Kikkan Randall: Cancer, Olympics, Net Worth & Husband

Kikkan Randall is among the few athletes who made her Olympic debut in her home country when she competed in the Salt Lake City Games in 2002.

Kikkan Randall is an Olympic champion cross-country skier from the United States. She has 29 World Cup podiums, 17 U.S. National titles, and five Winter Olympic Games appearances.

Moreover, she has the highest finish by an American woman at the World Championships, second in the Sprint in Liberec in 2009.

Kikkan was the first American female cross-country skier to finish in the top ten of a World Cup race, win a World Cup race, and win a World Cup discipline title.

Randall won the silver medal in the individual sprint at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Liberec in 2009, becoming the first American woman to win an award in cross-country skiing held at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships.

Furthermore, in 2013, she teamed up with Jessie Diggins to win the first-ever American gold medal in the team sprint.

In 2018, she and Diggins won the United States first-ever cross-country skiing gold medal at the Winter Olympics in the women’s team sprint in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Kikkan Randall: Quick Facts

Early Life & Education

Originally, Kikkan Randall hoped to compete as an alpinist and run for an NCAA Division I college. Kikkan ran a 6:06 mile in sixth grade at Scenic Park Elementary, but her goal for high school was to run a five-minute mile.

Kikkan Randell chose East High School because she wanted to wear red and blue like her mother and aunt. As a result, she won 10 state titles at East Anchorage High School — seven in track and three in cross-country running.

She was named the fastest female skier in the world and the last Alaskan state speed-skiing champion.

Randall began cross-country skiing in 1998 after her track coach suggested it as a way to stay fit during the winter.

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Kikkan Randall decided to stay in her hometown of Anchorage, Alaska, to begin her undergraduate studies. In addition, she trained with the Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center after graduating from Bettye Davis East High School.

Kikkan’s sixth-place finish in the sprint at the 2001 Junior World Championships was the best result ever achieved by an American woman.

The skier made her Olympic debut at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City as a 19-year-old, finishing 44th in the inaugural Olympic individual sprint.

Kikkan returned to Soldier Hollow, Utah, the site of the 2002 Olympic cross-country competition, in January 2006. In addition, she won national titles in the 5-kilometer freestyle, 10-kilometer classical, and sprint.

She finished 30th in the individual sprint at the 2005 World Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany.

Professional Career

Kikkan Randall finished ninth in the Olympic Sprint at the 2006 Winter Olympics, the best Olympic result ever achieved by an American woman in cross-country skiing.

The skier finished fifth in a World Cup sprint shortly after that. She won bronze in the women’s 1.2-kilometer sprint in Rybinsk, Russia, on January 21, 2007, an American woman’s best-ever cross-country World Cup outcome.

Later that year, in the following season, she won the first World Cup for an American female skier since the sport’s inception in 1978 in another 1.2-kilometer sprint at the same venue.

Kikkan was awarded a silver medal at the Nordic Skiing World Championship in February 2009 for the 1.3 Kilometer sprint, making her the first American to win a World Championship medal since Bill Koch in 1982.

Randall qualified for the 2010 Winter Olympics in January 2010, where she finished sixth in the team sprint and eighth in the individual sprint event, both for the United States.

The Olympian finished third in the Sprint World Cup standings in the 2010-11 season.

2011-2013 Season

When she won the Sprint standings this season, Randall became the first American woman to win a World Cup discipline title in cross-country.

Her season included World Cup freestyle sprint victories in Düsseldorf and Davos. She also finished fifth overall in the World Cup that season.

She won four World Cup freestyle sprint events in Quebec, Val Mustair, Sochi, and Lahti.

Moreover, she also won the Tour de Ski’s 3 km freestyle prologue in Oberhof. She and teammate Jessie Diggins won a team freestyle sprint in Quebec.

Randall placed first in the final World Cup sprint standings and third overall. Third place is the highest ever achieved by a female American.

Randall and Diggins won the first-ever team sprint gold medal for the United States women at the World Ski Championships.

2014 Winter Olympics

Kikkan Randall qualified for the United States Olympic team in Sochi.

