Kikkan Randall gives U.S. medal hopes in cross country

• Randall diidn%27t compete in Tour de Ski to train for Sochi
• Her sprint in Sochi will be held Feb. 11
• She has four podium finishes this season

NOVE MESTO, Czech Republic – Clad in her bright pink U.S. Ski Team jacket and pink-rimmed sunglasses and with pink-tinged blond hair, Kikkan Randall looks more like a pop icon than the fastest cross-country skier in the world.

Don't let the 2013 world champion and two-time World Cup sprint title winner fool you.

Randall affirmed her status as an Olympic gold medal threat for the upcoming Sochi Games with a dominating victory Saturday in a freestyle sprint race in the Czech Republic. The 31-year-old Alaskan skier led all three rounds wire-to-wire, convincingly earning her first World Cup victory of the season.

"I love that the energy is good, the body feels strong, and I know that I'm still getting stronger as we get toward Sochi," Randall said.

"It's also nice to have so many skate sprints still before we get there," she said, referring to upcoming races in Poland and Italy in her preferred discipline.

Randall and her coaches made a calculated decision to skip the popular Tour de Ski stage race, Dec. 31-Jan. 5, taking a lengthy three-week break from racing to focus on training and conditioning while remaining in Europe.

"It feels great to be racing again," Randall said. "When you start to come back after the break, you wonder where the shape is going to be. But with one month to go until Sochi, it looks like it's working out great."

"It took a lot of discipline for Kikkan to skip those races," U.S. cross-country coach Chris Grover said. "She and her coach, Erik Flora from APU (Alaska Pacific University), had a plan to build fitness and to prepare for the Olympics. Now you see it's paying off. She's obviously in great shape."

Randall's victory was the 10th of her World Cup career. Seeking her third successive season sprint title, Randall's fourth podium finish of the World Cup season moved her within 45 points of tour leader Denise Herrmann of Germany.

A few more pre-Olympic tests are on the calendar as the tour shifts to Poland this weekend. Randall and teammates then will embark upon a 12-day high-altitude training camp in Seiser Alm, Italy, before one final Italian race before going to Sochi.

Sochi will be Randall's fourth Olympics. She'll be accompanied by a vastly improving and opportunistic U.S. women's squad, including fellow world champion Jessie Diggins.

On Feb. 11, Randall will hit the trails at the Laura cross-country venue in Krasnaya Polyana, likely as the prohibitive gold medal favorite in the individual freestyle sprint. Moreover, she'll seek to end a 38-year medal drought for U.S. cross-country skiers dating to Bill Koch's Olympic silver medal in 1976.

"At every Olympics, I've been so excited to represent my country, but I've always wanted to be in the hunt for a medal," Randall said. "I have confidence from my results over the last couple of years, and I'm just excited to have an opportunity to make history for the U.S."

Randall is well aware of the unpredictable variant of sprint racing, where six competitors often jostle for position, shoulder-to-shoulder, on tight, 1.5-kilometer courses and falls are frequent.

"You can be in the best shape, you can be the favorite and you can cross skis with somebody and go down in the quarterfinals," Randall advised. "I'm not taking anything for granted."

Rising star Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg — who will be part of a powerful Norwegian team alongside seven-time Olympic medalist Marit Bjoergen in Sochi — says Randall is always a force to be reckoned with.

"She's a complete sprinter; she's a good starter, a good finisher, and is tactically very smart," Oestberg said. "It's hard to beat her."

Randall's tremendous success as the most decorated female cross-country skier in U.S. history has inspired many.

"Not only does every single girl on this team have Kikkan as her idol, but so does every little girl out there also," said Randall's 23-year-old rookie teammate Sophie Caldwell. "I can't put into words how much she has done for this sport."

And regarding the 58-year-old Koch – who deserves credit for introducing the freestyle skating technique to the World Cup tour in the early 1980's – Randall believes that she and teammates can match or improve upon the Vermont legend's accomplishment.

"Certainly, we've ridden off his results a lot to gain confidence and to push the level of U.S skiing high, but I'm excited that the women's team as a whole is just getting so strong," Randall said.

"Bill Koch will always be an important part of our history, but we're looking forward to giving him some company in the record books."