One of Alaska’s most beloved athletes, Olympic champion cross-country skier Kikkan Randall, is participating in this year’s Winter Olympics — not as a competitor but as a commentator for NBC.
: It’s been really interesting to watch this Olympics from the other side of the screen. This is the first time in five editions I haven’t been a part of the team myself. So it’s been unique to take my experience and then now watch the U.S. team, watch the U.S. athletes. And what I’ve noticed is just the shift in expectation, the shift in professionalism.
The conditions have been pretty challenging. There’s been the altitude factor, there’s been the snow conditions. And you’ve got to give the credit to these athletes. This games has been intense on a whole ‘nother level because of all the COVID issues. And so the fact that they’ve all come in, they’ve kept a good perspective, they’ve all laid their best effort out, they’ve all been super honest about how they’re feeling and giving their best.
But in terms of just here, being able to do the job, I’ve got two screens in front of me, I’ve got the split times, I’ve got a device called the Hawkeye that’s feeding the information from our research team. I’ve got papers spread out all over the desk of former results, and you know, bios and various things. So it’s really a cool setup to really be able to simultaneously be working through what happened in the past, who are these athletes, what’s going on in the snow.
And I really can’t have done it in a better way. The competitor in me, you know, I’m seeing the sprint course and going, “Oh, that would have played my strengths. You know, that would have been really fun.” But I don’t really regret my decision to finish my career four years ago.: There’s a lot of ways to sort of measure success, and there’s a lot of different victories happening out there.
But for her, her medal is to be there. And I mean, she is a strong representative of Team USA. And I think she still has a bright future ahead. Like really, at her age, the next four years I think are going to be when her her career could really hit its stride. So to get this experience now, to get that kind of reward for the comeback she’s made, it’s just absolutely inspiring. And Hannah’s the nicest, sweetest person ever, such a competitor, and yet just such a wonderful complement to the team.
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