In a video interview on Sunday night, newly-crowned World Champions Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins talk more about their race, how they stayed calm through a missing pole and what their gold medals mean for cross-country skiing in the U.S.
Athletes and staff each have roles to play on race day, and on Sunday at World Championships every one of them was executed perfectly to help Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall to earn an historic gold medal in the team sprint. The wax, the skis — and that replacement pole!
With a performance that the American ski community will talk about for a long time to come, Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins became World Champions on Sunday in Val di Fiemme, Italy, with a 7.8-second win in the team sprint over Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla and Ida Ingemarsdotter. This is the first World Championship gold for the United States in cross-country skiing.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words — we took almost a thousand pictures of the women's team sprint on Sunday at the 2013 Nordic World Ski Championships. Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall made history for the United States in winning the country's first-ever world championships gold medal.
Jessie Diggins finished 14th, leading a trio of U.S. women in the top-20 in the final World Cup race before World Championships.
Liz Stephen was eighth in the 15 k skiathlon in Sochi, Russia, on Saturday. It was the best regular-season result of her life, but she wasn't quite happy with it. She wants a World Cup podium, and at 25 seconds out of third on the grueling Olympic course she's getting oh-so-close.
Seven Americans landed in the heats in the freestyle sprint in Sochi, Russia, on Friday. Kikkan Randall calmly won her third sprint of the season and Ida Sargent was sixth in her first appearance in a World Cup final. La Clusaz is but a distant memory.
In a season filled with personal-bests and historic finishes for the American women, the 4 x 5 k relay in La Clusaz, France, was a reminder that not every race can be a wild success. They finished ninth out of nine teams on Sunday.
Note: This article has been updated. There’s something about La Clusaz. Liz Stephen can’t put her finger on it, but it works for her. A week after her 26th birthday, she notched another career best in the French alpine village -- this time in a classic race.
While Kikkan Randall slipped from seventh to 12th in the overall Tour de Ski standings, she said she was happy with her final place - but mostly "psyched" to see teammate Liz Stephen on the podium for the day. Stephen's second-fastest time on the climb moved her to 15th. Jessie Diggins was 21st and Holly Brooks 38th.
Kikkan Randall placed 7th in the 3.3k classic pursuit, maintaing her position in the overall Tour de Ski with just two stages remaining.
Kikkan Randall continued to ski well, finishing 8th in the Tour de Ski pursuit, just seconds out of 5th. Teammates Liz Stephen and Jessie Diggins also had strong races, moving up in the overall standings.
Holly Brooks and Liz Stephen joined Kikkan Randall in her Tour de Ski quarterfinal, which gave the U.S. star a boost; both Stephen and Brooks had career-best sprint days, placing 18th and 25th. Jessie Diggins was 17th and Andy Newell ninth, which moved him up to fourth in the World Cup sprint standings - all in all a good day for the American team.
After the 9 k classic pursuit stage of the Tour de Ski, three American women sit in the top 30 of the overall standings. Kikkan Randall, following an impressive win in the prologue, leads the way in 14th, 1:48.3 seconds behind Tour leader Justyna Kowalczyk. Liz Stephen ranks 23rd and Holly Brooks sits just behind her in 25th. Jessie Diggins moved up 12 places to reach 50th at the end of the pursuit.
World Cup Period II starts on Saturday when the Tour de Ski kicks off in Oberhoff, Germany. FasterSkier takes a quick look at the Red Group rankings heading into the next World Cup period.
For someone who’s never raced a World Cup individual skate sprint before, Sophie Caldwell of the Stratton Mountain School T2 Team didn’t show it. The 22-year-old placed 14th on Saturday, leading the rest of the U.S. women behind winner Kikkan Randall.
Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins made it three weekends in a row with a U.S. podium, winning the team sprint in Quebec City over Germany and Norway. The win was a first in a team event for the American women.
Inside the waxroom with Peter Johansson, who recently took over as the U.S. Ski Team's head of service after joining the staff in 2006. "I think he's one of the best wax techs out there," said Kikkan Randall, who has been working with him personally for years.
The results keep rolling in. Kikkan Randall placed fifth to lead a quintet of American women in the top 25 of the Kuusamo mini-tour and send the team back to North America riding high.
Kikkan Randall led a quartet of U.S. women in the top 20 on Saturday, demonstrating that last week's third place in Sweden was no fluke. Randall set a new U.S. mark, becoming the first woman to place second in a World Cup distance race.