Randall’s drought ends at 17 events
Kikkan Randall’s incredible mix of longevity and bad Olympic luck made possible the record she set in Wednesday’s cross-country ski relay.
The 35-year-old from Alaska hit the World Cup circuit in 2001and skied in her first Olympic Games the following year. Pyeongchang marked her fifth Olympics, and the final Games of an international career that has seen her win13 World Cup races and three world championship medals.
But after 17 Olympic races, Randall hadn’t won a medal. Until Wednesday, and No.18, when the U.S. overhauled Sweden on the final leg to claim gold in the team sprint relay.
No other athlete had competed in that many Olympic events without winning a medal, and no American had won gold in cross-country since 1976.
“It still doesn’t feel real,” Randall told reporters. “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.”
Randall is the only mother on the U.S. team, and one of several athletes making a late-career push for an Olympic medal. Norway’s 37-year-old cross-country ski legend Marit Bjorgen won bronze in the same race. The medal was her 14th, making her the most decorated winter Olympian in history.
THIS AINT BADMINTON: Faced with the daunting prospect of knocking off a powerful Netherlands team, the U.S. women throttled down in their women’s pursuit speedskating semifinal, finishing in 3 minutes, 7.28 seconds even though they were capable of skating much faster.
The move made perfect sense, strategically. Why expend extra energy losing a semifinal when you can save it and go all out to win bronze?
And the badminton players disqualified from the 2012 Olympics must be wondering why their sport can’t adopt a similar stance toward athletes playing a long game. Badminton’s governing body kicked four doubles teams out of the Olympic tournament in London for doing what the U.S. speedskaters did in Pyeongchang — losing on purpose to set up a more advantageous matchup.
But other sports accept athletes saving their best efforts for the final, and Wednesday the strategy paid off for the U.S. They finished in 2 minutes, 59.27 seconds — more than a second per lap faster than in their semi — and edged Canada for the bronze medal. NORTH KOREAN SPORTSMANSHIP: When North Korea’s Kwang Bom Jong, a late addition to the men’s 500 metres, fell face-first shortly after the start of his firstround race, Japanese skater Ryosuke Sakazume appeared to stumble, too. That might not have been a coincidence. Replays showed Bom hooking the base of Sakazume’s skate with his right hand, nearly causing another fall.
Jong, who was disqualified, didn’t speak with reporters, but Sakazume doesn’t think the North Korean tried to sabotage him, despite what the video shows.
“I believe it was unintentional,” Sakazume told Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel. “His hand happened to be by my skate as he fell down.”
But the North Korean contingent isn’t completely devoid of sportsmanship. The nation’s government sent hundreds of cheerleaders to support their athletes. A Japanese news broadcast appeared to show one of them applauding U.S. pairs figure skaters Alexa Scimeca-Knierim and Chris Knierim on Wednesday.
The move ran counter to the hostility that has flared up between the two countries over the last year. And it came the same day the Washington Post reported that a meeting between North Korean officials and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence had been cancelled by North Korea at the last minute. But the applause didn’t last long. Moments after the cheerleader started clapping, she stopped and returned her hands to her lap.
“It’s what I’ve been working on for 20 years . . . and, wow, it’s just so fun to put it together tonight, finally.” KIKKAN RANDALL AFTER WINNING GOLD IN HER 18TH OLYMPIC START