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Fine wines improve with age: so, too, Rosie Brennan. The 35 year old Alaskan has had one of her best starts to a World Cup season, a stark contrast to last year when she suffered from illness and just missed the podium often enough that it looked like it might be a trend. that challenging start notwithstanding, Brennan has dug in and continues to improve in every aspect of the sport. And, after last weekend, she is ranked second overall in the World Cup standings. Improving with age . . .
So, what accounts for her tremendous success this year? She has always had a reputation for being a consummate professional, but has anything changed to explain her fast start? Rosie was kind enough to give FasterSkier some of her valuable time in between race weekends to share her thoughts.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
FasterSkier: You’ve had a tremendous start to this season. Aside from not being ill, is there anything you did differently in the offseason or during the beginning of the race season that helped you reach this level of success?
Rosie Brennan: My general plan has been the same for many years now, so no, nothing crazy changed. I had a tough fall last year, getting Covid during October camp and then catching a cold in Lillehammer. Honestly, without that I think I would have been poised for similar results.
FasterSkier: What’s your view on how you are achieving such great success?
Rosie Brennan: I really like racing on natural, cold snow, which is often what we find in period one. I think much of my success can be attributed to conditions that suit my strengths more than anything else. It also helps that I am coming from Alaska and so I have been on snow before coming over here. I’ve had podiums in period one since 2020 so I don’t really think the results I’m having are anything crazy, but just the result of a lot of steady years of training and being more consistent in my racing.
FasterSkier: Looking forward to the rest of the season, do you feel you can sustain this level of intensity?
Rosie Brennan: Of course, I believe that. I never go into the season planning to have my best races the first weekend. I train to compete at the highest level I can for an entire season. In general, I try to carry a bit more volume through period one to help sustain fitness at the end of the year as well. Part of the game is also knowing what your strengths are and making sure you can use them.
FasterSkier: You just had your career first Classic podium (and an incredible Classic leg relay). Do you feel like you’ve made any changes to your Classic technique to account for this success?
Rosie Brennan: Changes at this point in my career are quite small, but yes, I’m always trying to find and make those small changes that allow me to be more efficient, more powerful, or whatever it is I’m looking for. I do feel that my Classic technique has improved. I also have had a few years of working with my tech, Bjorn, now and we really understand each other. He works very closely with Rossignol and over the last year or so we have completely overhauled my Classic fleet, so I am also skiing on skis that fit me better and are waxed better. All those things together allow me to have the Classic results that I have had lately.
FasterSkier: In your 7.5 kilometer Classic relay leg was your pace all out for the entire race, or did you have a pacing strategy?
Rosie Brennan: Relays are hard to make race plans for because you never know where you will be tagged off. I didn’t intend to go out the way I did, but when Jessie tagged me and there was a gap to Sweden, and I felt good, I thought the best chance was to go out hard and try to make the gap big enough that they couldn’t get back on. I definitely was dying the second lap and had moments of regrets, but I did all I could to hold myself together.
FasterSkier: In the relay race there’s a great picture of you going down one of the hills where you appear to be screaming. Is that something you do to psyche yourself up, deal with the fast downhillls, or something else altogether?
Rosie Brennan: I am just breathing in that pic … that’s not an uncommon picture to find of me racing for better or worse, but that’s just me taking big breaths and maybe screaming a bit in my head.
FasterSkier: From the athlete’s perspective, how do you feel the new fluoro policy implementation is going? Has it meant changing your routine, or any other issues surrounding it you’ve had to address?
Rosie Brennan: It’s definitely not ideal. Our whole testing schedule moves up 30 minutes, so I now test skis and then try to find somewhere warm to hang out for a bit so I’m not warming up for hours before my race. The actual logistics of picking up your skis and dropping them off have been smooth so far, so it’s really just a matter of getting used to this new schedule.
FasterSkier: American’s are ranked 1-2 in the overall standings. What does this mean to you personally?
Rosie Brennan: Jessie took the yellow bib from me in 2020 so, at the very least, it’s not new for us to be fighting for it. It’s very cool though. We both seem to have found ourselves and are enjoying racing right now. It’s always a pleasure to see multiple American flags on all the various standings. It makes me proud of how far we’ve come and that we have both found ways to keep doing this for so long.
FasterSkier: In our summer interview you mentioned that the European media didn’t give Americans much attention in the mixed zone. Has that changed now that you guys are 1-2?
Rosie Brennan: I had lots of interviews after the podium in Ruka, but not much since then. I guess it’s a bit of ebb and flow as to how much they care about Americans. I do think we’ve turned some heads, and they certainly can’t ignore what we are doing right now.
FasterSkier: The team must have about 10 pounds of winners’ cheese now. What do you do with all that?
Rosie Brennan: We snack on it, give it to wax techs, save some for Christmas, gift it to others in our support team.
FasterSkier thanks Rosie Brennan for taking time from her hectic schedule to answer our questions. And, for even more commentary on the hot start to the 2023 season, tune in to The Devon Kershaw Show to hear the latest podcast featuring an interview with Rosie Brennan.
