December 02, 2012 (Kuusamo, Finland) – Biting cold temperatures and falling snow greeted the top women in the world for the final round of the Ruka Triple as the USA’s Kikkan Randall put in another solid day at the office to claim 5th overall at the first mini-tour of the season behind overall winner Marit Bjoergen (NOR).

“If you had told me two weeks ago that I would be walking away from this weekend with a podium and 5th place overall I might not have believed you,” admitted Randall. “Coming back from the foot injury, I anticipated it was going to take several races to sharpen into race form.

“So I guess you could say I’ve ended up racing a little faster than expected.  However, while my skating has been really strong, my classic striding at race pace is not feeling ready quite yet.  I think I need some more hard classic efforts before I will feel in good race shape for classic,” Randall told Trax.

“My skis were great.  I had plenty of kick and it seemed like I had competitive glide compared with those around me.  Seemed like Weng had really fast skis today. Really cool to see Liz have such a strong classic race in tough conditions!  I’ve been watching her classic improve and she’s just knocking at the door on World Cup top tens!  Watch out for Liz in Canmore, I think she’s going to fly,” continued Randall.

“It’s definitely a bummer that so many of the top Europeans are not coming over for the Canadian races and are choosing to do training camps instead. It’s a World Cup and it would be great if they made the trip over the pond every now and again too,” she added.

The other big story on the US Women’s team was Liz Stephen with the 11th best time of the day, starting in 24th to finish 17th overall in the mini-tour – another personal best for the Vermont skier. Teammate and fellow Vermonter, Ida Sargent, was another measure of the team’s success adding to the personal best tally by finishing 20th on the day and 18th overall.

“It was a very fun race and I’m very happily surprised with the result. I never expected anything like this coming into the weekend. Getting to finish the tour skiing with my teammates just made it even better,” said Sargent. “At first I was freaking out because I had to work harder to stay with the pack on the flats and downs and I felt like I was using more energy than others on the parts of the course that should have been for recovery. But then I chilled out and skied my own race and focused on attacking the hills and I was able to move up on the last lap.

“Having five US women in the top 25 is incredible and I’m really proud. I was able to ski with Holly, Jessie, and Liz for different parts of the race which was awesome and made the day even more special. It’s just fun to be doing this with all of them,” she commented.

Holly Brooks was a strong 18th today to finish 22nd in the mini-tour as all team members landed in the points. Jessie Diggins was 30th today and 24th overall. Team leader, Randall, ended up 28th on the day moving up one spot over last year in the overall when she was 6th. The US women landed 5 skiers  in the top 25 causing more heads to turn.

“Today’s race was going well until I miscounted the laps and started sprinting up the final hill and into the stadium…only to realize I had another lap left when I’d somehow been sure that was it. That’s a sinking feeling I hope to avoid the rest of the year,” Diggins confided to SkiTrax.

“Needless to say, I died hard on the next uphill and lost a lot of time and places, which is of course disappointing. HOWEVER, there were a ton of good things happening today like having great skis and kick, getting to see my teammates have a great day, and meeting some technique goals. So it’s a learning experience for sure but not a waste of a race by any means. I think the course was a good challenging course and I’m psyched our girls and guys rose to the challenge,” she added.

The day belonged to Bjoergen who started the contest with a 52.7-margin over Randall as she also had the fastest time of the day earning additional points in the new BMW series introduced by FIS this year on her way to defending her Ruka Triple crown. No one could touch Bjoergen as the real race raged behind for second and third.

Polish star Justyna Kowalczyk quickly joined Randall and Finland’s Krista Lahteenmaki as Norway’s Therese Johaug and Heidi Weng bridged as well while the falling snow increased in intensity. Randall and Lahteenmaki could not keep pace as Johaug drilled the pace suffering a quick fall around the 5km mark.

After the 7.5km mark Kowalczyk decided to attack on a hill and only Johaug could respond as Randall and Lahteenmaki duked it out behind swapping the lead. But Weng wasn’t finished yet as she dangled behind and on the last time up the final climb before the finish – as Kowalczyk powered ahead – she turned on the jets to pass Johaug and claim the remaining mini-tour podium spot.

Randall outlasted Lahteenmaki for 5th for a stellar weekend of racing as Bjoergen made claim to yet another victory and will forgoe coming to the Canadian WCups in QCity and Alberta to prepare to the Tour de Ski. Meanwhile Randall and her teammates are looking forward to racing closer to home and scooping up more valuable points in the process.

Mini-tour Pursuit results HERE.
Women’s 10km CL results HERE.
Women’s WCup Overall Not available