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Sadie Maubet Bjornsen and Rosie Brennan wrapped up the Tour de Ski on a high note Sunday – and not just because the punishing ski series ends with a brutal hill climb up an alpine ski slope in Italy.
Both of the Anchorage skiers racked up career-best finishes in the Tour, which challenges the world’s best with seven races in nine days and two countries.
Bjornsen, a two-time Olympian, led three Americans into the top 15 of the overall standings by finishing seventh. Jessie Diggins of Minnesota was ninth overall and Brennan was 15th overall.
Diggins and Brennan ended the race series with impressive showings in Sunday’s 10-kilometer freestyle hillclimb in Val di Fiemme, Italy.
The race ended with a steep climb up the Olimpia II alpine slope – an ascent that’s about 2.5 kilometers meters long with 420 meters of climbing.
Diggins placed sixth and Brennan seventh, with both finishing about two minutes behind winner Terese Johaug of Norway, who claimed her third overall Tour de Ski championship.
For Brennan, Sunday’s finish lifted her to a huge personal best in the overall Tour de Ski standings. Her previous best was 24th in 2018.
“As I neared, the top, I realized I was on the last steep pitch and really tried to make a move there,” Brennan said by email. “It was quite successful and I was able to move away from the pack I was skiing with.
“I love the climb and I love the feeling of finishing the tour. I had some rough days and some good days, but to finish the tour on such a high note was really fantastic.”
Bjornsen, who finished 13th in Sunday’s finale, said taking on the hillclimb after six races in eight days “is quite possibly the most physically painful thing I experience.”
“Wow, it feels good to make it to the top of that climb,” she said by email. “Just crossing the line is such an achievement. This is only my third time I have made it, so it still feels just as exciting as the first one.”
In the men’s competition, Simon Krueger of Norway won the hillclimb and Alexander Bolshunov of Russia was third to clinch the overall championship.
Anchorage skiers David Norris and Logan Hanneman finished 30th and 56th, respectively.
It was the best result in the race series for Norris, who wound up 35th overall. Hanneman was 56th overall and had a big performance in the classic sprint, placing 18th for his career-best result in any World Cup race.
Bjornsen got off to a rocky start in the Tour with a 30th-place finish in a 10K freestyle but came on strong after that. She finished no lower than 13th in any other race and registered top-5 finishes in the freestyle sprint (5th place) and classic sprint (4th place).
Brennan, a 2018 Olympian, was in the top 25 of all seven races and the top 10 in two.The hillclimb was her best finish, and her next best was 9th place in a 10K freestyle.
“This tour has had its ups, downs, and painfully near misses,” Bjornsen said. “Despite the rollercoaster, I feel like I gained confidence in my fitness and my skiing throughout the process.”