Sadie Bjornsen, Who Just Missed an Olympic Medal, Makes Post-Games Visit to Sponsors Foss and Saltchuk

Sadie Bjornsen visited a Foss Tug and company headquarters during a recent visit to Seattle.

The world’s sixth-ranked woman Nordic skier, who finished just short of a medal in this year’s Winter Olympics, has nothing but good things to say about Foss and the Saltchuk family of transportation and fuel companies.

Her four-year relationship with Saltchuk “has been incredible and fun,” said Sadie Bjornsen. Saltchuk is her largest and primary sponsor, supporting both her skiing — including training and travel — and her education at Alaska Pacific University.

“The neat thing is that working with Saltchuk keeps me in contact with all the partner companies,” she said. “For example, I’ve worked with Foss in Alaska and in the offices in Seattle, getting them involved by sharing stories about my experiences.”

A native of Winthrop, Washington, Bjornsen now lives in Anchorage. As a child, her family vacations consisted of road trips across the American West, so she and brother Erik (also a member of Team USA), could participate in cross-country competitions.

After competing in the Sochi Olympics in 2014, she won her first medal in world championship competition in 2017, a bronze in the team-sprint competition. In the recent Olympics in PyeongChang, she came closest to the podium with a fifth-place finish in the four-timesfive- kilometer relay.

Her relationship with Saltchuk has its roots in a connection she made in Alaska with Harry McDonald, a founder of Carlile Transportation. Carlile sponsored her for several years until it was acquired by Saltchuk four years ago.

She subsequently met with Saltchuk President Tim Engle and Chairman Mark Tabbutt. “I got to share with them my goal of chasing after an Olympic medal and focusing my time on the process, how I needed to put 100 percent into training.”

While she didn’t medal in PyeongChang, Bjornsen came away knowing she did the best she could, and that she’s getting closer to the top of her sport. Will she go for a third Olympics?

My new goal is to medal in an individual event at next year’s world championships,” she said. “Then I will refocus and see what the next step is.”