Anchorage’s Rosie Brennan takes 4th in Olympic ski sprint race

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Rosie Brennan, of Anchorage, finished fourth Tuesday in the women’s individual sprint in cross-country skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, less than two seconds off the podium.

Brennan, a Park City, Utah, skier who now lives and trains in Anchorage with the Alaska Pacific University ski team, finished just 1.33 seconds behind third-place finisher and U.S. teammate Jessie Diggins, who won the bronze medal. Sweden’s Jonna Sundling won the gold.

Diggins’ bronze is just the third cross-country medal ever won by an American skier, adding to the historic gold medal she claimed in 2018 in the team sprint relay at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea — Diggins teamed up with Anchorage skier Kikkan Randall to win the gold — and the silver medal won by American Bill Koch in the men’s 30 kilometers at the 1976 Games in Innsbruck, Austria.

No Alaskan had won an Olympic medal in cross-country skiing before Randall’s big day in 2018. Before Tuesday’s freestyle sprint, Brennan’s best Olympic finish was 14th in last Friday’s women’s skiathlon, which combines both disciplines — freestyle and classic — in one event.

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