Diggins, Randall win gold for 1st-ever U.S. women's cross-country medal

Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall won the United States' first-ever Olympic medal in cross-country skiing, beating out a tough field for the gold in the team sprint Wednesday morning.

Locked in a virtual tie with Sweden's Stina Nilsson down the final stretch, Diggins dug deeper, kicking through the finish line with a final burst before collapsing to the snow. The margin of victory was just 0.19 seconds.

The American duo finished in 15:56.47, not only edging out Sweden by the thinnest of margins but also beating Norway - and cross-country legend Marit Bjoergen - by almost three seconds.

Diggins was expected to push for medals in most of her individual events but had come just short of the podium, finishing in fifth place in the freestyle 10-kilometer, fifth place in skiathlon, sixth place in the classical-style sprint, and then fifth place in the 4x5-kilometer relay.

Prior to finishing fifth in the 4x5-kilometer relay Saturday, Randall had never finished in the top five in any event dating back to her first appearance at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002. Now, the 35-year-old will forever be known as an Olympic champion.

In triumphing over the field, Diggins and Randall set a slew of benchmarks in U.S. cross-country.

In addition to bringing home America's first gold medal in cross-country skiing, they became the first women to ever medal in cross-country for the U.S. They're also the first Americans to medal in cross-country skiing since Bill Koch took home the silver in the 30-kilometer race at the Innsbruck Games in 1976. Diggins, Randall, and Koch are the only U.S. medalists in a sport historically dominated by Scandinavians.