Randall Shines at the 2009 Nordic World Ski Championships

The 2009 Nordic World Ski Championships are currently underway in Liberec, Czech Republic. This grueling stage of ice and snow sees the best competitors from across the globe take part in some exhilarating skiing events as they battle it out for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championship title.

The 2009 Nordic World Ski Championships are currently underway in Liberec, Czech Republic. This grueling stage of ice and snow sees the best competitors from across the globe take part in some exhilarating skiing events as they battle it out for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championship title.

And the 2009 Nordic World Ski Championship certainly hasn’t been short on excitement. Up until now Europeans have dominated the event, but recent years have seen Americans starting to catch up. The American team’s most recent victory came from Kikkan Randall of Alaska. This spunky teenager is certainly not a sissy. Unlike most other girls who spend their time getting their nails done, browsing through the mall or enjoying a visit to the hairdresser, Randall has entered bodybuilding competitions, almost run a sub-5-minute mile and skied 74 miles an hour in order to win the Alaska speed-skiing competition. No wonder her contemporaries have given her the nickname ‘Kikkanimal’!

Now Kikkan Randall has taken on the world stage with her fierce and fun attitude to life. A decade of grueling ski training paid off when she recently took second place at the 2009 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. She now has the distinction of being the second American to ever win a medal in cross-country at Worlds. The last time America won a medal of this caliber for cross-country skiing was in 1982. Speaking about her triumph, Randall said “I’ve always had the compulsion, ever since I was a little kid, to do something big. When I got involved in cross-country skiing, the US hadn’t been successful yet. But deep down I felt it was possible.”

Americans are hoping that fellow team-mates will soon be able to follow in Randalls footsteps and start bringing home medals from the world stage. The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships started on February 18 and will climax on March 1. This is the fourth time that the championships have been hosted in the Czech Republic and the region never fails to provide impressive slopes. No doubt skiing fans will be glued to their seats as they watch the final few days of this noteworthy skiing event