She entered the 2014 Winter Olympics as a heavy favorite to win the United States’ first cross-country skiing medal since 1976. However, she missed qualifying for the sprint quarterfinals by.05 of a second.

Following that, she claimed that her focus on peaking for the Olympics was hampered by a back injury she sustained while training in Davos in December 2013.

Randall won the World Cup sprint standings for the third time. She won the freestyle sprint events at the World Cup in Nove, Mesto, Szklarska Poreba, and Lahti.

Randall finished third in the freestyle sprint in Lahti.

World Championship

Randall announced in October 2015 that she was expecting her first child in April and that the skier would take a break from competition in the 2015-16 season.

However, she returned in 2016-17 with a focus on the 2017 World Championships in Lahti and the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Randall struggled at first when he returned to competition, failing to advance beyond qualifying in the 1st two World Cup Sprint competitions of the season.

However, Kikkan made steady progress and finished fifth in a World Cup Sprint in Falun, Sweden, in January 2017—her best result in nearly two years.

Randall then won the bronze medal in the freestyle sprint at the 2017 World Nordic Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland, catching Hanna Falk in the final 100 meters to beat her for 3rd place by 0.1 seconds, one spot behind teammate Diggins in second.

Gold Medal Season

Randall finished third in a sprint in Davos, Switzerland, in December 2017, her first World Cup podium finishes in nearly three years.

Randall and Jessie Diggins became the first American cross-country skiers to win a gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

In addition, they won the women’s team sprint at the Alpensia Cross-Country Centre in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

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Randall has always been interested in the business side of sports (her grandfather was a University administrator).

Moreover, she joined Young Adults Taking Action in seventh grade.

This organization assisted reinstating sports at the middle school level in Anchorage due to the school district cutting sports from the budget. In addition, the group persuaded the school that sports would reduce vandalism.

Then, in 2009, she was elected to the FIS Athletes’ Commission, the international governing body of ski racing.

Chris Grover, the coach of the United States Ski Team, had encouraged her to apply. Randall spent the next eight years improving communication between the FIS bureaucracy and the athletes.

She later delegated that job to two cross-country ski colleagues and decided to see if she could maintain the same level of communication at the IOC.

The IOC Athletes’ Commission comprises 20 winter and summer sports athletes.

Randall intends to begin her eight-year term by focusing on anti-doping efforts.

Kikkan Randall: Family

Kikkan Randall’s parents, Ronn and Deborah, met at a ski resort in California.

Kikkan’s name was a compromise between her parents: her Father wanted to name her Kikki after Kiki Cutter, the 1st American to win an Alpine Skiing World Cup race. In addition, her mother wanted to name her Meghan.

Kikkan’s first birthday was one day after Ronn began teaching her to ski. She is the niece of former Olympic cross-country skiers Betsy Haines (1980) and Chris Haines (1976).

Randall lived in Salt Lake City while her mother was a law student at the University of Utah.

The skier moved to Anchorage, Alaska, with her parents in the mid-1980s, where her younger siblings, Tanner and Kalli, were born.

Randall balances her studies at Alaska Pacific University with skiing for the APU Nordic Ski Center, run by Erik Flora, a former national-level ski racer.

Kikkan Randall: Blood Clotting Disorder

Kikkan Randall, a cross-country skier for the United States Ski Team, faced the most challenging test of her life when a blood clot in her left leg caused her leg to swell to twice its normal size.

The clot could have been caused by May-Thurner syndrome, the use of an estrogen-based contraceptive device, or long-haul plane travel, possibly exacerbated by dehydration.

In April 2008, Randall underwent medical procedures that reduced the clot by an estimated 70%.

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Kikkan Randall, an Alaska cross-country skier, discovered two pea-sized lumps in her breast just months after winning an Olympic gold medal in 2018.

Medical tests revealed that she had Cancer. Later, she began chemotherapy in Anchorage. “It’s been a roller coaster,” Randall said on social media after announcing her diagnosis.

According to her, Randall’s breast Cancer was discovered early. However, the doctor told her she had a good prognosis.

However, she had to undergo six rounds of chemotherapy, with one infusion every three weeks. She then had surgery.

