Feb. 22 (UPI) — NBC analyst Chad Salmela couldn’t hide his emotions when he watched Team USA win a gold medal in the women’s team sprint freestyle cross-country ski race.
Salmela was just as excited as Team USA fans watching Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins earn America’s first gold medal in the history of the event.
The U.S. was in second place when Salmela really used all of his vocal power to wrap up the race Wednesday at the cross-country stadium in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
But Salmela’s call didn’t come from Asia. It came from NBC’s International Broadcast Center in Stamford, Conn., according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
“They’re all completely gassed! They’re giving it everything on the klaebo bakken. Stina Nilsson leading Jessie Diggins into the final turn, can Diggins answer?”
Sweden, the U.S. and Norway battled it out for the top prize down the stretch.
“Here comes Diggins! Here comes Diggins!” Salmela shouted over fellow announcer Steve Schlanger’s commentary.
Diggins came around the outside of Sweden on the backstretch, beating her opponents to the line by less than a ski length.
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Salmela shouted. “Gold!”
Diggins collapsed in excitement and exhaustion after crossing the finish line, while Salmela probably needed a gallon of water and some ibuprofen as well.
Nilsson and Charlotte Kalla took the silver medal at the event, while Norway’s Marit Bjorgen and Maiken Caspersen Falla won the silver medal.
“To have it happen in a team event means so much more to me than any individual medal ever would,” Diggins told NBC after the win.
“In the final stretch, I was just thinking go go go,” Diggins added. “I was giving it everything I had. Ive got someone I really love and care about at the finish line and I just want to make her proud and it was just believing that we had what I took the whole entire day. Our whole team had that belief and everybody had that belief. I think we had a lot of support behind us.”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.