December 04, 2011 (Dusseldorf, Germany) – The USA’s Kikkan Randall and Sadie Bjornsen grabbed a historic silver medal in the women’s team sprint event at the Dusseldorf World Cup today, a best ever finish for a US sprint team in World Cup action.

Randall and Bjornsen battled ten other teams in a hectic and fast-paced final run on the narrow and twisty 800m course of artificial snow laid through the streets of downtown Dusseldorf. Norway I’s Maiken Falla and Mari Eide took the gold, with Russia I’s Natalia Korosteleva and Natalia Matveeva coming in third.

Randall, who won yesterday’s individual sprint, teamed up with World Cup rookie Bjornsen for her first team sprint in Dusseldorf. “I’ve come to Dusseldorf three or four times now and every time I’ve been kind of sad to have to leave the day of the team sprint because I haven’t had a partner,” Randall told SkiTrax in a phone interview earlier today, “So it was pretty exciting to be in the mix today and come out with a good result.”

Randall, who was feeling the effects of yesterday’s race, remarked that the fast-paced semi-final actually helped prime her for the final: “Things were a little sore and stiff from yesterday, but overall I still felt pretty good. The pace was definitely fast in the semi-final, so there were some good hard laps there that actually helped wake me up again and then I felt even better in the final.”

Randall said her strategy going into the final was to make sure to be in the mix, but to stay out of trouble as well: “We were kind of the dark horses out there, so really we were just trying to stay in contact with the leaders, stay out of trouble, not get too frantic in the first few laps, and then get in there at the end and fight for it.”

Things unraveled a little at the start for the US duo, with Bjornsen skiing first and narrowly avoided a fallen skier. “Sadie had an awesome start in the final,” Randall explained, “but before the first turn she got caught behind the Swedish girl who went down. So we went from skiing in third or fourth position to all of a sudden being at the back – then we just had to work our way up from there.”

“I was able to bridge us back to the group on the first lap,” Randall continued, “then Sadie played it nice and cool on her second lap and kept us in there. She tagged off to me just at the very end of the pack going into the last lap, which turned out to be a good position because I felt strong and on the back stretch I could see people were getting a little tired so I just worked my way up and had a strong finish.”

Strong finish is a bit of an understatement considering that Randall skied from 9th up to 2nd in a matter of a few hundred metres.

For her part, Bjornsen was elated and almost in disbelief at landing on the podium in her first season on the World Cup circuit. “It’s going to take a while to sink in, for sure,” she told SkiTrax.  Going into today’s race Bjornsen conceded to feeling the pressure. “I was much more nervous than I normally am, but mostly just because when you’re starting a race with the winner from the previous day you want to race even better than you would on your own.”

Bjornsen was also determined not to repeat the mistake she made last year in the team sprint event at the Oslo World Championships, where she went out too hard in the early laps and eventually lost contact with the leaders. She had to go hard on her first lap after nearly going down with a Swedish skier, but was able to conserve energy on her second lap for a hard push on the last lap before handing off to Randall.

Asked for her thoughts on the team sprint format, Bjornsen expressed enthusiasm. “I really like it because a lot of the time a sprint is just too short, and especially when you’re not making the heats it’s really a hard way to finish your day to only race hard for 2 minutes. The team sprint incorporates a team aspect, which I’ve always loved, as well as more of a distance aspect, which is good for me because I’ve always been between sprinting and distance.”

The historic podium from Randall and Bjornsen was the first for the US in World Cup competition. The previous best in this event for the US was a fourth for the women in January 2009 at the Olympic test event in Whistler Olympic Park. A men’s team also placed 4th in Dusseldorf in December 2008.

Randall and Bjornsen were not the only North Americans in the team sprint final. The Canadian duo of Chandra Crawford and Perianne Jones skied a strong race and were running close to the front on a number of laps but couldn’t quite match the pace on the final sprint to the finish. Crawford and Jones finished in 7th.

Crawford, who finished just off the podium in 4th at yesterday’s individual sprint event, said she was “feeling good going into today’s race, “and more capable than I used to in the team sprint, when I’d be obliterated by the second lap,” she told us via email. Her strategy for the race was to “…stay out of trouble, ski well and relaxed behind leaders and dig deep to give my absolute best and power to the podium.”

Crawford said she found the race “exciting, with lots of adrenalin, with all the crashes,” and she said there was “complete chaos in the exchange zone.”

The Canmore native said she loves the city sprint format in Dusseldorf and is looking forward to bringing the excitement of events like this to Canmore and Quebec City, where there are World Cup stops scheduled for the 2012- 13 season: “I have to admit I’m thinking a lot about the great sprints we’re going to have one year from now in Canmore and Quebec City when the World Cup returns to Canada in December 2012.”

Crawford’s teammate, Perianne Jones, was equally enthusiastic and feeling confident heading into today’s team sprint: “I was really excited,” she told SkiTrax by email, “I love sprint relays, and Chandra had such a great race yesterday we thought we could for sure lay down a good result.”

Jones skied strong and alertly through her laps and made a very smart move at the start of the race to avoid a fallen Swede, which played a big part in keeping the Canadians in the race. “I was just trying to ski as fast as possible, without leading and wasting energy, and always being aware of what was going on around me, so that I was able to react to people stumbling in front of me.”

Also skiing for Canada, Alysson Marshall and Dasha Gaiazova finished 11th in their semi-final heat and were eliminated. They finished 21st overall. The USA’s Holly Brooks and Ida Sargent finished 8th in the semis and were also eliminated, finishing in 15th overall.

Full women’s final team sprint results HERE.