Kikkan continued her treatment in her hometown of Anchorage, where she grew up.

She excelled in skiing and running at East High School and has been a member of Alaska Pacific University’s nordic ski team for many years.

Randall also competed on the World Cup circuit for years, becoming America’s most decorated cross-country skier.

Achievements

Kikkan Randall was elected to the International Ski Federation’s Athletes Commission in 2009, where she remained for eight years.

Moreover, Randall won the Mount Marathon Race in 2011, defeating teammate Holly Brooks. Young Kikkan followed in the footsteps of her aunt Betsy (who won it three years in succession from 1979 to 1981) and mother Debbie (who won the Race in 1975).

She also wishes to contribute to gender equality in sports. Randall is the American director of the Fast and Female group.

Fast and Female, founded by her friend Chandra Crawford, a 2006 Canadian Olympic gold medalist in the cross-country sprint, aims to get girls involved in sports. And keep them interested.

In 2011, Randall was inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame.

Kikkan Randall: Husband

Kikkan Randall is married to Jeff Ellis, a former Canadian ski racer who now works as a marketing support manager for the FIS Cross-Country World Cup.

The couple first met at a ski competition in 2006. He took first place in the men’s sprint, while she took first place in the women’s.

Kikkan wrote down her email address and invited him to stay in touch before they parted ways.

The couple met in Calgary in 2007 and drove to Alaska to be together. Ellis pulled a ring from his pocket as they stood on a boulder at Rabbit Lake in Chugach State Park that August.

They married in May 2008 in a ceremony officiated by her coach, Erik Flora.

Ellis had stood just off-camera for much of Randall’s skiing career. Then, they moved to Penticton, British Columbia, to begin their new career in his home country.

After two months, he quit his marketing job for a bike rack manufacturer to devote his full attention to his wife’s post-race opportunities.

Unfortunately, in October 2021, they divorced. 

Kikkan Randall: Kid

Randall missed the 2015-16 season to begin a family. Breck was born in April 2016. Randall quickly returned to training, determined to win an Olympic medal in 2018.

The Ellis-Randall family had spent the last two winters traveling the world with husband Jeff Ellis, who works for FIS.

On the other hand, the small boy did not go to Pyeongchang.

The time difference for a 22-month-old and the logistics and cost of getting him here, with grandparents acting as caregivers, was too much for him. So Breck spent the three weeks outside of Toronto with his paternal grandparents.

Randall showed Breck her Olympic gold medal after the team sprint. But the boy was more excited about the stuffed Soohorang, the PyeongChang mascot, that his mother received immediately after the race.

Kikkan Randall: Net Worth

Kikkan Randall’s net worth is estimated to be between $1 and $5 million, according to various sources. However, her athletic background is the primary source of her income.

Athletes support various brands by promoting them. As a result, Kikkan should also be involved in sponsorships and other projects that add a decent amount to her wealth.

When she was 18, she received her first athlete sponsorship. According to her official website, it was done to assist her in achieving her Olympic goals.

Over the next two decades, it progressed from sponsorship to collaboration.

Moreover, she enjoys collaborating with brands and organizations that share her enthusiasm for living a healthy and active lifestyle.

As a young child’s mother, she values brands that allow her to share her lifestyle with her family.

Social Media Presence

Kikkan Randall has always been very active on various social media platforms.

The athlete understands the value of social media because she uses it to connect with her fans and followers.

She frequently raises Cancer awareness through her social media platforms, as she was diagnosed with it herself. Through it, she encourages people to live a healthy lifestyle.

Below is the link to her social media; you can follow her to keep updated about her life. 

Instagram– 42.8k followers 

Facebook– 32k followers 

Twitter– 18.6k followers 

FAQs

How is Kikkan Randall doing?

Kikkan’s Cancer is currently in remission. However, she has been taking an aromatase inhibitor daily since finishing radiation and will do so for at least the next five years.

Where does Kikkan Randall live now?

Randall has been in Canada for a while, but he grew up in Anchorage. In 2018, she became the United States’ first cross-country ski gold medalist when she won the women’s team sprint in South Korea.