"Oh my gosh," Jessie Diggins said to her teammate, Kikkan Randall, "did we just win the Olympics?"
Yes, Jessie, you two did.
Diggins' question is the first thing Randall remembers about their post-finish line hug that followed the historic victory. Together, they delivered a moment that will be hard for fans of the Olympics to ever forget.
Here we want to share with you two videos that help capture the big moment.
First, in case you missed it, here's the big deal: Never before had American women won a medal in cross-country skiing. Never before had any American won a gold medal in the sport. Diggins and Randall combined to not only get that first medal but a golden one in the women's team sprint.
Our Rachel Blount reported from the scene: "Diggins, 26, and Randall, 35, toppled the mighty Norwegians and Swedes at Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre to end an American quest that had lasted nearly five decades. With Diggins skiing the anchor leg, they completed the six-lap race in 15 minutes, 56.47 seconds, 0.19 of a second ahead" of Norway's team.
What. A. Story.
The first video: the dramatic finish. "HERE COMES DIGGINS!" "HERE COMES DIGGINS!" It's a classic Olympics moment. Get those earbuds in. Or not -- your cubiclemates probably need a jolt anyway.
The second video is the post-race interview on NBC's "Today" show. It's touching, as Diggins describes how important it was for her to win a medal with a teammate and Randall talks about her motivation for coming back for another Olympics. Her quote about being a strong mom and being a role model for other strong moms is worthy a separate callout here:
"It was this race in particular that really motivated me to go for one more Olympics, and really pushed me through this comeback after having my son," Randall said. "It's been so fun. This family on this team has been helping me raise Breck. It's just so cool. I hope it gives a lot of inspiration to all the moms out there that you can come back to being active and physical and stronger than you've ever been."
The entire interview is worth a watch:
One more link to share: the photography from Associated Press photographers Matthias Schrader and Dmitri Lovetsky is outstanding. Check out our photo gallery here.
Watching and rewatching history is way more fun than working anyway. Enjoy.
