With a career-best World Cup result, Anchorage skier Bjornsen is headed to Olympics

With the Olympics looming, Anchorage skier Sadie Bjornsen took care of business quickly Friday by capturing second place in the season-opening World Cup race — and with it, a trip to February's Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Bjornsen delivered a career-best individual finish in the classic sprint race in Ruka, Finland. By doing so, she met the No. 1 qualifying criteria for earning a spot on the U.S. Olympic team — a top-eight result in any of five World Cup races that will serve as Olympic selection races between now and Jan. 15.

"I did officially make the team, which feels pretty nice to check off the list on the first race of the season," Bjornsen said.

A member of Alaska Pacific University's ski program and a 2014 Olympian, Bjornsen is the first Alaskan to qualify for the 2018 Olympics.

"What an amazing and exciting way to start this new season," she said by email. "… I am really looking forward to the rest of the season, and what is to come!"

Bjornsen finished a scant quarter of a second behind winner Stina Nilsson of Sweden. On the final hill, Bjornsen was right with Nilsson, the winner of eight World Cup sprint races the last two seasons.

"I was in disbelief," she said in a news release from the U.S. Ski Team. "I had dreamed of this kind of day and now it was happening."

It's the second time Bjornsen has made the World Cup podium in an individual race. She placed third in a 5-kilometer freestyle race in January in Toblach, Italy.

She also owns several podium finishes in the relay and team sprint, including a bronze medal in the classic-technique team sprint at last season's World Championships.

In a 10-kilometer classic race Saturday, Jessie Diggins led the Americans with a 10th-place finish, more than a minute behind winner Marit Bjoergen of Norway.

Bjornsen was 23rd to collect some World Cup points, and three of her APU teammates finished out of the points — Rosie Brennan was 33rd, Kikkan Randall was 48th and Chelsea Holmes was 64th.

Bjornsen, who turned 28 last week, is coming off a solid summer of training with APU that included multiple trips to Eagle Glacier and recent on-snow skiing at Hatcher Pass.

"I have been feeling good for the past few weeks, but as always at the beginning of the season, you wonder where you are," Bjornsen said by email. "I love this course, because it is so tough all the way to the finish line, and you don't have many places to recover throughout the course. I also love how steep the climb is; it is a grade that I have always enjoyed!

"… The combination of amazing skis, and great feelings made for one of my best days on skis."

Sophie Caldwell of Vermont, who finished eighth in Friday's sprint, also met the Olympic qualifying criteria. Brennan scored World Cup points by placing 29th and Randall failed to advance out of the qualifying round.

APU's Erik Bjornsen, Sadie's brother, was the top American in both of the men's races. He placed 26th in both the sprint and the 15K classic.

The Olympic team will be named officially in late January. There are four more World Cup races at which U.S. skiers can meet the No. 1 criteria by placing in the top eight — two classic sprints, one individual-start freestyle race (women's 10K and men's 15K) and one skiathlon. Those races are Olympic selection races because they are the same format as races on the Olympic program.

The No. 2 criteria for making the team is a top-50 ranking in the World Cup sprint or distance standings by mid-January. The No. 3 criteria is coaches' discretion.

If any spots remain after that, they will be determined by the results from two North American race series — the U.S. national championships, which are at Kincaid Park in early January, and the SuperTour, at various locations between now and the end of the calendar year.