Randall sweeps Sprint Weekend
World Cup: Quebec City
Sat, Dec 8, 2012 - By USSA
QUEBEC CITY, PQ (Dec. 8) - Kikkan Randall (Anchorage) swept the weekend, picking up a dominant win in the individual sprint at the Quebec City World Cup. The win boosted Randall, the defending FIS World Cup sprint champion, into the sprint lead and second in the overall behind Norway's Marit Bjoergen. Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, VT) had his best finish in three seasons in fifth. The World Cup now heads for Canmore, AB for three days of racing beginning Thursday.
Kikkan Randall celebrates a weekend sweep, winning again in Quebec City. (Reese Brown)
HIGHLIGHTS
- Kikkan Randall (Anchorage) picked up her second straight win taking the individual freestyle sprint in Quebec City.
- The win boosted Randall into the World Cup sprint lead and second in the overall standings.
- Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, VT) was fifth for his best finish since March, 2010 when he was third in Drammen, Norway in a classic sprint.
- Friday's winner with Randall, Jessie Diggins (Afton, MN) qualified for the heats but got boxed after she fell in the quarterfinals and did not advance.
- Dartmouth skier Sophie Caldwell (Peru, VT), in her first World Cup start, was impressive qualfying 26th and hanging onto a potential lucky loser slot in quarterfinals until the last heat ending up 14th.
- Also making finals were APU Nordic's Rebecca Rorabaugh (Anchorage) and U.S. Ski Team/APU Nordic skier Sadie Bjornsen (Leavenworth, WA)
- The World Cup now heads for Canmore, AB for a weekend of both sprint and distance racing beginning Thursday.
- The Canmore weekend will be broadcast live in the USA on the USSA Network.
QUOTES
Kikkan Randall
We always felt deep down that if we trained hard enough and wanted it bad enough we could be on the top of the podium. It took many years and many small steps to get up to that point and now we're starting to really just believe and have good confidence. We have many girls working together and pushing together so I think the real reward for us was to be able to put together really strong performances here when our friends and family get to see us in action - which does not happen very often.
The whole atmosphere helped my performance today. We had a lot of enthusiasm coming into the morning, the staff did a great job with the skis to make sure we could just go out there and have fun. The crowd was unbelievable to see so many American flags and face paint. To be able to do that victory lap afterwards was something I will definitely remember for the rest of my life.
RESULTS
Official Results