When visiting the Hopkington School, Kikkan’s visit didn’t just prompt a handful of team skiers- the entire school took in her stories and heard the first-hand play-by-play of Kikkan’s historic gold medal, won in partnership with Jessie Diggins in Pyeong Chang’s freestyle team sprint. In adding Olympic Champion to her World Championship and 3x Overall World Cup Sprint crown, Kikkan became America’s most decorated cross country skier and an outright inspiration.
Amidst sunny skies and running sap of Vermont’s Maple Trees, Kikkan led dozens of Vermont skiers through the spring conditions at the Sleepy Hollow Inn and Cross Country Ski Center before gathering the following, ranging in age from 8 to 80 in the center’s round barn. Standing in front of video replays of her medal-winning performance, various media visits (the Today Show!) and photos of the cohesive team she led to prominence on the International stage, the room stood pin drop silent.
Kikkan’s tour began at the American Birkebeiner, coursed through New England, paused at the Quebec City World Cups and concludes in her longtime home in Anchorage, Alaska and a visit to Alaska Mountaineering & Hiking on Saturday, April 6th. “This is just the beginning of what I hope will happen in the community,” she told skiers following her. ‘To see the growth, the excitement in the sport in the wake of (the medal). That’s something I hope we can keep going for a long, long time.”