January 22, 2017 (Ulricehamn, Sweden) – A valiant effort by Team USA-1 came up just short of the podium in the women’s 4x5k mixed technique relay on Sunday, as the squad settled for fourth. Marit Bjoergen anchored an impressive performance by Norway-1 for the win, with Germany second and Sweden-1 third.

Despite the disappointment of missing the podium, the USA took solace in its closest ever finish to the lead in the women’s relay – just 9.2 seconds behind Norway-1. Jessie Diggins anchored and battled head-to-head with Germany and Sweden-1 over the entire course of the final 5k freestyle leg.

The finish was also a big step towards the team’s ultimate goal this season in the World Championships next month in Lahti, Finland.

“Today was an incredible race for our women’s team,” said Coach Matt Whitcomb. “While we wanted the podium, every skier executed their plan and I feel we’ve inched closer to the podium next month at World Championships in Lahti.”

Rosie Brennan opened for the USA, staying with the chase pack and coming into the exchange fifth. Brennan’s role was to keep the USA in strong contact on the first leg. After a gap opened through the middle of the race, Brennan fought back aggressively – especially on the final hill – to keep the margin at just 10 seconds before handing off.

“I didn’t have the best start, but found my groove about half way through and was able to pull back some time in the second half,” said Brennan. “With limited snow, the classic skiers had a very narrow course to navigate which proved difficult when trying to pass.”

On the second classic leg, Sadie Bjornsen maintained contact with the chase group as Norway’s Heidi Weng opened a huge lead over the field. Bjornsen moved the team up from fifth to second with very aggressive classic skiing, handing off in second place – a best-ever U.S. performance in the classic leg.

“I felt good about my classic leg and was really happy with the first four kilometers,” said Bjornsen. “At 4k, Steffi and I caught the chase group, but we were unable to get around them with the narrow v-boarded course and only two tracks. I was a bit disappointed about that, because I knew how important it would have been to make a little gap before the skating legs – but that happens sometimes.”

In the first freestyle leg, Liz Stephen had to especially watch Charlotte Kalla of Sweden. She kept pace in the chase group – even attacking Kalla on the climb – and kept the USA within 15 seconds of the lead, mixing it up with Germany, Sweden and Norway 2 before handing off to Diggins.

In the final skate leg, Diggins set a nice pace at the start of the leg with Norway 2 was dropping from the chase group leaving her to play a cat-and-mouse game, exchanging off the lead and setting up a finish sprint. But about 1.5k from the finish, Sweden’s Hanna Falk made a surprise break that caught Diggins and Germany’s Sandra Ringwald off guard. Ringwald and Diggins quickly caught up with Falk, but Diggins was on the back end of the group coming into the finish. She had a gap to cover and took the inside corner but just didn’t have enough real estate left to get into third.

“For my leg, it felt like a chess match,” said Diggins. “If I could do it again I would have gone out hard right from the gun to try and get some space. I did the best I could with how it played out, but I feel like my fitness wasn’t reflected well in this particular race. It was a huge drafting course and it was exceedingly hard to drop people in the skate leg. It made it a very tight and exciting race though! I’m very excited for the sharper hills of Lahti next time!”

Team USA 2 with Kikkan Randall, Sophie Caldwell, Ida Sargent and Liz Guiney finished 12th.

“It was a fun race. The crowds were incredible, lining the entire course with 55,000 people!  I skied most of the race solo which was tough because the course definitely favored drafting with a lot of flat sections. So I really would have loved to have had people around to ski with but I got to ski the last kilometer with Anne Kyllonen and it was exciting to see that her pace was totally manageable and we traded leads for that whole time. I was really encouraged to not be that far out of the lead which was a good confidence boost for me. It was foggy and wet out there but really nice klister skiing and we had great skis. Next up is the weekend in Falun,” commented Sargent.

“The conditions were actually quite nice,” said Randall. “The track held up well and the 5km course skied really nice for classic. I had a hard time following the opening pace on leg 1. Felt myself come around a little bit after 2km but had already lost touch with the group.  Skis were great despite only a short time on course to test.

“The crowd was AMAZING!  I had so much fun warming up because people were cheering by first name all the way around the course. It was a really exciting race and you’ve got to give a high five to Hanna Falk for delivering in front of her home crowd and our girls kept it close to Norway 1. I’m a little bit disappointed with my weekend of racing and look forward to getting back on track in Falun next weekend,” she concluded.

Results here.

The tour now heads north to Falun for a freestyle sprint and a classic mass start.