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Written by USSA
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PARK CITY, Utah (Dec. 18) - Two days later, two-time Olympian Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, AK) - the first U.S. woman and only the second American to win a cross country World Cup race - said Tuesday she looks forward to leading other American skiers to similar success.
"Being a leader is always something I'm envisioning. It's an opportunity I cherish," she said. "I'm happy to have a strong group of women coming up in the U.S. and I'm looking forward to working with them."
Her historic performance drew praise from U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association President and CEO Bill Marolt. "Kikkan's win is a milestone for the sport and for our cross country program. She is a great competitor and she did this with the support of a strong organization standing behind her," he said.
"Kikkan's win is not an accident. She has trained hard to achieve this result. As an organization, we have focused on the cross country sprint as an opportunity for excellence. After Torino, we more than doubled our funding for cross country and developed a peak performance program. We have had strong leadership within our sport, and athletes like Kikkan, Andy Newell and others have worked hard together as a team. Our nordic program has really taken a huge step forward in recent years and especially the last couple of months," Marolt said.
Last January, Randall finished third in a 1.2K freestyle technique sprint in Rybinsk, Russia. The U.S. women's cross country squad began racing internationally with the 1970 season and she was the first U.S. woman to reach a World Cup podium. Sunday, on the same Rybinsk course, she won by a stride or two over Norway's Astrid Jacobsen, the current sprint world champion. WCSN.com provides on-demand webcasting of the race.
She likened her victory to Roger Bannister breaking the 4-minute mile more than a half-century ago. When Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, VT) finished third in a sprint in China in 2006, a week after the Olympics, "showed us [success] is possible."
Her win further shows "Victories are possible," she said.
Randall, who turns 25 on New Year's Eve, traced her success to the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy, when she was ninth - the best U.S. women's Olympic performance - in the sprint race. The surprise winner was Chandra Crawford of Canada; the two of them have trained together at times this season and Randall said they have traded tips on complementing strengths. "We fit together," Randall said.
"It [her success] goes back to my surprise sprint result at the 2006 Olympics. That showed me I was on the right track with my goal to win an Olympic medal," she said. Skiing alongside Olympic and World Championships medalists, and sometimes beating them, has given her confidence that she will continue to improve and contend.
"My confidence is high. It keeps me going every day," she said in a media teleconference.
"Athletes like Kikkan are as talented as any athletes in the world," said U.S. Sprint Head Coach Chris Grover. Support from hometown clubs, such as the Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center program where Randall trains when she's not with the U.S. Ski Team, enables athletes to stay in the sport and improve.
Randall praised the closeness of the Ski Team - and also within APU Nordic - for boosting her results. While focusing on their own preparation and racing, everyone is so supportive, she said, and it helps motivate each athlete.
Grover said one of the elements of the team dynamics is "Team Tuesday," a flexible plan in which the coaches and athletes get together on Tuesdays and do anything but train or ski. They look to bolster the personal side of their teamwork, not the professional - i.e., training and racing - side. "It has nothing to do with cross country skiing," he said. "It could be go-karting or having dinner somewhere special that perhaps takes in a bit more of the local cuisine...or playing some sort of game together."
She stressed the need for patience in a sport, which normally takes 10 years or more to master at an elite level. "Rest and recovery is so important," she said. Randall is happy with her "good, steady progression" and didn't plan on making dramatic changes in the coming years, she added.
"It takes a lot of patience. You've got to put in several years and more, and you may not see the fruits of what you're doing for longer," Randall said. She had quick success early in her career and then things leveled off and she became impatient. Now, she understands the need for patience in cross country and she won't be trying to pile on a huge amount of training next summer.
"When I hit the finish line, I threw my arms up and thought, 'Oh my gosh. What did I just do?' Everything worked so well for me," Randall said.
Listen to the USOC Media Teleconference call click here.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 08 January 2008 14:39 )
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