The long, long wait is over.
Team USA ended their 42-year Olympic medal drought in cross-country skiing Wednesday and they made American cross-country history in the process.
Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall became the first American cross-country skiers to capture a gold medal by winning the women’s team sprint at the Alpensia Cross-Country Centre in PyeongChang, South Korea. Sweden captured silver and Norway took home bronze.
Diggins and Randall are the first American women to win an Olympic medal and join Bill Koch as the only American cross-country skiers to earn an Olympic medal.
GOLD!!!!!!!!!! For the first time ever the USA women have a cross country medal and it’s GOLD!!!!! 🥇🇺🇸🥇🇺🇸🥇🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/BSrGKQi705
— U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team (@usskiteam) February 21, 2018
The Americans advanced to the finals courtesy of their first place finish in the semifinals, beating Sweden and OAR in the process.
Diggins out-sprinted both the gold and silver medalists of the individual sprint (Stina Nilsson and Maiken Falla, respectively) in the final stretch to take the gold.
Results
Gold: Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins (USA)
Silver: Charlotte Kalla and Stina Nilsson (SWE)
Bronze: Marit Bjoergen and Maiken Falla (NOR)
