November 24, 2012 (Gällivare, Sweden) – American sensation Kikkan Randall lead a strong US showing at the opening round of the 2012/13 Viesseman FIS Cross-Country World Cup season with a stellar 3rd place finish in the women’s 10km FR – her first WCup distance podium – as teammate Holly Brooks earned her best-ever WCup result scoring a stunning 5th place result.

The battle for the top spot came down to the final two skiers from Norway with Marit Bjoergen signaling her dominance once again capturing her 56th WCup victory with a time of 22:31.8, a 13s-margin over teammate Therese Johaug in second, with Randall third.

The Americans were the big story of the day as Brooks set the best early 2.3km split time of 5:49.6 and then again at the 6.9km mark with 16:00.1 to land all smiles in the leader’s chair. Her teammate Randall showed that her injured foot is not an issue delivering the best 6.9km split (15:57.2) to take over the lead crossing the line at 22:57.7.

Only Bjoergen and Johaug could top Randall as local star Charlotte Kalla (SWE) was fourth. Bjoergen’s split times told the story as she was clearly in a class of her own. The other big story of the day was Justyna Kowalcyzk’s (POL) lacklustre start to the season at 1:23 off Bjoergen’s winning time.

The USA’s Liz Stephen, on the podium in 2nd last weekend in Muonio, Finland in the same event, placed 21st in the points, Jessie Diggins was 32nd, and Ida Sargent was 53rd. The top Canadian was Daria Gaiazova in 61st followed by Chandra Crawford in 71st with Allyson Marshall 77th.

That’s back to back podiums for the US team with Stephen’s second in Finland last weekend and augurs well for Sunday’s relay… for post-Muonio interviews with Stephen click here and Brooks, Diggins, Randall click here.

Full results HERE.
Full results w/splits HERE.