Norway won the 4x5-kilometer race, but Randall put the Americans in contention early. She completed her leg in 13 minutes, 23.3 seconds, a time second only to a blazing effort by Poland's Justyne Kowalczyk, whose 13:09.9 carried her team to 11th place.
Randall teamed with Ida Sargeant, Liz Stephen and Anchorage's Holly Brooks to post a total time of 53:44.7, almost two minutes behind Norway's winning performance (51:50.1).
"We had some tough luck with a couple falls on our first leg due to sticky klister, so I had some catching up to do on the second leg," Randall wrote in an email. "(I) skied alone on the first lap but caught up to some teams by the end of my lap and got us back in contention. Liz and Holly both skied strong legs as well so it really gives us some confidence going forward.
Randall's impressive split time came a day after she notched a World Cup career-best in a race other than a sprint, the discipline in which she is a world leader. She placed eighth in Saturday's 10-kilometer freestyle race, the kickoff of the World Cup season. The three-time Olympian continued to impress Sunday.
"I was psyched to feel strong again and put in a fast split," she wrote.
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