Randall Takes Third FS Skier of the Year Award, Tie for Men

Cross-Country Skier of the Year

The 2010 FasterSkier Awards wrap up with the Cross-Country Skier of the Year. While the women’s winner was a no-brainer, the men’s was not so clear cut.

Cross-Country Skier of the Year (women):

Kikkan Randall (USA). Randall is head and shoulders above the rest of the North American women. She followed up her silver medal at World Championships last season with a stellar all-around campaign.

With a focus on the Olympics, Randall was the only American to race her fastest consistently in Whistler. She set a new mark for American women by placing 8^th in the classic sprint – also a career-best in that event. She teamed up with Caitlin Compton for an excellent 6^th in the Team Sprint, hung with the leaders in the scramble leg of the 4x5km relay, and placed 24^th in the 30km – just the third time she had raced over 15km on the World Cup.

In addition to her Olympic results, Randall climbed back on the World Cup podium with a 2^nd place in the pre-World Championship sprint in Oslo. Randall did not have many opportunities to race her favorite event, the skate sprint, and used the chance to show she should be considered a favorite to defend her silver from Liberec.

Randall also continued to improve her distance racing and is quickly becoming an all-around World Cup skier. She capped the season with a 14^th in the pursuit at the World Cup Finals in Sweden, and ended the 4-day mini-tour in 17^th. All told she had four top-30 distance races this season.

On the domestic front, Randall swept the US National Championships, winning all five titles and the SuperTour Finals.

She finished the season ranked 18^th in the World Cup Sprint Cup standings, and 37^th in the overall.

Kikkan Randall (USA) - 10th qualifier. — Kikkan Randall (USA) - 10th qualifier, 8th overall - Olympic sprint.

Honorable Mention

Sarah Renner (CAN). Renner completed a standout career with her third Olympic Games. She placed 10^th in the 15km pursuit and 16^th in the 30km.

Her season highlight came the week before in Canmore when she thrilled the hometown crowd with a 3^rd place finish in the classic sprint. Renner also placed 16^th in the Tour de Ski and was ranked 39^th in the overall World Cup.

Congratulations to Sarah on a wonderful career.

Canada's Sara Renner helping her team to sixth place in the Olympic relay.

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Cross-Country Skier of the Year (men):

This was hands down the hardest choice. The Canadian men – Devon Kershaw, Ivan Babikov, George Grey, and Alex Harvey all had standout Olympics. Like most skiers their focus was on the Games, and the result was that they did not ski very well the rest of the season.

Andy Newell, on the other hand, had arguably the best all-around season of any US skier since Bill Koch. But he crashed out in the Olympic sprint qualifier.

While Grey and Harvey both had standout performances, Kershaw and Babikov were a bit better results-wise. Babikov has the edge in the overall World Cup, but Kershaw had two top-5 Olympic results.

While it may seem like a total cop out, the point of the FasterSkier Awards are to recognize the best skiers, not artificially try to differentiate between them for the sake of picking a winner.

And so for the first time, there is a three-way presentation.

Ivan Babikov (CAN). Babikov placed 5^th in the Olympic pursuit, 8^th in the 15km, and helped the Canadian men to a 7^th place finish in the relay.

His result in the pursuit sets the mark (matched by Kershaw) for the best Olympic finish ever by a Canadian man.

In addition the Olympics, Babikov placed 17^th in the World Cup Finals mini-tour, 9^th in the Tour de Ski and ended the season ranked 23^rd in the overall World Cup standings

Devon Kershaw (CAN). A two-time winner of the Skier of the Year Award, Kershaw, like Babikov, saved his best for the Olympics. He was less than two seconds out of the gold medal in the 50k, and teamed up with Harvey to finish 4^th in the Team Sprint. His “worst” Olympic performance was a 16^th in the 30km.

Kershaw also placed 16^th in the Tour de Ski and 31^st in the World Cup Finals.

Andy Newell (USA). Newell’s season should not be judged on the basis of the Olympics. He was in the running for a top-3 Sprint Cup finish until the last sprint, and ended up a still-impressive 4^th.

He finished in the top-10 seven times, including a 3^rd place in the Drammen, Norway classic sprint, and qualified for the heats in every World Cup sprint start.

Newell also expanded his distance racing, showing improvement throughout the season, and became the first American to ski in the Tour de Ski.

Domestically, Newell won the SuperTour Finals in March, holding off Ivan Babikov in the final climb.