Olympic cross-country ski champion can run a 17-minute 5K
Kikkan Randall was one of Alaska's top high school runners before pursuing cross-country skiing at five Olympic Games
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfa57E5n_K1
Olympic cross-country skiing champion Kikkan Randall has an extensive running background.
The U.S. athlete who won gold in the team sprint at the 2018 Winter Olympics was making her fifth appearance at the Games and won the nation’s first-ever gold in cross-country skiing. Randall, a 10-time Alaska state champion in cross-country running and track when in high school, won the gold medal alongside teammate Jessie Diggins on Wednesday.
RELATED: The exhaustion-filled finish lines of cross-country skiing and running.
Randall is a two-time winner of the Alaska Run For Women. She also holds the women’s course record for runners aged 25-29 at 28:18. The 35-year-old won the event in 2017 clocking 28:41. According to her website’s biography, she has a lifetime best mile time of 5:00.2.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfBIbVhHqcY/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVLNwkqDp3i/
Randall has a 5K road best of 17:09, from 2011, which she set, in a win, at the Run For Good 5K.
The gold-medal winning performance for Diggins and Randall at the Olympics came in the cross-country skiing team sprint. The discipline involves two athletes alternating laps of a 1.2K course with rounds and semifinals before the final. The Americans nipped the Swedish team by 0.19 seconds for gold.
The Pyeongchang, South Korea Olympics continue through until Feb. 25.
Check out the latest buyer's guide:
