Eric Engman photo
While the physical rewards of cross-country skiing are accessible for all, only a few have pushed themselves to experience the full extent of that which skiing does for the body. Among their number is Kikkan Randall.
The Alaska-raised Randall is a champion cross-country skier, having competed in five Winter Olympics, winning 17 U.S. national titles, and making it to the podium 29 times at the World Cup. Randall competed in every Winter Olympic Games between 2002-2018, winning a gold medal in the most recent Games in the Team Sprint competition.
Competing for decades hasn’t diminished her enjoyment of the activity. These days, she likes to take her 4-year-old son out on the trails.
“I just love the feeling of skiing. I go out now, not because I have to or because my career is riding on it, but just because I love it,” she said before extolling the health benefits of the sport. “I think that’s one of the beauties of it. There’s not many activities you can do that make you strong in all parts of your body and do it with very little impact. I trained for a marathon last year and I had forgotten how hard that is on your body.”
Four-time Olympic skier Kikkan Randall speaks to participants at the Fast and Female Champ Chat, a multi-sport event for girls age 8 to 18, at…
The 37-year-old was still a toddler when she first put on a pair of skis.
“My dad started me on alpine skis when I was 1 year old. He brought home the smallest skis and boots they had in the shop,” Randall said. “I got on cross-country skis for the first time when I was 4 or 5 years old, and my parents signed me up for the (learn-to-ski program) Anchorage Junior Nordic League.”
Randall said she didn’t immediately fall in love with cross-country skiing. While she Nordic skied through middle school in Anchorage, she became more focused on alpine skiing as she grew up. Cross-country skiing became a weekend recreational activity.
World Champion cross country skier Kikkan Randall speaks to fans and aspiring skiers during Team Night at TRAX Outdoor Center Wednesday evenin…
“But I was just enjoying the people in cross country so much, I stopped alpine and got more into cross country,” she said. “I consider the serious start to my cross-country career about age 16.”
Randall said that skiing strengthens every part of your body, helps with endurance and balance. In her words, skiing helps you “get strong in all these really cool ways.”
“I love the fact that you’re outside. You’re covering all this ground as you go, which I appreciate a lot more than staring at a pool bottom the whole time,” she said. “That’s another thing I love about the sport: The different ways we would train are pretty diverse. We spent some time on rollerskis — they’re a little bit shorter. Those are great for mimicking the movements. The only thing is they don’t have brakes.”
Beyond avoiding corners while hurtling along on rollerskis, Randall said she would also run, cycle and mountain-bike to stay fit enough to ski. She would weight-train twice a week and use paddling to help with upper body strength.
Randall’s accomplishments go beyond that of the average Olympian. She was the first American woman to win a World Cup race and to win a World Cup discipline title. In 2009, she became the first American woman to win a medal in cross country skiing at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships; in 2013 she and Jessica Diggins became the first American women to win a gold medal in the team sprint. The pair went on to win the first ever cross-country skiing gold medal for the United States at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
World Champion cross country skier Kikkan Randall speaks to fans and aspiring skiers during Team Night at TRAX Outdoor Center Wednesday evenin…
“When I was in high school, no American woman had ever been top 10 in the Olympics,” Randall said. “I considered it an open frontier — like, maybe I could be the first.”
Randall now likes to dedicate some of her time to organizations and nonprofits, like Healthy Futures and Fast And Female, the latter of which is focused on empowering young women ages 9-19 through sports.
“Early on in my career I recognized the opportunity that, as an athlete, I could be a champion to young people,” Randall said. “I wanted to use my spotlight and platform to help other kids — and girls specifically — to build those healthy habits early and set goals and not be afraid to sweat. Those habits help build an incredible foundation that allow you to be successful in anything you choose to do.
“We’ve seen that girls can really latch onto that and see themselves in these athletes,” she added.
For newcomers, Randall recommends starting with good quality gear — a pair of skis fitted for you is the best way to start.
“Go somewhere where you can start on flat ground, and just have a little bit of patience and an open mind. It is an experience where you’re sliding on snow and you’re using all these little muscles you didn’t know you had. But it’s an experience that gets more rewarding the more you do it,” she said. “The view from the top is always worth it. Just keep at it and you’ll start to unlock all of these new levels.”
Contact staff writer Alistair Gardiner at 459-7575. Email at agardiner@AlaskaPulse.com