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Motherhood focuses cross-country gold medalist Kikkan Randall

Anchorage's Kikkan Randall is no stranger to the Olympic Games, but this is her first as a mother.
Credit: Lars Baron
PYEONGCHANG-GUN, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 21: Kikkan Randall of the United States celebrate on the podium during the victory ceremony for the Cross Country Ladies' Team Sprint Free on day 12 of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

Kikkan Randall of Anchorage is the most decorated cross-country skier in U.S. history -- a 17-time U.S. champ and three-time World Cup Champion.

"Everything has come together now. It's really just that Olympic medal that just sitting out there, the one thing that I'd really like to get before I'm done," said Randall.

WATCH: Kikkan Randall on motherhood and skiing

Kikkan will be competing in her fifth Olympic Games but this will be the first time she'll be doing it as a mom. She's the only mom on the cross-country team.

"I knew I wanted to keep ski racing and support the team but I also knew I wanted to start a family."

On August 4, 2016, Breck Stewart Randall Ellis was born.

"We were so lucky. Breck has been an awesome kid. We call him a very soluble kid. He's generally been very happy all the time and when he's upset he's usually hungry or he wants to be moving or, we can figure it out. So he's been a trooper traveling the world with us."

Kikkan's priorities have changed since Breck has been born. But her love for skiing has not faded and neither has her talent. Kikkan thinks that being a mom has actually helped her become a better athlete.

"To be an athlete who is in a place to go very far in their career they have to have their life in balance and you can see that in Kikkan. You could see that with Kikkan. She skied very well before having a family and she's having a family and even stronger," said Kikkan's husband Jeff Ellis, a former Canadian ski racer.

Training year round and competing on the world stage can be tough but little Breck has actually made life as an athlete easier.

"It's really fun to be able to blend motherhood with skiing which has been my whole life and to bring my son with me and to see new places. The best part about it is no matter how the workout or race goes, when I get to come home and see that smiling little face it puts things in perspective and makes me appreciate what I get to do," said Kikkan.

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