She had to wait through the second semifinal to learn her fate, but it's official now for Kikkan Randall: There will be no Olympic medal for her in the women's sprint race.
Randall placed fourth in the first of two semifinal heats and then had to wait through the second heat to learn if her time of 3 minutes, 45.9 seconds was fast enough to put her into the six-skier finals that will decide gold, silver and bronze.
It wasn't.
Instead, four skiers from the much faster second semifinal posted times that vaulted them into the finals. Only the top two skiers in Randall's heat qualified, while the No. 3 and No. 4 finishers in the second semifinal claimed the two "lucky loser" spots.
Randall's semifinal time was 4.7 seconds off the time needed to match the sixth-fastest semifinal time.
The top two finishers in the first heat -- Marit Bjoergen (3:39.3) and Magda Genuin of Italy (3:42.9) -- were the automatic qualifers in Randall's heat. The top four finishers in the second heat all had faster times than Randall's.
Bjoergen went on to win the gold medal.
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