Alaska News

Kikkan Randall grabs historic World Cup title

Alaskan cross-country skier Kikkan Randall has made two kinds of history in her first full World Cup season.

On Wednesday in Drammen, Norway, she became the first U.S. cross-country racer to ever claim the title of World Cup Sprint Champion. At the same time, she became the first U.S. skier to win an overall World Cup championship since Bill Koch did it in 1982.

Randall clinched the title with an 11th-place finish -- her first outside the top 10 in nine sprints this season. Her championship came largely because of a strong beginning, with two wins, a second-place and a third-place early in the season.

In a twist reminiscent of Randall's fall and recovery during an earlier race in Poland, in which she finished third, a binding broke as she raced toward the title.

She fell, but she picked herself up and continued on one ski while carrying the broken one. A U.S. Ski Team coach was able to give her a replacement ski 200 yards from the finish line, the Anchorage Daily News reports.

Read a quick version, plus more results from World Cup land, from SkiRacing.com, here, and a much longer, hometown report on Randall's historic championship from the Daily News, here.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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