Kikkan Randall

Kikkan Randall (born December 31, 1982, Salt Lake City, Utah) is an American cross-country skier from Anchorage, Alaska. She is the niece of former cross-country skiing Olympians Betsy Haines (1980) and her brother, Chris Haines (1976).

Randall made her Olympic debut as a 19-year-old at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and finished 44th in the inaugural Olympic individual sprint. In January 2006, Randall returned to Soldier Hollow, Utah, the site of the 2002 Olympic cross-country competition, and won national titles in the 5-kilometer freestyle, the 10-km classical and the sprint. At the 2005 World Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany, she finished 30th in the individual sprint. Randall's sixth-place finish in the sprint at the 2001 Junior World Championships was the best ever result by an American woman.

At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Randall finished ninth in the Olympic Sprint, the best ever Olympic result in cross-country skiing by an American woman. Shortly thereafter, she finished fifth in a World Cup sprint. On January 21, 2007, she captured bronze in the women's 1.2-kilometer sprint in Rybinsk, Russia, the best ever cross-country World Cup result by an American woman.

Randall lived in Salt Lake while her mother, Deborah, attended law school at the University of Utah. In the mid-1980s, she moved with her mother and father, Ronn, to Anchorage, Alaska where both her younger siblings, Tanner and Kalli were born. In Anchorage, Randall works at Skinny Raven Sports, a running apparel shop. Fellow Olympic cross-country teammate James Southam also works at the store. The flexibility of the job allows time for both athletes to train and race. Randall has taken classes at Alaska Pacific University. Prior to college, she won 10 state titles at East Anchorage High School — seven in track and three in cross-country running.

Miscellany

* Became first American woman to win a cross country World Cup with her Dec. 16, 2007 [http://www.usskiteam.com/public/news.php?aId=3218&sN=&dId=3' sprint win] in Rybinsk, Russia.
* Kikkan won her first national title in the 1.5km Sprint at the 2002 U.S. Championships, qualifying for the Olympic team. For her win, she received the inaugural Most Outstanding U-23 Racer award.
* Randall is one of the most talented female skiers to come out of Alaska since fellow Olympian Nina Kemppel.
* Randall mixes studies at Alaska Pacific University with skiing for the APU Nordic Ski Center program run by former national level ski racer, Erik Flora.
* She is a former state high school champion in cross country running and the last Alaska state speed-skiing champion.

External links

* [http://www.kikkan.com/ Kikkan Randall homepage]
* [http://www.usolympicteam.com/26_1037.htm Kikkan's U.S. Olympic Team bio]