February 28, 2019 (Seefeld, Austria) – Team USA’s Sadie Bjornsen, Rosie Brennan, Jessie Diggins and rookie Julia Kern battled to 5th place in the women’s 4x5km relay at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Seefeld, Austria as Sweden won gold over Norway with Russia taking the bronze.

“It was hot and hard, really tough skiing out there,” said Kern, who skied the lead-off classic leg. “I had the most epic blow-up of my life, but I have no regrets, I put it all out there.”

“It is so challenging to be tagged off behind a group as you just want to close the gap as fast as you can,” said Brennan, who skied the second leg before tagging of to Bjornsen. “I tried to take the first kilometer and just breath and then hammer after that. The hills are running hills and those are my strength, but it’s crazy how hard it is to catch a group that is working together. As soon as I caught that group I told myself just don’t sit behind, keep making every second.”

“That was a ton of fun out there and so awesome to cross that finish line and have all my teammates there,” said Diggins, the final skier of the relay team. “I am so proud of this group because relay days need a little magic for the results to come in and we did the best we could.”

Canada’s Katherine Stewart-Jones, Emily Nishikawa, Cendrine Browne, and Dahria Beatty raced to 12th and took another step forward in their continued development into elite skiers.

“I just wanted to stay with the front pack for as long as I possibly could,” said Stewart-Jones. “The first lap I was able to stay pretty relaxed by being aggressive and avoiding unnecessary passes. My skis were super-fast, which helped me stay in touch on the flatter sections. The last lap, the top girls started pushing the pace, but I just put my head down and dug deep with the thought of tagging Emily in the best position possible.”

Results here.