Quebec City (QC), Canada – Alaska’s Kikkan Randall swept the weekend of World Cup cross-country ski racing in Quebec City, picking up a dominant win in the individual sprint on Saturday. The win boosted Randall, the defending FIS World Cup sprint champion, into the sprint lead and second in the overall behind Norway’s Marit Bjoergen.

“We always felt deep down that if we trained hard enough and wanted it bad enough we could be on the top of the podium. It took many years and many small steps to get up to that point and now we’re starting to really just believe and have good confidence” Randall said of the U.S. women. “We have many girls working together and pushing together so I think the real reward for us was to be able to put together really strong performances here when our friends and family get to see us in action – which does not happen very often.”

Friday’s team sprint winner with Randall, Afton, Minn.’s Jessie Diggins, qualified for the heats but got boxed after she fell in the quarterfinals and did not advance. Competing in her first World Cup, Dartmouth skier Sophie Caldwell qualified 26^th and hung onto a potential lucky loser slot in quarterfinals until the last heat, ending up 14th. Also making finals for the Americans were Alaska Pacific University (APU) Nordic’s Rebecca Rorabaugh and U.S. Ski Team/APU Nordic skier Sadie Bjornsen, of Leavenworth, Wash.

Andy Newell, of Shaftsbury, Vt., had his best finish in three seasons in fifth in a men’s competition won by Emil Joensson of Sweden. Fellow Swede Teodor Peterson finished second, joined on the podium by Russian Alexey Petukhov in third.

The FIS Cross-Country World Cup now heads for Canmore, Alberta, Canada for three days of both sprint and distance racing beginning Thursday.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Cross Country World Cup
Quebec City (QC), Canada – Dec. 8, 2012

Women’s Sprint

Men’s Sprint