Kikkan Randall Official Website

2009 World Cup

1.2km Freestyle Sprint
Rybinsk, Russia

Well, one year later and a little different story.  The last time I was in Rybinsk, Russia I won my first ever World Cup race.  That was such an incredible point in my career and when we returned to Russia this week, I was hoping to repeat on that victory.  My body has been feeling stronger every week and I felt confident heading into the race.

 

This time around there was plenty of snow and a colder temperatures.  In the qualifying round, I felt I skied a good pace all the way around and attacked on the big climb.  I crossed the finish line in 13th place, about six seconds back from the lead and then eventually dropped down to 15th after everyone had finished.  It wasn’t quite as good as I was hoping for, but I usually ski better in the rounds and I looked forward to that.

The temperature was about 0 deg F when the rounds started and a little breeze picked up in the stadium.  I started in the third quarterfinal.  I got off to a good start and tucked myself into third going along the first stretch.  As we came down a gradual slope, the group fanned out and I followed the Russian in front of me to the right to set up for the outside lane on the big climb.  

 

When we hit the big hill, most of the skiers drifted left.  I stayed right to keep an open lane.  Midway up the hill I felt like I had an opportunity to go for the lead, but I was concerned that I wouldn’t get enough space to keep from being drafted off of.  So I tucked myself back into third over the top, feeling pretty confident about my position.  

Coming off the downhill, I was picking up speed.  Unfortunately I had a little too much speed and had to go for a pass around the Russian earlier than I wanted.  I went to the outside and just as I was about to glide past her, I hit some un-skied, windblown snow and lost my speed advantage.  Without being ahead of the Russian, I was forced to pull up for a split second as we rounded the turn and poured into the finishing stretch.  I panicked for a moment before getting back up to speed. I sprinted as hard as I could but couldn’t make up enough ground before the finish.  Another Russian had come from behind me and passed on the inside and was also able to sneak by.  So, I finished fourth in my heat, and did not advance to the semi-finals.  My final place would be 16th.

 

It was such a let down.  I was skiing right in there, as fast as those girls now moving on to the next round, I just hadn’t played my cards right.  I would have no chance to repeat on my win from last year.  For the next few hours, those few moments would play over and over in my head.

I spent the rest of the day watching the heats from the sidelines, observing the different strategies at play to stock away for future races here.  I was able to at least escape the disappointment for a little while as I cheered my teammate Andy on through the finals.  He made a gutsy move with 500m to go to take the lead but then ran out of gas before the end to finish fifth.  It was great to see him ski well.

Looking back at this year’s race, I don’t have the same euphoria that I took home last year.  Instead, I will store this one away in my bag of experience and use it as motivation for getting stronger in the future.  There are still plenty of good races that lay ahead this season and I look forward to the next challenge.

I was supposed to race a 15km duathlon on Sunday but the temperature dipped too low and the race was cancelled.  After having already gone through the US Championships earlier this month in the frigid cold, I was at least well prepared.  

I’m on the bus now, and soon to be on a plane, heading back to Central Europe.  The US team will be spending the next 10 days in Ramsau, Austria, taking a short break from racing to build up for World Championships that begin in three weeks in the Czech Republic.  My husband is coming over and I’m really looking forward to putting this race behind me and getting psyched for the next period.

I’ll be reporting next from the World Cup in Valdidentro, Italy.  Until then!

More pictures will be posted on www.kikkan.com!


Cheers,
Kikkan :)