Rosie Brennan
The World Cup cross-country ski season hit the end of its early season schedule Sunday with another podium finish for Anchorage’s Rosie Brennan, the latest triumph in a show of unprecedented force by American skiers.
Brennan, the 34-year-old Alaska Pacific University skier, grabbed second place in the women’s 10-kilometer classic race in Trondheim, Norway, the final World Cup race before a two-week break.
With her silver medal, Brennan continued an American streak of at least one medal on nine straight race days.
“It’s been an insanely good start for our whole team, which is cool,” Brennan said. “I think it’s clear that we’re in good shape and skiing well, and things are moving in a good direction for our team.”
To say it will be a happy holidays for the U.S. Ski Team is an understatement.
Through 10 races of the 38-race season, Americans have collected nine individual medals — five by Jessie Diggins of Minnesota, three by Brennan and one by JC Schoonmaker of Anchorage. In the season’s only relay race so far, the team of Diggins, Brennan, Sophia Laukli and Julia Kern captured the bronze medal.
Diggins and Brennan rank 1-2 in the women’s overall World Cup standings, and the United States ranks third in the Nations Cup standings behind Norway and Sweden. And although the always-potent Russians remain banned from competition because of the invasion of Ukraine, the Americans leads other heavyweights like Finland, France and Italy.
“Podiums are always fun for the team, and even when it’s coming from just one athlete,” U.S. coach Matt Whitcomb said in remarks shared by the ski team. “So imagine what it feels like to come out of period one with five athletes that have stood on it. And beyond that, we have new athletes in the top-30 and top-15 for the first time.”
Among the younger skiers enjoying breakthroughs are APU’s Zanden McMullen, who was back in the top 30 Sunday with a 29th-place finish in the men’s 10K, and Novie McCabe, who was 25th in the women’s race.
The season opened with three races in Finland, and the Americans were hot from the start. Brennan claimed two medals and Diggins took one, with Brennan demonstrating improved mastery in the classic technique by placing second in the 10K classic there.
Brennan repeated as the silver medalist in Sunday’s 10K classic, finishing 19.6 seconds behind winner Victoria Carl of Germany, who clocked 28 minutes, 13.6 seconds.
Ben Ogden of Vermont led the U.S. men in eighth place, 44 seconds behind winner Johannes Klaebo of Norway (24:43.1).
In the first two days of racing in Trondheim, Diggins won silver medals in the 20K skiathlon and freestyle sprint. Brennan and Schoonmaker both made it to the quarterfinals in the sprint but failed to advance beyond that, and Brennan placed 8th in the skiathlon.
Brennan is 9-for-10 when it comes to top-10 finishes this season.
World Cup competition continues Dec. 30 with the Tour de Ski, a series of seven races in nine days in Italy and Switzerland.