Inside The Lab: Alayna Sonnesyn Reaching New Heights with Performance Testing
Professional skier Alayna Sonnesyn is on a journey to the 2026 Winter Olympics. The Minnesota native was taught the ins and outs of skiing by her parents, around the same time she was learning how to walk. Now, after a successful college career of skiing and running, she is a professional skier for Team Birkie.
With a lifetime of experience and dedication she is competing at the highest level of professional cross-country skiing. Alayna has won four American Birkebeiner races, the largest cross-country skiing race in North America. Now, she is racing in World Cup events across Europe against the best skiers in the world.
With her Olympic dreams in sight, Alayna Sonnesyn is constantly striving for improvement. In 2024, Human Powered Health had the privilege of welcoming her to our Edina Performance Lab to gather key data and track her progress leading into the 2024-2025 cross-country skiing season.
From Testing to Training
In the Spring of 2024, Alayna Sonnesyn visited Human Powered Health Edina for her first visit, completing a plethora of testing, including VO2 max, Resting Metabolic Rate, Lactate Threshold, Sweat Analysis and Force Plate testing. Using this data as a key piece of her offseason training and benchmarking metrics, she aimed to make strides prior to the winter season.
She made adjustments in her training between visits, specifically focusing on improving her Lactate Threshold. Her VO2 Max is in the upper echelon of athletes, but Alayna wanted to be able to sustain her high performance longer and avoid hitting a wall in a long race.
After dedicating the summer and fall to data-based training, she came back to the lab to retest before the winter season. Her hard work in the offseason was evident as she improved in both her VO2 Max and Lactate Threshold metrics.
She spoke about her mindset towards progression, saying, “In order to see long-term progress on what you’re doing, you need to be really patient with yourself. Over time, progress is going to be there. Trust yourself, trust your coach and training plan.”
Alayna utilized Resting Metabolic Rate testing to fine-tune her caloric intake, ensuring it met thhe intense physical demands of her sport. Combined with Sweat Analysis data, these insights helped her develop a precise training and race-fueling strategy.
Alayna Sonnesyn knows what it takes to become one of the best, crediting hard work behind the scenes, saying “The work that you’re doing months before competition is going to pay off in the end.“
She also spoke on the importance of performance testing, “Last year I didn’t have any of this data to help navigate what type of training I did right before race season. So I’m excited to have this, and there’s a lot of data I will give to my coach.”
Success On the Slopes
Alayna has spent the winter competing at the highest level of cross-country skiing. Where she represents both the United States and her Minnesota-based club team, Team Birkie. Every weekend, she lines up against the best skiers in the world, pushing her limits on some of the most challenging courses the sport has to offer.
Although she has been a familiar face on the World Cup circuit for several years, this season has been her most successful yet. She achieved personal bests in both sprint and distance races, including a 19th-place finish in the 1.5km Skate Sprint in Toblach, Italy. Her strong performances early-on in the season earned her a coveted spot on the U.S World Championship team.
The World Championships, held every two years, are regarded as one of the most prestigious events in cross-country skiing. These events are considered just as important as the Olympics for many skiers. At the World Championships Alayna Sonnesyn delivered career best results, finishing 23rd in the 50km Mass start.
As Alayna finishes a very successful professional season, we here at Human Powered Health have been grateful to provide her with useful performance testing data. We’re very excited to see what the future has in store.
Watch the full breakdown of Alayna Sonnesyn’s visit in the video below.
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