+
Most Shared

No American had done it in 42 years. Leave it to the only mom on Team USA to pull it off.

Americans don't medal in cross-country skiing at the Olympic Winter Games. It just doesn't happen — until now.

Neither Kikkan Randall nor her teammate Jessie Diggins had been born yet the last time an American took home an Olympic medal in cross-country skiing. For decades, America's attention and medals have gone to their Alpine counterparts.

But on Feb. 21, in a near-photo finish, Randall, 35, and Diggins, 26, broke an American dry spell more than 15,330 days long to win a gold medal in the women's cross-country team sprint. It's the first medal for the women's cross-country team, and it comes 42 years after the last U.S. cross-country skiing medal by any gender, a silver earned by Bill Koch in 1976.


Randall and Diggins won the race in heart-stopping fashion, securing the top spot by just 0.19 seconds.

"The goal was ski smart, stay out of trouble, and just stay strong at the end, and yeah, it really paid off," Randall said in an interview with NBC after her race.

This huge win is a longtime coming for Randall who started her Olympic career 16 years ago at the Salt Lake City Games.

In appearances across five Winter Games, Randall had 18 attempts in multiple events but had never finished higher than sixth place, including a heartbreaking defeat in Sochi in a quarterfinal round.

"That's the beauty of the Olympics and also the agony — it's one day. And if it doesn't quite go right, that's your chance," Randall said in an interview with NPR.

Kikkan Randall during the Sochi Winter Olympics. Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images.

After earning the trip to Pyeongchang for her fifth Olympics, Randall like many athletes, stared down the possibility of ending her impressive athletic career without making it to the podium.

But with perseverance, grit, and the support of amazing teammates, she pulled off what previously seemed impossible.  

Jessica Diggins  (L) and Kikkan Randall celebrate as they win gold during the Cross Country Ladies' Team Sprint Free Final. Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images.

Especially notable about her is that, in addition to her history-making gold-medal performance, of the 244 athletes on Team USA, Randall is the only mother.

There are 20 fathers on the team, but Randall is the only mom in the group. (Team USA doesn't disclose whether athletes chose adoption or had children pass away, so we recognize that this is a pretty limiting definition of parenthood.) While there's no official reason given for the mom disparity, it could have a lot to do with pregnancy and childbirth affecting a person's body and the fact many child-rearing duties are still relegated to women.

Balancing the physical, emotional, and mental demands of being a pro-athlete and primary caregiver is a challenge and commitment few among us could even fathom. But it's one Randall not only accepted — but surmounted.

While her toddler son, Breck, stayed with his grandparents in Canada instead of making the trip to South Korea, he was never far from Randall's mind.

"I won’t get to see him for a full month, which is going to be really hard because I’ve just gotten so adapted to life chasing around a toddler," Randall told The Huffington Post before the competition. "But he is doing great with his grandparents. ... I know he’s in a good place, so now I can focus on what I need to do."

And focus she did. All the way to Team USA's first gold medal in a sport she's devoted the last 20 years of her life to.

"Did we just win the Olympics?" Diggins asked.

"Yeah, we did!" Randall said.

Kikkan Randall  (red bib) and Jessica Diggins celebrate on the podium. Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images.

Health

Relationship expert shares her advice on how to 'stop an argument in its tracks'

She has the perfect question to ask once your partner gets defensive.

Therapist Lauren Consul has one trick to stop arguments before they begin.

Arguments start to take off when one partner begins to get defensive. So, therapist Lauren Consul shared her relationship-saving tip to "stop an argument in its tracks" when one partner goes into self-preservation mode.

Lauren Consul is a couples and sex therapist who’s developed a following of nearly 160,000 people on TikTok and has received over 5.4 million likes. She is an infidelity expert and hosts retreats to help people "survive and thrive" after one partner has strayed.

Keep ReadingShow less
@SopheAlice/TikTok

Best way to travel, really.

As they say, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”

This old adage was brought to life in a whole new way after two friends who thought they booked tickets to Budapest, Hungary, instead found themselves heading to Bucharest, Romania.

Just a minor 500-mile difference, but who’s counting?

TikToker @SophAlice posted a video of the pair realizing their mix-up, which went viral and set them off on an impromptu adventure based entirely on the comments they received.
Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Owner of plus-size dress shop gifts $700 prom dress to 'shy' teen after watching her light up

Creating moments like these is why she opened her store in the first place.

@juicybodygoddess/TikTok

Elyse Monroe found the perfect dress, then found out it costs nothing.

Adolescence is a harrowing time for body image and self-esteem all around, but few milestones are as universally daunting as finding a prom dress. Whether it’s due to budget constraints, not being able to find a dress that fits, or both, what should be a fun event is often viscerally dreaded.

This was certainly the case for Summer Lucille. Lucille told Today.com that growing up, “if you weren’t skinny, there weren’t many options, and it was devastating for me because I’ve always loved fashion.”

She recalled, “I went to my prom looking like a church lady in a suit dress with a jacket because it was the only thing that fit. It was a very sad period in my life.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Sorry, Labradors. After 31 years, America has a new favorite dog.

The American Kennel Club has crowned a new favorite.

via Pixabay

A sad-looking Labrador Retriever

The sweet-faced, loveable Labrador Retriever is no longer America’s favorite dog breed. The breed best known for having a heart of gold has been replaced by the smaller, more urban-friendly French Bulldog.

According to the American Kennel Club, for the past 31 years, the Labrador Retriever was America’s favorite dog, but it was eclipsed in 2022 by the Frenchie. The rankings are based on nearly 716,500 dogs newly registered in 2022, of which about 1 in 7 were Frenchies. Around 108,000 French Bulldogs were recorded in the U.S. in 2022, surpassing Labrador Retrievers by over 21,000.

Keep ReadingShow less

Babysitting grandpa has the internet in stitches.

Good grandparents really are an important asset to young families just starting out. They can show you the ropes of parenthood, help entertain their grandkids, and probably most importantly, they know when you need a break because you're their baby and they can always tell when something's up with their child.

But sometimes, grandparents can be a little...uh...needy, even when they're the best grandparents in every other aspect. Technology has changed so much over the decades since they were raising children, and sometimes they need a little extra help with things that might seem simple. Soon-to-be mom of two, Molly Madfis, took to TikTok to share what happened when her 75-year-old dad, John, was babysitting her 5-year-old, Arlo, for a few days while she was on a "babymoon" with her husband.

Keep ReadingShow less

Woman recreates "Inside Out" from a neurodivergent standpoint.

Remember the hit Pixar movie "Inside Out"? If not, it's a cartoon where emotions are personified so you can sort of see what each emotion is thinking. It's a really sweet, funny and surprisingly emotional movie. But a woman who goes by Georgia on YouTube took that concept and decided to recreate it using different types of neurodivergent diagnoses and features.

In the video, Georgia plays all of the characters who all interact with each other as they work on controlling what the human they're inside does. The characters are "General Thoughts," "Dyslexia," "ADHD," "Sensory Issues," "OCD" and "Anxiety."

Georgia is attempting to make dinner, but it's a pretty intense process with all of these characters getting in the way, and while General Thoughts attempts to keep everyone on track...eh...it doesn't work out so well.

Keep ReadingShow less