Kikkan Randall (USA) has secured an insurmountable lead going into the World Cup season’s sprint finale next week in Stockholm. It's the first cross-country World Cup title by an American since Bill Koch won the overall in 1982. And it is the first cross-country World Cup title by any American women ever.

Randall led the World Cup sprint from the start, winning back-to-back races in Duesseldorf and Davos. She maintained consistency all season in both freestyle and classic sprints.

Kikkan Randall “The sprint overall World Cup was my goal and focus all season. It's been a long season, a lot of racing and it's been an exciting competition to the end. But I am happy to finally secure it now. We have had an incredible team this year - coaches, staff and athletes during the entire season - and it's definitively a team effort to win the globe.

This year I raced more races and was more consistently in the top 10.  It took some victories as well as scoring points in every race. It's definitely more grueling chasing all the races and racing all the heats in addition to all the distance races, but it was worth it!

I’m looking forward to the upcoming races. This is the time of the year when the training is done and now it's time to use what is left in the tank.  My plan is to race all the remaining World Cup events and I'm actually going to stay in Scandinavia an extra week and do some fun invitational sprints before I head over to Vermont for the last U.S. races.

It's been really important to have a great team around me this season. Spending the whole winter in Europe, away from home has been challenging at times. But the girls have helped me keep it fun and positive and it's been great to be able to celebrate some of their achievements as well. I also have to credit the guys on our team and, of course, our staff. Everybody has worked incredibly hard and been upbeat through all the highs and lows. My team is my family on the road.”