For Rosie Brennan, it has been a tough Games, as she and Jessie Diggins fall short in sprint
ZHANGJIAKOU, China – You could tell Rosie Brennan and Jessie Diggins wanted the podium for the women’s team sprint, from their demeanor on the snow, to their drive to fight to the finish.
For Diggins, of course, it would have been a repeat of her breakthrough moment four years ago in Pyeongchang, when she sprinted to the line for the gold and began a career as the most decorated female cross country skier in U.S. history.
But maybe we wanted it even more for Brennan, who had such a rough race day a week ago that a medal today might have balanced things out.
Both women looked very strong for most of the two-person, five-exchange race Wednesday.
Wearing matching No. 1 bibs, Brennan looked steady and in control on her three laps, staying within the middle of the pack in the first two and surging on the third.
Meanwhile Diggins shot of out a cannon on the exchanges, grabbing the lead – or taking her place among the leaders and holding on.
Brennan’s splits were impressive, with her third and final lap her fastest at 3 minutes, 38.7 seconds.
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Diggins used that energy to catapult from Brennan’s final tag and jumped out to the lead right away. But she faded in the final stretch, first on the major descent and then in the all-out straightaway to the finish line. Diggins' final lap was 31 seconds slower than her first.
Diggins wasn't feeling her best Wednesday, eight days after winning bronze in the individual sprint.
“It was so cool to see Rosie just crushing,” said Diggins. “I went as hard as I could and there’s no doubt in my mind I could have possibly tried harder. I finished with zero sugars left and was dizzy and sick. And I’m currently wearing all the clothes of Team USA."
Meanwhile the leaders all had a powerful final kick with Germany taking gold, Sweden taking silver and Russia taking bronze.
Brennan and Diggins finished fifth for the U.S.
“I felt really good about my skiing today,” said Brennan. “I think it was one of my better classic races this week. I’m really happy to have been able to put it together by the end of the Olympics.”
This is the closest Brennan has ever come to medaling at the Olympics. She was 58th in the skiathlon four years ago in her Olympic debut in Pyeongchang. And Brennan thinks that’s a testament to the depth of the U.S. women’s cross country program.
But still. So close.
Again.
On Feb. 8, for the individual sprint, it was the same thing, only Brennan, 33, originally from Anchorage, showed up to the Zhangjiakou National Cross-Country Skiing Centre with two left boots. The guys on the U.S. team came to the rescue and got her a right boot.
Then on quarterfinal qualifiers she crashed out of the starting gate. Did a pole plant weirdly or did her ski catch an edge? She doesn’t know. It’s just her worst leg of racing and she had worked on her gate starts for six straight weeks with her boyfriend before the Olympics when she found herself on the ground.
“I definitely had an ‘oh shit’ moment,” said Brennan.
She still advanced, but then some of her clothing went missing before the semifinal qualification race and honestly it could have all been enough to just throw her off her game, but what good is that?
“I thought, lay it out now because it’s the Olympics. What else are you going to do?” said Brennan.
On a course heavy on challenges and light on catch-up spots, Brennan used her strengths in the finals: her climbing and embracing the coldest weather altitude helped her make a push.
She did really well but she took fourth place, two seconds behind Diggins who seized the individual sprint bronze and less than 5 seconds behind the gold medal winner Jonna Sundling of Sweden.
“You know fourth place is hard,” said Brennan. “You feel really happy and also frustrated at the same time. I have a lot of mixed emotions about it. But I did everything I could today; maybe not everything went perfectly my way, but I have to be happy with that at the end of the day.”