Yeaton becomes 6th Alaskan to win 50K Birkebeiner in Wisconsin

Jessica Yeaton
Anchorage nordic skier Jessica Yeaton turned in an extraordinary performance to win the 46th American Birkebeiner, the biggest cross-country ski race in North America.
There were 766 women in the 50-kilometer freestyle race, and for about 20 kilometers or so, Yeaton didn’t see a single one of them.
Yeaton, a APU skier and 2018 Olympian, is the sixth Alaskan to win the American Birkebeiner.
Halfway through, she broke away from the lead pack of about six skiers on a big climb called “00” and turned the final half of the famous race into a solo endeavor.
Yeaton, of South High fame, finished in 2 hours, 13 minutes, 20 seconds to beat five-time Olympian Riitta-Liisa Roponen of Finland by 41 seconds.
She joins David Norris, Holly Brooks, Todd Boonstra, Judy Rabinowitz and Chris Haines from The Last Frontier.