Eight cross-country skiers with Alaska ties were selected this week to represent Team USA at the Winter Olympics next month in Italy.

With such strong representation from the 49th state, a line can be drawn connecting the current crop of Alaska’s best to those who came before and helped inspire the latest generation of Alaska’s winter stars.

With the Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo games starting up on Feb. 6, Kikkan Randall took a moment with Alaska’s News Source to lay out her expectations on the Alaskans representing Team USA.