{"id":45599,"date":"2019-03-29T12:20:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T20:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/olympian-kikkan-randall-to-give-inspirational-speech-in-juneau\/"},"modified":"2019-03-29T15:21:07","modified_gmt":"2019-03-29T23:21:07","slug":"olympian-kikkan-randall-to-give-inspirational-speech-in-juneau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/olympian-kikkan-randall-to-give-inspirational-speech-in-juneau\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympian Kikkan Randall to give inspirational speech in Juneau"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of Alaska&rsquo;s most compelling athletes will be speaking in Juneau this spring.<\/p>\n<p>Kikkan Randall, an Olympic champion cross-country skier who was recently diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer, will speak May 1 at Centennial Hall as part of the annual Pillars of America Speakers Series.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/H1ksZmGaRVA\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The series, which kicks off April 17, is hosted by the Juneau Glacier Valley Rotary Club to spotlight &ldquo;distinguished American citizens who share relevant personal experiences shaped by the freedoms offered in our country, or as a result of their endurance through difficult circumstances.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/02\/20\/sports\/kikkan-randall-breast-cancer.html\" target=\"_blank\">Randall&rsquo;s story<\/a> is undoubtedly well-known to most Alaskans. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, Randall and teammate Jessie Diggins became the first Americans to win a gold medal in cross-country skiing.<\/p>\n<p>But Randall was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer just three months after her crowning acheivement, and has since undergone chemotherapy while continuing to lead a healthy life. Prior to her Olympic glory, Randall won 10 track and cross-country state titles at East Anchorage High School and 17 U.S. Championships in cross-country skiing.<\/p>\n<p>Other Pillar speakers coming to Juneau includes Jesse LeBeau, an undersized basketball talent from Ketchikan who made a name for himself as a streetballer, actor and entertainer. He&rsquo;s slated to speak April 17. Tony Hoffman, a professional freestyle biker who overcame drug addictions, will speak April 24.<\/p>\n<p>Tickets cost $35, and tickets for all three talks are available at both Hearthside Book locations.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><b>\u2022 Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.<\/b><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A golden opportunity. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":425,"featured_media":45600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":9,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,6],"tags":[604],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-45599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-sports","tag-2018-winter-olympics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45599"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=45599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}