Kikkan Randall


Kikkan Randall is an American, Olympic champion cross-country skier. She has won 17 U.S. 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. She 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. She 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 Jessica Diggins to win the first ever American FIS Nordic World Ski Championships gold medal in the team sprint. She and Diggins won the United States' first ever cross-country skiing gold medal at the Winter Olympics in women's team sprint at Pyeongchang in 2018.

Early years

Randall's parents, Ronn and Deborah originally met at a California ski resort. Kikkan'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. Ronn started teaching Kikkan to ski one day after her first birthday. She is the niece of former cross-country skiing Olympians Betsy Haines and Chris Haines.
Randall lived in Salt Lake while her mother attended law school at the University of Utah. In the mid-1980s, she moved to Anchorage, Alaska with her parents, where her younger siblings, Tanner and Kalli were born. Originally she had ambitions to race as an alpine skier, as well as to run for a NCAA Division I college. She ran a 6:06 minute mile in sixth grade at Scenic Park Elementary. Randall won 10 state titles at East Anchorage High School — seven in track and three in cross-country running. She is the last Alaskan state speed-skiing champion. Randall took up cross-country skiing in 1998, when her track coach suggested using it as a means of keeping fit during the winter.

Skiing career

Early career

After graduating from high school, Randall moved to Utah to train with the United States Ski Team, but returned to Alaska due to homesickness. Her sixth-place finish in the sprint at the 2001 Junior World Championships was the best ever result by an American woman. 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.

2006–2011

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. Later that calendar year, in the following season, she took the first World Cup win for an American female skier since the introduction of women's competition in 1978 in another 1.2 kilometre sprint at the same venue.
In February 2009, Randall won the silver medal in the 1.3-kilometer sprint at the Nordic Skiing World Championships - the first American cross-country skier to take a World Championship medal since Bill Koch in 1982. In January 2010, Randall qualified for the 2010 Winter Olympics, where she earned a US best finish of sixth in the team sprint and her best individual finish of eighth in the individual sprint event. In the 2010-11 season, she finished third in the Sprint World Cup standings.

2011–2012

Randall became the first American woman to win a World Cup discipline title in cross-country by topping the season's Sprint standings. Her season included wins in the World Cup freestyle sprints in Düsseldorf and Davos. She also finished fifth in the Overall World Cup that season.

2012–2013

Randall won four World Cup freestyle sprint events, in Quebec, Val Mustair, Sochi, and Lahti. She also won the 3 km freestyle prologue of the Tour de Ski in Oberhof. She won a team freestyle sprint in Quebec with teammate Jessica Diggins. Randall finished first in the final World Cup sprint standings and third in the overall standings. Third place is the highest ever by a U.S. woman. Randall, with Diggins, won the first-ever team sprint gold for U.S. women at the World Ski Championships.

2013–2014

Randall qualified for the U.S. Olympic team at Sochi, and went into the 2014 Winter Olympics as heavily favored to win the USA's first medal in cross-country skiing since 1976, but missed qualifying to advance in the sprint quarterfinals by.05 of a second. Subsequently, she suggested that her focus on peaking for the Olympics was disrupted by a back injury which she sustained whilst training in Davos in December 2013.
Randall topped the overall World Cup sprint standings for a third time. She won the World Cup freestyle sprint events in Nove Mesto, Szklarska Poreba, and Lahti.

2014–2015

Randall placed third in the Lahti freestyle sprint.
In October 2015 Randall announced that she was expecting her first child in April, and would take a break from competition in the 2015-16 season before returning in 2016-17 with a focus on the 2017 World Championships in Lahti and the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

2016–2017

Upon returning to competition, Randall initially struggled, failing to advance beyond qualifying in the first two World Cup Sprint competitions of the season. However she was able to make steady progress, and in January 2017 finished fifth in a World Cup Sprint in Falun, Sweden - her best result in nearly two years. Subsequently, at the 2017 World Nordic Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland, 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.

2017-2018

In December 2017 Randall took her first World Cup podium finish in almost three years when she finished third in a sprint in Davos, Switzerland.
During the 2018 Winter Olympics, she and Jessica Diggins became the first American cross-country skiers to win a gold medal by winning the women's team sprint at the Alpensia Cross-Country Centre in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation.

