Silver for Kikkan!

World Championships

Thu, Feb  26, 2009 - By Nathan Schultz

Kikkan Randall skied to an historic 2nd place finish today at the World Championship Sprint.  Quick Report by Nathan Schultz.

An outstanding day for Kikkan as she becomes the first US Woman to win a medal at the Nordic World Championships.  Liz Stephen finished 40th, Laura Valaas 42nd, and Morgan Smyth 53rd in a field of 96 finishers.

On the men's side, Andy Newell skied strongly through to the semi-finals, but got caught out and could not make it through traffic in the final finishing straight to end up in the B-Final, taking 12th place.  Chris Cook narrowly missed qualifying for the heats in 37th place, and Torin Koos also skied well, but planted his pole on his ski a few meters out of the start gate and took a fall.  Despite the hiccup, he ended up 43rd.  Garrott Kuzzy was right behind Torin in 44th.

A new post will come soon, it has been a long day...

Photos:

 Italy's Arianna Follis won today with a strong final 200m.  She's got a decent vertical.

It was another snowy day around 0C.  Tough conditions, but everyone dealt with it.  The athletes took it in stride and dealt with it, the staff adjusted ski testing to deal with the unexpected 30cm of snow that fell.  The US once again had great skis thanks to the hard work of the coaching staff, but also because the athletes know their skis and can quickly choose the right flex and grind for the conditions.

The mayhem begins after they cross the finish line...

Smiling for the bank of photographers

And again at the medal ceremony

The US is now LEADING the medal count at the Nordic World Championships.  An article on-line described the US as "the New Nordic Powerhouse".  5 medals.  So far.

While the US may lead the medal count, the Norwegians certainly win with fan support.  There are thousands of fans here, and they are intent on having a good time and cheering on their team.  This image is from the medal ceremony where Norwegians took 1-2 in the men's sprint.

A toast to the first US woman to medal in a World Championship.  Wednesday's race is the team sprint, and after a short celebration, it was back to work for the athletes and staff.