January 15, 2012 (Milan, Italy) – Destiny, unexpected drama and superb skiing in the women’s 6×1.4km Team Sprint delivered the first US-CAN WCup podium ever as Americans Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins grabbed the silver and Canada’s Chandra Crawford and Perianne Jones the bronze in downtown Milan on Sunday. Hanna Brodin and Ida Ingemardsdotter took home the gold for Sweden 1.

View postWith ten teams in the final Sweden and Norway were the only nations with two teams qualified. The United States II team with Sadie Bjornsen and Ida Sargent did not advance.

Early on it was Sweden and Norway leading with Russia also in the mix as both United States I and Canada tried to stay out of trouble behind the leaders. But trouble was coming for the US as a mid-race fumble saw Diggins crash hard just as she was tagging Randall who had to ski back a few metres to get tagged.

The Sprint Cup leader scrambled using incredible energy over the next half lap to catch the pack – but she did. Diggins kept the US in the game near the front on the penultimate leg as Canada’s Jones handed off to Crawford in 9th for the final leg. The US had the lead starting the final leg but Sweden 1’s anchor Ingemardsdotter, coming off a strong win the day before, quickly gained on Randall who was spent.

Randall charged ahead but Ingemarsdotter was flying and edged passed her with 200m to go as Crawford put on an incredible burst from behind to move into contention. In an exciting final sprint to the line Randall couldn’t quite catch the Swede and executed a great telemark lunge to hold off Crawford for the silver with Canada scoring the bronze and the two North American teams on the historic podium – as predicted by SkiTrax’s Marty Hall. This was also Diggins and Jones first-ever WCup podium.

Women Team Sprint results HERE.