March 22, 2015 (Sun Valley, ID) – When the dust settled in the FR Sprints at the 2015 Supertour Finals, APU’s Sadie Bjornsen had earned herself another title while Andy Newell (SMS-T2) remains the fastest man on cross-country skis in the USA.

Sadie Bjornsen © Dave Wheelock

Middlebury’s Kelsey Phinney had a solid showing taking second on the women’s podium while Jennie Bender (Bridger Ski Foundation) claimed the bronze. Renowned distance USST member Liz Stephen made the final and ended up fourth overall.

In the men’s contest Aspen, Colorado’s Simi Hamilton claimed the silver while Bend Endurance speed king, Dakota Blackhorse Von Jess grabbed the final podium spot.

We caught up with Bjornsen for her take on her second title.

“It was another exciting and fun day of racing in Sun Valley. Conditions were tough in the morning with an incredibly icy track, that left me questioning how much energy I had left. Fortunately, I was able to find some better feelings when the conditions softened, and I was able to use some more powerful skiing.

“I have found myself incredibly exhausted after a long world cup season, so it was fun to be able to dig into some deeper places for energy today. As the day went on, I started feeling better and better. By the A finals, I was able to make a move at the finish to cross the line in the front. I have to give a big thanks to the APU waxing crew for making some seriously speedy skis for me!

Men's action © Dave Wheelock

“It has been a lot of fun racing here at Galena, and mostly fun to challenge your mental abilities when you are using every last bit of energy from the season! It was fun to see some of my other APU teammates shine today as well! We are really looking forward to the club relay event, which is my favorite race of them all. This is a four-person relay event that means a lot to all of us,” she concluded.

Andy Newell was stoked to be on the top step of the podium as well.

“It was a fun sprint race and it’s always a highlight of the spring to come back and hammer around a sprint course with everyone in the US. We have a pretty tight-knit ski community in the US so it’s a blast to get all the clubs together for some high quality races.

“The FR sprint got off to a fast start since the track was frozen extremely hard. We got the qualification underway at around 10 and it was still really hard and a lot of skiers including myself were having a hard time getting enough purchase with their skis in order to kick. The organizers did a great job and had everything timed and dialed in and the snow softened up just in time for the heats and actually stayed pretty fast despite the warm sunny temps.

“The course was fairly flat and short 1.2km and almost all V2 but up here at 7,000 feet nobody was complaining. In the heats we had a strong mix of all the best US xc sprinters along with a solid group of college skiers who were very competitive in the heats as well. The tactics of the course definitely turned out to be wait to attack the final long 200 meter gradual uphill finish.

Final Sprint podium © Dave Wheelock

“I was happy to be able to have strong finishes all day and had a great time trying to attack the final corner and carry a lot of speed up the gradual finish.  In the final I tried to do the same type of tactic and it seemed to work well and I just got a small jump on Simi going into the stretch. It was unfortunate that we both ended up going for the same lane in the finish… it was only about a 50-meter flagged zone. I think we were both so focused on the finish line. In the end we were both stoked to go 1-2 for SMS and was really happy to have Dakota on the podium with us too. All in all it was a pretty relaxed fun day in the sun.

“Next up is the club relay an we’re always fired up for this race and have a very friendly rivalry with the APU teams. Right now Stratton has our work cut out for us since we have all been struggling with sickness though out the team and not sure if Sophie or Jessie will be able to race,” shared Newell.

Women’s results here.
Men’s results here.