U.S. women earn cross-country gold

you have company — finally.

Koch was the only other American to win a medal in cross-country, taking home silver at the 1976 Innsbruck Games.

Diggins and Randall ended that 42-year drought and surely gave a huge boost to all of the young cross-country skiers back home in the United States.

“Hearing it out loud, it still doesn’t feel real,” Randall said. “It’s what I’ve been working on for 20 years and with this team for the last five years and, wow, it’s just so fun to put it together tonight — finally.”

Added Diggins: “It feels unreal. I can’t believe it just happened.”

It meant more that their teammates where there to celebrate — and family, too.

Diggins’ father, Clay, said he had a feeling this was the day the drought would end. Diggins had three topsix finishes at the Olympics and Randall was skiing well, too. And he said the entire American women’s cross-country team came out to practice on Tuesday morning with Diggins and Randall.

“There were only two of them skiing today, but the entire team came out to support them — practicing tags and everything,” Clay Diggins said. “That to me is pretty cool. They wanted to be there for them, for the team. And I think Kikkan and Jess felt that (support) on the course.”

If not, they certainly felt it after the race.

Diggins screamed as she crossed the finish line, setting off a huge celebration for the red, white and blue. Her American teammates were jumping and hugging each other along the fence line that guarded the track.

“Our whole team had that belief we could win and everyone was there screaming,” Diggins said of the final sprint. “I don’t knowif you have thatmany teams where everyone is out there on the fence yelling their faces off. I just think we had a lot of support behind of us.”

CharlotteKalla sensedthe Americans were extra motivated for amedal, saying she sawit in their eyes before the raceandfelt it whenRandall stayed on her heels on the second-to-last lap.

“Olympic champions, they are so worth it,” the Swede said. “They were amazing today. I’m really impressed with them.”

Sweden took silver and Norway finished with a bronze, which allowed Marit Bjoergen to secure her record 14thmedal at the Winter Games. That broke her tie with Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen for the most medals at the Winter Olympics.