Randall second in World Cup sprint

Instead her silver-medal performance in a World Cup freestyle sprint race merely came at the cross-country skiing capital of the universe -- Norway -- and against a woman who just might be the most invincible athlete on the planet right now.

Randall lost her shot at victory when the wonder woman of nordic skiing, Norway's Marit Bjoergen, caught her in the final 100 meters of the 1.3-kilometer finals. Bjoergen won five medal at the Olympics, three of them gold, and has won all five World Cup races since the Olympics, including Saturday's 30-kilometer freestyle. Losing to her is like losing a home-run derby to Babe Ruth.

The result marked the third blockbuster performance of Randall's career. She won a World Cup freestyle sprint race in Russia two seasons ago, captured silver in the freestyle sprint race at last year's World Championships in the Czech Republic, and now has a silver from the debut weekend of racing at Oslo's new Holmenkollen National Arena, which attracted thousands of paying spectators.

"I'm really proud because there are a lot of times out there when other countries look so much better, they have so much support, and it's easy to get bogged down," Randall said in interviews following the race. "But I believed succeeding was possible for so long, so it's good to show that it wasn't just a one-time thing, but that we can be consistently on the podium."

A three-time Olympian who trains with the Alaska Pacific University nordic program, Randall, 27, is coming off a strong Olympics that casual fans may have dismissed because she didn't make the victory podium.

But her showing at Whistler Olympic Park marked the best Olympics by an American woman in history. In the classic sprint race, her eighth-place effort was the highest Olympic finish ever by an American woman; in the team sprint, she recorded the fastest split times in two legs of the six-leg semifinals and then turned in the fourth-fastest split time in the finals; in the relay, she led for the first four kilometers of the five-kilometer scramble leg before finishing fourth, 10.4 seconds out of the lead.

"I met all of my goals," Randall said while still in Whistler. "I came in knowing I'd prepared better for these Games than any of the others, and I really feel that preparation paid off.

"This is a good example of how if you put the time in, you can steadily build toward the top."

It paid off big-time Sunday in Oslo, where Randall was at last skiing her specialty -- the freestyle sprint. She hadn't raced in a World Cup freestyle sprint since before Christmas, but she showed right away that she still is one of the best in the world in that distance and that technique.

Randall registered the eighth-fastest time in qualifying and then finished second in both the quarterfinals and semifinals -- trailing Russia's Natalia Korosteleva in each race -- to move into the five-woman finals.

"I was confident going into the race, but it had also been so long since I had done an individual skate sprint at this level that it was hard toknow for sure how ready I was. I was happy to find today that everything I needed was there," she wrote in an email. "It's great to be able to compete in an event where I truly feel I can use everything I have. In classic sprints, I have a hard time using all my fitness and power. In skating, I can really dig deep and feel strong."

Randall said Bjoergen caught her by surprise in the last 100 meters of the finals. Randall led early briefly before yielding to Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland, who led until Randall free-skated past her once the race moved into the Holmenkollen stadium for the final stretch.

"(I) hoped to hold it to the finish line," Randall wrote. "I kept in front going over the biathlon range and powered hard into the final downhill. As soon as I got over the final bridge I started free-skating with everything I had. Then suddenly Bjoergen was powering up beside me in a V2. I realized too late to start poling and she got by.

"She had the advantage of a surprise attack."

Korosteleva finished third to take the bronze medal and Kowalczyk finished fourth.

Though the gold medal slipped away from Randall, she picked up something else to go along with her silver -- a spot in this week's World Cup finals in Sweden. The finals are open only to those who rank in the top 50 overall World Cup standings, and before Sunday's race, Randall wasn't in the top 50.

"I needed a good result in order to get enough points to qualify for those races," she said.

Second place did the trick.

"It's fun to know that when I am on, and I feel strong, I can take on anyone in the world in a skate sprint," she wrote.

Find Beth Bragg online at adn.com/contact/bbragg or call 257-4335.