Nordic Nation: Olympic Champ Kikkan Randall Elected to IOC Athletes’ Commission

FasterSkier would like to thank Fischer Sport USA, Madshus USA, Concept2, Boulder Nordic Sport, and Swix Sport US for their generous support, which made this coverage possible.

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — In this episode of Nordic Nation, FasterSkier sat down with U.S. cross-country skier, Kikkan Randall — known by some as Kikkanimal — to discuss her fifth and final Winter Olympics, as well as what lays ahead for the Anchorage, Alaska native. 

On Wednesday evening earlier this week, Randall and teammate Jessie Diggins paired up to take the win in the team sprint, earning the U.S. women their first Olympic cross-country medal in gold.

The day after her gold medal performance, Randall learned that she had been elected by her peers to serve on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes’ Commission. Consider, she’s also a mom.

Randall will serve an eight-year term as one of 20 representatives on the IOC Athletes’ Commission. Her primary role will be to represent the athletes’ viewpoint within the decision making bodies of the IOC. Randall has served as a leader within Fast And Female. She has also worked as an athlete representative in the International Ski Federation (FIS).

News also broke on Friday that her gold-medal team-sprint teammate Jessie Diggins was selected to carry the American flag for Team USA at the Closing Ceremony on Sunday.

We met up with Randall in the U.S. pop-up training room called ‘The Haven’. You may notice the recording has the ambient echo of a gym; a fitting setting for a conversation with an athlete as powerful as Randall. With her characteristic cotton-candy pink colored hair let down, Randall detailed to us her final Olympic moments and her future role with the IOC as an athlete rep.

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