Alaska’s Rosie Brennan shines with 2 podium finishes in season-opening World Cup stop

Alaska’s Rosie Brennan shined at the first women’s World Cup cross-country skiing competition of the season. Brennan, a U.S. Olympian, finished in second place Saturday during the 10K classic race in Ruka, Finland. She followed that up with a third-place finish in Sunday’s 30K freestyle race for a pair of podium finishes.

In Saturday’s classic race, Brennan finished in 26 minutes, 51.6 seconds, about five seconds behind winner Ebba Andersson of Sweden. Fellow U.S. Olympian Jessie Diggins finished 11th in a time of 27:38.

“I had really nice skis out there today, that’s for sure,” said Brennan in a statement from the U.S. Ski Team. “I’ve been really happy with the improvements I’ve made in classic skiing and it all worked out today — I’m very happy with my result!”

Brennan, who skis for the APU Elite Team, was joined by teammate Novie McCabe, who finished 30th in 28:22.7.

The finish for Brennan was significant. It marked her first World Cup individual classic podium and her eighth overall podium.

After Sunday’s 20K freestyle race, Brennan was on the podium again, finishing third behind winner Moa Ilar of Sweden and Diggins. In an incredibly close race, Brennan’s time was 55:42.2, just 1.4 seconds behind Ilar. Diggins skied a time of 55:41.1, a split second behind the winner. McCabe finished 21st.

The men’s 10K classic race was won by Norwegian Martin Loewstroem Nyenget. The top Americans were APU skier Gus Schumacher (24:23.9) in 21st and Ben Ogden in 39th. A trio of APU skiers finished just out of the top 50: Scott Patterson (53rd in 25:03.2), Luke Jager (56th in 25:09.8) and Zanden McMullen (58th in 25:11) all finished within 10 seconds of each other.

Schumacher finished 16th in Sunday’s 20K freestyle race in 48:48.5 and teammate Patterson was less than 10 seconds behind in 20th.

The scene shifts to Gällivare, Sweden, for the next World Cup stop next weekend on Dec 2-3.