January 7, 2014 (Toblach, Italy) – American Sadie Bjornsen continues her stellar rise through the ranks, claiming a strong 8th place finish in the women’s 5km CL won by the seemingly unbeatable Marit Bjoergen (NOR) who claimed her 88th World Cup victory in Toblach, Italy.

Bjornsen © Nordic Focus

Bjoergen’s teammate Heidi Weng, who has finished on the podium in all Tour de Ski 2015 stages so far, took second as defending champ, Therese Johaug also of Norway sits in third.

Bjornsen’s teammate Jessie Diggins made the top 20 finishing a respectable 19th while Liz Stephen also landed in the points in 29th. Kikkan Randall was 42nd, Sophie Caldwell was 45th and Ida Sargent finished 46th.

“Really excited about the last two days. The sprint was my second best sprint ever… so although I just missed my chances, I was really excited to have that positive feedback in a sprint race to find my confidence again! Davos was hard on my brain, so now I have some real belief in myself again!

“Yesterday was another awesome day. I laid it all out there. I went hard from the gun, split the course into six working sections, and just tried to push every single bit. It was especially exciting to smell the podium for the first time ever in an individual race… only 9 seconds away!

Final podium © Nordic Focus

“Now, it is time to do some rest. It was really hard to pull the plug and stick to my plan of dropping out after 4 stages. I have some large goals in the next coming month, and World Championships though, so I have to remember this is my first tour, and take everything one stride at a time. I will have another chance to try again next year on an non-championship year. Thanks to our awesome staff for keeping us rested, massaged, and amazing skis all four days,” Bjornsen told SkiTrax.

“Today’s 5km classic in Toblach was fun,” wrote Diggins by email. “I actually really like 5km classics but we never get to race them! It was tricky waxing with all this man-made snow going on this year but our techs did a great job and I was able to kick up everything which helped me out a ton. I focused on really hammering the transitions, flats and corners and was able to make up some time in the second half of the course today.”

Bjornsen is closing in on her personal best – she had two 7th place finishes last year – as she gets closer to her “dream race”. She sits 7th overall at 3:36 behind Bjoergen with Weng in second at +1:34.3 followed by Johaug in third at 2:16.5 with lots of racing still to come.

Stage 4 results here.
Standings here.