Sorry, I missed the class where goose stepping was taught. As I
suggested, her win provides a model and aspiration point for other U.S.
skiers, getting across the idea that with good preparation an American
(and not just Canadians) can win. As the sole female U.S. sprinter,
she's been carrying a big load the past two seasons and handling it
well. But since you mention it, she was on the podium at Rybinsk last
year (3rd) in similar circumstances, while the rest of her results were
7th to 30th and lower. Hopefully, she will find more top-end sprinting
consistency this season, while continuing to develop endurance
capabilities. For now she has a lot to celebrate - and a lot of time
between now and Canmore to do it.



PBo wrote:

On Dec 16, 4:21 pm, wrote:
Fantastic win for Kikkan. Keeping it in perspective, most others
in the A final raced a fast and hotly contested 15k the day before...

while i'm usually the first person to downplay a situation or add
perspective to a conversation, i completely disagree with you lending
excuse to the others' performances by mentioning their previous races.
a win is a win is a win. on the results sheet, there is no mention of
the fact that astrid won the day before. kikkan doesn't give some of
her 15K and her flowers to the racers from the day before. competition
is all about who is best at a given time, and this time the best was
kikkan. end of story.

now if we're talking about the world cup overall, that's another
thing. but we're not. kikkan is all about getting podiums, winning
races and getting quality experience in longer races. so far she is
accomplishing all of that with flying colors. given her current
trajectory, i wouldn't be surprised if down the road kikkan's goals
were to include winning the overall world cup. when that time comes,
if she skips a race and wins the next day we can say, "great win, but
where was she yesterday - she lost a potential hundred points in her
quest to win the overall."

but today, there is no excuse to made for her success and nothing that
can take away from her win.

-phil