NEWS FEATURE Diggins leads charge as US woman aim to emulate Koch at Olympics By John Bagratuni, dpa

Bill Koch won the United States‘ only Olympic medal in cross-country skiing, a silver, 42 years ago. Now a strong women‘s team spearheaded by Jessica Diggins and also still featuring veteran Kikkan Randall aims to emulate this in Pyeongchang.Pyeongchang, South Korea (dpa) - Jessica Diggins revealed Wednesday she still has a poster of Bill Koch in her room as she aims to emulate the pioneer from 42 years ago on the women‘s side of American Olympic cross-country skiing.The US may be the second-best nation overall at the Winter Games but Koch‘s 30-kilometres silver from 1976 is the only medal the nation has ever picked up in the sport.Now the women‘s team spearheaded by Diggins and featuring 35-year-old Kikkan Randall wants to climb the podium as well on the women‘s side - five years after the two joined forces to win a first-ever US gold at the worlds in the team sprint in 2013.Diggins, 26, comes to Pyeongchang with her fourth World Cup victory in the last pre-Olympic race on January 28 in Seefeld, Austria, and is ready for more success in South Korea."Every little kid imagines what it‘s like to win an Olympic medal. You wouldn‘t be here if you didn‘t," Diggins told reporters."I used to have no problems having confidence on relay days and would have trouble having confidence on my own days. It was funny, on relay days I had this Super Woman alter ego. I had to transfer that to my individual races and learn that it is OK to care about my own results," she said.Diggins is the bubbly part in a tightly-knitted American team which is on the road for four months during the season "We work to lift each other up. Everyone has a different role. I am the team cheerleader. I am very sparkly and full of energy," she said. "When we have fun we are dangerous on the courses."Better funding and a new wax truck have helped the US become a real threat to the established powers such as Norway, and the 13-time World Cup winner Randall readily admits they have come a long way since her Olympic debut 2002 in Salt Lake City. "It has been an incredible transformation," Randall said. "It shows the power of belief. Once we achieved the breakthrough and got those podiums everybody thought it was possible. That upped the inspiration and motivation."A mother of an almost two-year-old son and competing in the dusk of her career, Randall can be proud that her initial success helped the new generation enjoy cross-country skiing in a truly professional way."Because these guys are having a chance to make it a lifestyle at a younger age we are seeing better results," she said.Randall added she would have no problem if Diggins or someone else gets the first Games women‘s medal which was in the past expected from her."Of course I wanted the first Olympic medal but most importantly I wanted to show that it was possible," Randall said."We have all seen the power that Bill Koch‘s silver medal had from 1976 and if we could do the same on the women‘s side it could do incredible things for cross-country skiing in the US."