With only two full seasons on the U.S. Ski Team under her belt, Sadie Bjornsen is already making waves in the nordic world.

A product of the Alaska Pacific University pipeline, Bjornsen recovered from offseason back and foot injuries to win her second and third U.S. titles and earn her first top-10 in a World Cup sprint. Along the way, she helped the 4x5k relay team finish an historic fourth at World Championships and had impressive races on the Sochi Olympic course.

Her eventful 2013 season followed an impressive 2012 campaign, which saw the Washington state native score her first career World Cup points in a team sprint with Kikkan Randall. In 2011 she earned All-America honors as a college freshman at APU and skied in her first World Championships in Oslo, Norway.

The young sprint specialist is looking forward to her first shot at the Olympics, and with the freestyle sprint on center stage, Bjornsen’s time could be now.

SADIE SAYS
I had an exciting year of racing. I struggled with back and foot injuries all summer and fall, so I spent most of my training hours running in the pool and biking. Because of this, I had a slower start to the season, beginning my racing on the domestic level. I attended Nationals in Soldier Hollow, where I won two new national titles and was runner-up in the other two events. Following that, I left for Europe and began my World Cup Season. The highlights of my season included racing on the Sochi Olympic Courses, where I had some of my best races of the year—I really look forward to the Olympic Games there next year. I went on to World Champs, where I was part of the 4x5k relay that just narrowly missed winning a medal, coming in fourth place. My final World Cup weekend in Lahti, Finland was my most exciting as I got both my first top-20 finish and then my first top-10 finish in the sprint race. 

I am very encouraged by my racing this season as well as the U.S. Ski Team as a whole. It leaves me more excited than ever for some offseason racing. I think next year the U.S. Team really has a chance to win both individual and team medals at the Olympic Games. This excitement and confidence will power our whole team through the long, tough offseason for the next seven months. 

FIRST TRACKS
Bjornsen grew up in an athletic family with three close siblings, so her competitive personality was nothing but expected. “Being outdoors and competing in many sports all year allowed me to develop an athletic lifestyle filled with lots of different types of races and competitions,” says Bjornsen. Starting as an alpine skier at about six years old, she eventually switched to cross country skiing when she got tired of “getting cold riding up the chairlift.” From then on, the Washington native started dreaming about being an Olympic skier and looked up to her neighbor, good friend and former Olympic skier Laura McCabe.

OFF THE SNOW

When she's not training, Bjornsen enjoys spending time in the mountains on skis, on foot, on a bike or in climbing gear. She also attends school at Alaska Pacific University, where she is pursuing a degree in accounting and nonprofit business management. She loves listening to techno, drinking ice water and dancing.