10K classic race in Val Di Fiemme. Though she and her teammates struggled with wax in the Tour’s opening race — a mass-start 10K freestyle in Lenzerheide — Bjornsen bounced back from a 30th-place finish with four top-8 finishes and a 12th-place finish.

Saturday’s result was her best so far in the Tour de Ski.

“I can’t help but feel a bit frustrated, because I believe I could have won today if I could ski it again, but how can you be upset with a 4th place?” she said. “I’ll have to channel all that frustration into the final day tomorrow, up the big alpine slope.

“While this tour has had plenty of ups and downs, I continue to feel strong and confident on my skis. Every new day is a new chance, which is so fun! That’s why I just love this crazy 7 races in 9 days.”