Anchorage skier Rosie Brennan caught and then passed two teammates to lead a group of three Americans into the top 30 of Saturday’s opening stage of the annual Tour de Ski race series.
Brennan, a 2018 Winter Olympian, placed 20th in the women’s 10-kilometer mass-start freestyle race in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
She finished a minute behind winner Therese Johaug of Norway and 21 seconds ahead of teammates Jessie Diggins of Minnesota and Sadie Maubet Bjornsen of Anchorage, who placed 29th and 30th, respectively, with identical times.
Johaug set a fierce pace to win in 28 minutes, 12.1 seconds.
After the first 3.3 kilometers of racing, Diggins was third, Bjornsen ninth and Brennan 16th. Brennan skied a strong second lap to pass Diggins and Bjornsen.
“Today was a bit of a mixed day,” Brennan said by email. “Having missed the last two weekends of racing, I wasn't quite sure where I was at, but I felt really good in the race and am really happy with my effort.”
It was a bad wax day for the Americans, Diggins said in a release from the U.S. Ski Team. “Not for lack of effort or work on our techs part, but sometimes that’s the way it goes in this sport,” she said.
“We struggled a bit with our skis and I maybe wasted a bit too much energy trying to move up in places that didn't make sense with the skis I had on my feet,” Brennan said. “The good news is that it was overall a very tight race so, despite less than perfect skis, I didn't lose too much time in the overall and am still optimistic for the rest of the tour.”
The 14th annual Tour de Ski is a seven-race series that continues Sunday with a sprint race in Lenzerheide. After that the series heads to Italy for two races in Toblach and three in Val di Fiemme.
In Saturday’s 15K race for men, Russia’s Sergey Ustiugov won in 33:19.1. David Norris of Anchorage was the top American, placing 71 seconds behind Ustiugov in 58th place. Logan Hanneman of Anchorage was the third American and 69th overall, finishing 1:42.1 off the winning pace.