OSLO, Norway (March 14) - Kikkan Randall (Anchorage) showed the world her skills Sunday, taking second in freestyle sprint at Holmenkollen to mark the third podium of her career.

"I'm really proud because there are a lot of times out there when other countries look so much better, they have so much support, and it's easy to get bogged down," Randall said. "But I believed succeeding was possible for so long, so it's good to show that it wasn't just a one-time thing, but that we can consistently be on the podium."

The day was a special treat for Randall. The World Championship silver medalist is a sprint favorite, but had not skied in the discipline for some time and was happy to get back to sprinting.

"I'm so excited. I really like skate sprints because I feel like I can use everything that I have," Randall said. "It had been since December since I've been able to do a World Cup skate sprint and it was great to get out there and feel good."

The day was a hard fought one for Randall, who fought through tiring qualification heats to get to the finals.

"The qualifying round was pretty darn hard because the course doesn't have a lot of rest built in. You have to be working the whole time. That was the first hard part," Randall said.

Next up, Randall had to make it through the finals, and she had the right strategy both for herself and to defeat the course in Oslo.

"In the heats I felt the good strategy was to get out front because there's not a lot of great places to pass. I took the lead in the quarterfinals and that seemed to work pretty well," Randall said. "In the final I got into second up and over the first hill. That was a good position to be in. I got tangled up with someone up the next climb and it was a little bit of a scary moment but I had a lot of good moments so I didn't lose anything."

Randall made it through to the final heat of five racers and it got intense when she took the lead coming into the finish.

"I continued to stay in second and when we came back into the stadium I skated really hard and had a lead going up the final big uphill and that strategy worked really well," Randall said. "The finish stretch is really exciting because it's got a big downhill coming in and the finish line comes pretty quick so you've really got to be on it."

But, in the final stretch, Randall was overtaken by winner Marit Bjoergen of Norway to land second on the podium.

The day brought even more excitement to Randall as she was able to move on and compete in World Cup Finals.

"Going into today, I really wanted to be able to race in the World Cup finals next week, but I was sitting just outside the top 50. I needed a good result in order to get enough points to qualify for those races, so it feels good to have done that," Randall said. "I just want to race a lot, give it all I have and finish out the season strong."

In the men's sprint, Andy Newell (Shaftsburry, VT) led the way for the U.S., finishing 10th.

"It was an amazing team effort from the waxers, the coaches and the athletes. We worked really well together here in Olso," U.S. Cross Country Head Coach Peter Vordenberg said. "We made really good skis and carried out a good plan together and gave the athletes every opportunity to show what they had, and what they had was really good."

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2010 CROSS COUNTRY WORLD CUP
Oslo, Norway - March 14, 2010
Freestyle Sprint

Men
1. Anders Gloeersen, Norway
2. Alexey Petukhov, Russia
3. Marcus Hellner, Sweden
4. Nikolay Morilov, Russia
5. Eirik Brandsdal, Norway
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10. Andy Newell, Shaftsburry, VT
34. Simeon Hamilton, Aspen, CO
66. Mike Hinckley, Anchorage
73. Brian Gregg, Winthrop, WA

Women
1. Marit Bjoergen, Norway
2. Kikkan Randall, Anchorage
3. Natalia Korosteleva, Russia
4. Justyna Kowalczyk, Poland
5. Hanna Falk, Sweden
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61. Caitlin Compton, Minneapolis, MN
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