Olympic Games

Year Age 10 km 15 km Pursuit 30 km Sprint 4 × 5 km
relay 		Team
sprint
200219——60—44—
20062353——91410
201027——238116
201431——281887
2018351640——5Gold

World Championships

Year Age 10 km 15 km Pursuit 30 km Sprint 4 × 5 km
relay 		Team
sprint
20032050—54—39—
20052265—2914-
200724—41—221411
20092626——Silver1310
20112832—182699
20133030——194Gold
2015321531—35——
2017342617—Bronze4—

World Cup

Season titles

Individual podiums

No.SeasonDateLocationRaceLevelPlace
1 2006–07 21 January 2007 Rybinsk, Russia1.2 km Sprint FWorld Cup3rd
22007–0816 December 2007 Rybinsk, Russia1.2 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
3 2009–10 14 March 2010 Oslo, Norway1.0 km Sprint FWorld Cup2nd
4 2010–11 4 December 2010 Düsseldorf, Germany0.9 km Sprint FWorld Cup2nd
5 2010–11 12 December 2010 Davos, Switzerland1.4 km Sprint FWorld Cup3rd
6 2010–11 15 January 2011 Liberec, Czech Republic1.3 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
7 2010–11 20 February 2011 Drammen, Norway1.2 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
82011–123 December 2011 Düsseldorf, Germany0.9 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
92011–1211 December 2011 Davos, Switzerland1.5 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
102011–124 January 2012 Toblach, Italy1.3 km Sprint FStage World Cup2nd
112011–1214 January 2012 Milan, Italy1.4 km Sprint FWorld Cup2nd
122011–1217 February 2012 Szklarska Poręba, Poland1.6 km Sprint FWorld Cup3rd
13 2012–13 24 November 2012 Gällivare, Sweden10 km Individual FWorld Cup3rd
14 2012–13 17 February 2012 Rukatunturi, Finland5 km Individual FStage World Cup2nd
15 2012–13 8 December 2012 Quebec City, Canada1.6 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
16 2012–13 15 December 2012 Canmore, Canada1.3 km Sprint FWorld Cup2nd
17 2012–13 29 December 2012 Oberhof, Germany3 km Individual FStage World Cup1st
18 2012–13 1 January 2013 Val Müstair, Switzerland1.4 km Sprint FStage World Cup1st
19 2012–13 1 February 2013 Sochi, Russia1.25 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
20 2012–13 9 March 2013 Lahti, Finland1.55 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
21 2012–13 22 March 2013 Falun, Sweden2.5 km Individual FStage World Cup2nd
22 2012–13 24 March 2013 Falun, Sweden10 km Pursuit FStage World Cup2nd
23 2013–14 29 November 2013 Rukatunturi, Finland1.4 km Sprint CStage World Cup2nd
24 2013–14 15 December 2013 Davos, Switzerland1.5 km Sprint FWorld Cup2nd
25 2013–14 11 January 2014 Nové Město, Czech Republic1.3 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
26 2013–14 18 January 2014 Szklarska Poręba, Poland1.5 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
27 2013–14 1 March 2014 Lahti, Finland1.55 km Sprint FWorld Cup1st
28 2014–15 7 March 2015 Lahti, Finland1.5 km Sprint FWorld Cup3rd
29 2017–18 9 December 2017 Davos, Switzerland1.5 km Sprint FWorld Cup3rd

Team podiums

No.SeasonDateLocationRaceLevelPlaceTeammate
1 2011–12 4 December 2011 Düsseldorf, Germany6 × 0.9 km Team Sprint FWorld Cup2ndBjornsen
2 2011–12 15 January 2012 Milan, Italy6 × 0.9 km Team Sprint FWorld Cup2ndDiggins
3 2012–13 25 November 2012 Gällivare, Sweden4 × 5 km Relay C/FWorld Cup3rdBrooks / Stephen / Diggins
4 2012–13 7 December 2012 Quebec City, Canada6 × 1.6 km Team Sprint FWorld Cup1stDiggins
5 2013–14 8 December 2013 Lillehammer, Norway4 × 5 km Relay C/FWorld Cup3rdBjornsen / Stephen / Diggins

Other achievements

In 2009, Randall was elected to the International Ski Federation's Athletes Commission, which she served on for eight years. Subsequently, in 2018 she was elected to the International Olympic Committee's Athletes Commission, succeeding American ice hockey player Angela Ruggiero.
Randall defeated teammate Holly Brooks to win the Mount Marathon Race in 2011, following in the footsteps of her mother Debbie and aunt Betsy.
Randall was inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.

Personal life

Randall is married to former Canadian ski racer Jeff Ellis, who works as a marketing support manager for the FIS Cross-Country World Cup. The pair originally met at a ski competition in 2006, and married in May 2008 in a ceremony officiated by her coach Erik Flora. The couple have a son, Breck, who was born in April 2016.
In April 2008 she was diagnosed with the genetic blood clotting disorder Factor V Leiden after being hospitalized twice due to blood clots in her left leg.
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.
In April 2018, Randall was diagnosed with breast cancer. She announced her diagnosis in July of that year on her social media accounts, as well as her plans to return to Anchorage to undergo chemotherapy.