Bjornsen 7th Again in Lillehammer

LILLEHAMMER, Norway (Dec. 7) – Sadie Bjornsen (Winthrop, WA) delivered another breakout result Saturday in the Lillehammer 10k classic World Cup, where she skied into seventh and matched her career-best individual result set just a week ago in Kuusamo, Finland. Bjornsen posted the top result for the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team and even sat in the leader’s chair for a few minutes before Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk sealed the victory. Sunday the men and women take on the 4x7.5k and 4x5k team relays.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Sadie Bjornsen (Winthrop, WA) finished seventh in the Lillehammer 10k classic World Cup on Saturday.
• It was another breakout result for Bjornsen, matching her career-best individual result set just a week ago in Kuusamo, Finland.
• Bjornsen posted the top result for the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team and even sat in the leader’s chair for a few minutes.
• Teammate and World Cup sprint champion Kikkan Randall (Anchorage) finished a respectable 16th while Jessie Diggins (Afton, MN) sneaked into the top 30.
• Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk sealed the victory.
• Randall is currently fifth in the World Cup standings while Bjornsen is ranked 15th.
• In the men’s 15k classic race, Noah Hoffman (Aspen, CO) took the top spot for the U.S. in 41st while Paal Goldberg of Norway won the race.
• Sunday the men and women take on the 4x7.5k and 4x5k team relays.

QUOTES
Sadie Bjornsen
It was fun to watch the race from the leader's chair!

Working right from the start I tried to remember to ski my own race today and to warm into harder courses. At one point one of the coaches was cheering at the bottom of the hill and I smiled and I thought 'OK, this is going to be a good race if I can smile 2k into it.' From there I just worked where I knew I could work and tried to not load my legs on the second lap.

I started seeing Jessie in front of me and I was kind of able to ski with teammates out there, so that was fun. I remembered that every last little bit was counting, so push it through the finish!

I've been lucky because there's been all of this classic racing at the beginning and what better way to get some confidence than to do your favorite events from the start. I know where I need to work with skating and having some confidence in knowing that I have the fitness is great because I know I can do the skating. I just need to go into it with confidence and know what I can do well.

Kikkan Randall
Another solid day here in Lillehammer. It was a tough course for sure but it actually skied pretty well. Lots of different sections and fun downhills to keep your attention! My skis were great today and the conditions were just about as perfect as it gets for classic skiing, nice hard track and easy to get strong kick.  

I felt like I had good energy out there but wasn't able to ski as technically well as I wanted. I skied an even pace but I still can't quite seem to find that real aggressive race gear. I was hoping for a little better today but it was still a solid race. I think this will be the perfect preparation for the relay tomorrow. Awesome to see Sadie have another really strong day as well!

RESULTS
Men’s Official Results
Women’s Official Results

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