Kikkan Randall was born on December 31,1982 and is an American, Olympic champion cross-country skier.
28 Facts About Kikkan Randall
2.
Kikkan Randall has won 17 US National titles, made 29 podiums on the World Cup, made five trips to the Winter Olympic Games and had the highest finish by an individual American woman at the World Championships, second in the Sprint in Liberec in 2009.
3.
Kikkan Randall was the first American female cross-country skier to take a top ten finish in World Cup competition, to win a World Cup race and to win a World Cup discipline title.
4.
Kikkan Randall won the silver medal in the individual sprint at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec, becoming the first American woman to win a medal in cross country skiing at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, and in 2013 teamed up with Jessie Diggins to win the first ever American FIS Nordic World Ski Championships gold medal in the team sprint.
5.
Kikkan Randall's name was the result of a compromise between her parents: her father wanted to name her Kikki, after Kiki Cutter, the first American to win a race on the Alpine Skiing World Cup, whilst her mother wanted to name her Meghan.
6.
Kikkan Randall is the niece of former cross-country skiing Olympians Betsy Haines and Chris Haines.
7.
Kikkan Randall lived in Salt Lake while her mother attended law school at the University of Utah.
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Kikkan Randall ran a 6:06 minute mile in sixth grade at Scenic Park Elementary, but Kikkan's goal was to run a five-minute mile by high school.
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Kikkan Randall was announced the fastest girl on skies and she is the last Alaskan state speed-skiing champion.
10.
Kikkan Randall took up cross-country skiing in 1998, when her track coach suggested using it as a means of keeping fit during the winter.
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Kikkan 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.
12.
In January 2006, Kikkan 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.
13.
At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Kikkan Randall finished ninth in the Olympic Sprint, the best ever Olympic result in cross-country skiing by an American woman.
14.
Kikkan Randall won a silver medal in February 2009, at the Nordic Skiing World Championship for the 1.3 Kilometer sprint; she was the first American to take home a World Championship medal since Bill Koch's win in 1982.
15.
Kikkan Randall became the first American woman to win a World Cup discipline title in cross-country by topping the season's Sprint standings.
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Kikkan Randall's season included wins in the World Cup freestyle sprints in Dusseldorf and Davos.
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Kikkan Randall finished fifth in the Overall World Cup that season.
18.
Kikkan Randall won four World Cup freestyle sprint events, in Quebec, Val Mustair, Sochi, and Lahti.
19.
Kikkan Randall won a team freestyle sprint in Quebec with teammate Jessie Diggins.
20.
Kikkan Randall finished first in the final World Cup sprint standings and third in the overall standings.
21.
Kikkan Randall topped the overall World Cup sprint standings for a third time.
22.
Kikkan Randall won the World Cup freestyle sprint events in Nove Mesto, Szklarska Poreba, and Lahti.
23.
Subsequently, at the 2017 World Nordic Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland, Kikkan Randall took the bronze medal in the freestyle sprint, catching Hanna Falk in the last 100 metres to pip her for third place by 0.1 seconds, one place behind team-mate Diggins in second.
24.
In December 2017 Kikkan Randall took her first World Cup podium finish in almost three years when she finished third in a sprint in Davos, Switzerland.
25.
In 2009, Kikkan Randall was elected to the International Ski Federation's Athletes Commission, which she served on for eight years.
26.
Kikkan Randall defeated teammate Holly Brooks to win the Mount Marathon Race in 2011, following in the footsteps of her mother Debbie and aunt Betsy.
27.
Kikkan Randall was inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.
28.
Kikkan Randall was married to former Canadian ski racer Jeff Ellis.