Oberhof, Germany – The U.S. Ski Team’s Kikkan Randall skied a powerful 3k freestyle prologue Saturday to take a solid win over past Tour de Ski champions Charlotte Kalla of Sweden and Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland.
Starting 72nd, Randall was .4 behind Kalla at 1.7k but skied away to a 4.4-second victory in the first of seven stages of the Tour scheduled over a nine-day period. Holly Brooks, who like Randall is from Anchorage, Alaska, skied to an impressive 11th while Vermont’s Liz Stephen was 21st. Jessie Diggins, of Afton, Minn. near the Twin Cities, was 62nd in her Tour debut.
“Today was an exciting way to start the Tour for sure,” Randall acknowledged. “After a lot of racing in the first period I took the last ten days pretty easy and was unsure how my body would feel coming off the recovery break. Feelings weren’t super encouraging yesterday or this morning but everything was there once I got on course.”
“I was really surprised with my result today – elated and relieved actually,” added Brooks. “It’s the best late Christmas present I could ask for! I was tired at the finish but it wasn’t quite puke-worthy.”
Norway’s Petter Northug took the men’s 4k prologue with Andy Newell, of Shaftsbury, Vt., was the top American man in 21st.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Cross Country World Cup
Oberhof, Germany – Dec. 29, 2012 – Tour de Ski Prologue
Women (3km)
| Rank | Bib | Name | Year | Nation | Time | FIS Points |
| 1 | 72 | RANDALL Kikkan | 1982 | USA | 7:28.1 | 0.00 |
| 2 | 34 | KALLA Charlotte | 1987 | SWE | 7:32.5 | 7.86 |
| 3 | 74 | KOWALCZYK Justyna | 1983 | POL | 7:32.8 | 8.39 |
| 4 | 60 | HERRMANN Denise | 1988 | GER | 7:37.4 | 16.60 |
| 5 | 33 | ROPONEN Riitta-Liisa | 1978 | FIN | 7:38.7 | 18.92 |
| 6 | 30 | JACOBSEN Astrid Uhrenholdt | 1987 | NOR | 7:40.3 | 21.78 |
| 7 | 9 | HUGUE Coraline | 1984 | FRA | 7:42.9 | 26.42 |
| 8 | 38 | TCHEKALEVA Yulia | 1984 | RUS | 7:43.3 | 27.14 |
| 8 | 4 | AYMONIER Celia | 1991 | FRA | 7:43.3 | 27.14 |
| 10 | 66 | STEIRA Kristin Stoermer | 1981 | NOR | 7:44.1 | 28.57 |
Men (4km)
| Rank | Bib | Name | Year | Nation | Time | FIS Points |
| 1 | 95 | NORTHUG Petter jr. | 1986 | NOR | 8:28.7 | 0.00 |
| 2 | 81 | HELLNER Marcus | 1985 | SWE | 8:34.8 | 9.59 |
| 3 | 83 | LEGKOV Alexander | 1983 | RUS | 8:35.9 | 11.32 |
| 4 | 87 | COLOGNA Dario | 1986 | SUI | 8:38.8 | 15.88 |
| 5 | 85 | CHERNOUSOV Ilia | 1986 | RUS | 8:39.4 | 16.83 |
| 6 | 56 | HARVEY Alex | 1988 | CAN | 8:40.0 | 17.77 |
| 7 | 91 | VYLEGZHANIN Maxim | 1982 | RUS | 8:40.5 | 18.56 |
| 7 | 49 | JAKS Martin | 1986 | CZE | 8:40.5 | 18.56 |
| 9 | 18 | RAZYM Ales | 1986 | CZE | 8:42.0 | 20.92 |
| 10 | 37 | PERL Curdin | 1984 | SUI | 8:42.2 | 21.23 |