Nordic Nation: Sadie Bjornsen and the ‘Sadie System’

The Sadie System, as in the Sadie Bjornsen system, is the topic in this episode of Nordic Nation. That system involves a basic understanding of how hard and long to train and how to recover effectively, a question many athletes struggle to answer. But Bjornsen, a U.S. Ski Team all-arounder, has overcome chronic foot injuries and arrived on the World Cup scene this year poised for podiums. She has three World Cup podiums so far in the 2017/2018 season and she’ll be competing at her second Olympics this February. And she does have some bronze bling from last year’s World Championship team sprint with Jessie Diggins.

When asked about interesting media exposure she’s had during the run up to the Olympics, Bjornsen mentioned a Twitter exchange the U.S. Ski Team’s women had with Paula Poundstone of NPR’s Wait Wait. Rule of thumb: it’s a bad idea to dis World Championship medalist.

U.S. Ski Team member Sadie Bjornsen (4) racing to fifth in the women’s 10 k freestyle pursuit at Stage 3 of the 2018 Tour de Ski in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. She went on to finish ninth overall in the Tour. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)

We caught up with the 28-year-old Bjornsen on the phone on Jan. 18, a few days before last weekend’s World Cup races in Planica, Slovenia. The skier originally from Washington’s Methow Valley, who trains with Alaska Pacific University (APU) in Anchorage, Alaska, is a model of perseverance, goal setting and getting things done.

Sadie Bjornsen (l) catches her teammate Jessie Diggins after they placed third in the women’s classic team sprint on Feb. 26 at 2017 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland. (Photo: John Lazenby/Lazenbyphoto.com)

(To subscribe to the Nordic Nation podcast channel, download the iTunes app. If you have iTunes, subscribe to Nordic Nation here.)

Jason Albert

Jason lives in Bend, Ore., and can often be seen chasing his two boys around town. He’s a self-proclaimed audio geek. That all started back in the early 1990s when he convinced a naive public radio editor he should report a story from Alaska’s, Ruth Gorge. Now, Jason’s common companion is his field-recording gear.