Kikkan Randall Wins World Cup Championship On One Ski

Becoming the first American to win the World Cup championship in cross-country skiing since 1982 is an impressive feat in and of itself but to manage that goal with just one ski in the final race might be even more astounding.

Kikkan Randall was competing on Wednesday n Drammen, Norway when the binding on one of her skis tore off during the start of her final race. At that point Randall picked up the broken ski and continued to compete in the 3/4-mile race. 200 meters before the finish line she received a replacement ski and cross over the threshold for her victory.

While her 11th place finish wasn’t all that incredible for the World Cup sprint leader she only needed to finish in the top-15 in order to claim the world championship. By simply finishing the race Randall was guaranteed at least a top-12 finish.

The American ski champions only non-top-1o finish came in the final round of the seasons nine sprint races.

After she managed to pull off a strange and unlikely win she wrote:

“A bittersweet day, but emphasis on the SWEET!!!!”

Speaking of her season as a whole Kikkan Randall noted:

“It’s been a long season, a lot of racing and it’s been an exciting competition to the end … But I am happy to finally secure (the championship) now. We have had an incredible team this year — coaches, staff and athletes during the entire season — and it’s definitely a team effort to win the globe.”

Competing on a world class level is hard enough, winning the world cup in your final race on one ski is quite simply amazing and speaks volumes for the large lead Randall managed to secure heading into the final event of the World Cup season.

Are you impressed by Kikkan Randall’s perseverance in securing her global victory?