Drammen, Norway – Anchorage, Alaska’s Kikkan Randall put the exclamation mark on a day of historic benchmarks for the U.S. Ski Team on Wednesday, clinching the FIS Cross Country World Cup sprint title while finishing 11th in a classic sprint in Drammen. It’s the first U.S. World Cup cross country skiing title since Bill Koch won the overall in 1982.

“The sprint overall World Cup was my goal and focus all season. It’s been a long season, a lot of racing and it’s been an exciting competition to the end. But I am happy to finally secure it now,” Randall said. “We have had an incredible team this year – coaches, staff and athletes during the entire season – and it’s definitively a team effort to win the globe.”

Randall led the World Cup sprint from the start, winning back-to-back races in Duesseldorf, Germany and Davos, Switzerland. She maintained consistency all season in both freestyle and classic sprints. Wednesday’s race gave Randall an insurmountable lead going into the season sprint finale next week in Stockholm.

“This year I raced more races and was more consistently in the top 10.  It took some victories as well as scoring points in every race,” Randall added. “It’s definitely more grueling chasing all the races and racing all the heats in addition to all the distance races, but it was worth it!”

U.S. skier Sadie Bjornsen, of Winthrop, Wash., qualified 16th and finished 27th on Wednesday for her first career World Cup points on one of the tour’s toughest classic sprint courses. Shaftsbury, Vt.’s Andy Newell, who has always skied well on the streets of Drammen was sixth for the men, with Simi Hamilton, of Aspen, Colo., following right behind for a career best seventh.

“It was a great day for us. To have three athletes in the top 11 in any World Cup, let alone a sprint as tough as Drammen, was very gratifying,” said U.S. Ski Team cross country coach, Chris Grover.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Cross Country World Cup
Drammen, Norway – Mar. 7, 2012
Classic Sprint

Women:

Men: