Park City High School’s Rosie Brennan gets 4th at the Olympics

Park City's Rosie Brennan finishing fourth right behind teammate Jesse Diggins in the Cross Country Individual Sprint at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. Photo: Mark Clavin/U.S. Ski & Snowboard Instagram: @markclavin // @usskiteam

BEIJING — Rosie Brennan, who grew up in Park City, placed fourth yesterday in the Women’s Individual Cross Country Sprint Free Skate race at the Beijing Olympics.

In her second Olympics, the 33-year-old was second after the quarter-finals, despite missing a pole plant and falling down briefly in the tracks just a few pushes after leaving the starting gate.

“I certainly made that interesting,” Brennan said after finishing her quarterfinal heat, adding that it was one of the hardest races she had ever done.

It was a historic moment to have two women representing Team USA in an Olympic Finals. In the last 300 meters, Jesse Diggins had a big push from fourth position into third and Brennan rallied from fifth into fourth.

Brennan’s time off the podium was only a second and a half behind Diggins who captured the bronze medal. It was the first Individual Cross Country Olympic medal won by an American woman.

Brennan graduated from Park City High School went on to get her undergraduate degree at Dartmouth, and is currently further matriculating at and skiing for Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage.

She’s a former Park City Ski and Snowboard Team standout, a team presently coached by three-time Olympian Liz Stephen.