U.S. cross country skiers Kikkan Randall, Jessie Diggins win historic gold medal

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea —  Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins have made history in their sport, winning an Olympic gold medal, the first medal ever at the Games for American women in cross country skiing.

The Americans beat runner-up Sweden by .19 seconds down the stretch. Norway won bronze, almost 3 seconds back.  It was the 14th medal for Norwegian skier Marit Bjoergen, who set the record for most medals in Winter Games history. 

Randall and Diggins join Bill Koch as the only American skiers to win Olympic medals in the sport. Koch’s silver came 42 years ago at the Innsbruck Games.

"I just felt unstoppable, I am in the best shape of my life right now for sure," Diggins said. "That feeling of crossing the line and having Kikkan tackle me was the coolest thing ever."

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The Americans won their semifinal heat to reach the final. In the final, they were head to head with Sweden and Norway throughout the race. On the final leg, Diggins had fallen back to third but sprinted home to pull off the victory. 

"On Kikkan's last lap I saw there was three of them and I was like 'a medal is not enough any more, I want to win this,' " Diggins said. 

Diggins and Randall have been building toward this moment for years, since they teamed up to win gold at the 2013 world championships. Randall has set the bar in U.S. cross country skiing, landing on the World Cup podium 29 times in her career. The 35-year-old who trains in Alaska took time off to have her son Breck after the Sochi Games. 

Randall won her first Olympic medal in her 18th event over five Winter Games, setting a record for most events before claiming a medal. 

At last year's world championships, Randall won bronze in the individual sprint and Diggins took silver. Diggins has the most world championship medals in team history, collecting her fourth in the team sprint at the 2017 worlds.