January 06, 2017 (Toblach, ITA) – Team USA celebrated a historic double podium with Jessie Diggins of Minnesota taking another victory in the women’s 5km individual skate while Sadie Bjornsen from Alaska earned her first individual World Cup podium taking a third-place finish on Stage 5 of the Tour de Ski in Toblach, Italy.

“We are dreamers, but we are also believers,” said Bjornsen in an email after the race, “It’s crazy how much confidence you can get from a teammates success if you allow yourself to stand beside them.”

Diggins’ time of 12:45 was 30 seconds faster than her win at the same event and venue last year, which was her first individual World Cup victory. “This was such a great day for our team! To stand on the podium with a great friend and teammate is so much more exciting,” she said via email, “I was just thrilled for Sadie today and with my own race, I went into the day feeling ready and believing in myself…ready to make it happen again!” Her time was nearly fifteen seconds ahead of second place finisher Krista Parmakoski of Finland.

For Bjornsen, who has shown promise for years but has narrowly missed podium finishes, the result was a dream come true. “Today was just amazing,” she commented, “I purposely asked for no splits today, because I wanted to go out there today and see how strong I could be inside my head. I love this course, but pacing is important, and I wanted to do my own thing. When I crossed the line, I had no idea where I had finished, so it was a fun surprise… like Christmas.”

Earlier this year, Bjornsen won a World Cup sprint qualifier but failed to make it through the semifinals. She said consistent skiing was the key to today’s success. “I had two things in mind today, ‘stay strong Sadie’ and “what would Jessie Diggins do?’” she said, “There is so much work on the second half of the race, and Jessie is just amazing at being strong on that section… so I was imagining her the whole second half in front of me, and it seemed to have worked. Big thanks for amazing skis, and amazing cheers from all over the world! I think today opened a new door for me, I can’t wait.”

Kikkan Randall, former World Cup overall Sprint winner was especially excited for the performance of her APU Nordic Ski Center teammate. “We’ve known Jessie would be strong in this race but I’m especially psyched for Sadie,” she said, “All fall she was battling problems with her heels but she stayed focused, didn’t get deterred and now she’s flying! I vividly remember the joy and excitement of getting those first podiums and it makes me so happy to see the girls get to experience that for themselves. I’m glad I have played a part in helping them succeed and it’s such satisfying vindication for our whole program and everyone that helps contribute to USA’s success!”

Bjornsen has been dealing with injuries off and on for over the past ten years. This season, she struggled with bone spurs on her heels that prevented her from running and wearing normal ski boots during fall training.

Results here.
Overall here.