Minneapolis-Rooted Team Birkie Names A Minnesota Nordic Legend, RandyGibbs, as High-Performance Coach and Race Service Director
Randy Gibbs. Photo: Amber Foster / stylemg.com
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Team Birkie has named Randy Gibbs as High Performance Coach and Race Service Director. Gibbs brings deep Minnesota Nordic roots and one of the most accomplished ski service and coaching resumes in American Nordic skiing history to a program that has rapidly grown into one of the most competitive professional Nordic ski teams in North America.
Randy Gibbs is no stranger to Minnesota Nordic skiing. A product of Wayzata High School and a longtime fixture in the Minnesota Nordic ski community, Gibbs joins Team Birkie carrying one of the most accomplished ski service and high-performance resumes in American Nordic skiing history.
Gibbs served as Head of Glide for the U.S. Ski Team at the Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014 Olympics, and led ski service for Ski and Snowboard Australia at the 2018 PyeongChang Games. His experience also includes six FIS Nordic World Championships, six Junior and U23 World Championships, and hundreds of World Cup races across two national programs. In 2017, he was named International Coach of the Year by Ski & Snowboard Australia (now Snow Australia), recognizing his leadership of the Australian Nordic program at the World Cup and Olympic level.
But before any of that, Gibbs was coaching in Minnesota. He spent years at Hopkins High School, where his teams won three consecutive Minnesota Girls State Nordic Championships from 2002 to 2004. He also coached at Wayzata High School, and worked with White Noise Nordic, Minnesota Valley, and Loppet Nordic Racing, programs that form the backbone of the Midwest development pipeline.
Among the athletes Gibbs developed during his years coaching in Minnesota was Courtney Dauwalter, who went on to become one of the greatest ultrarunners in history. In the documentary The Source, Dauwalter reflects on Gibbs’ lasting influence: “He taught me everything I know about basically going into the pain cave — that place where it really hurts. He was the one who taught us how to go in there and be okay with it.”
Gibbs also introduced his sister, professional triathlete Becky Lavelle (née Gibbs), to the sport of triathlon and coached her for approximately 15 years. A ten-time NCAA All-American swimmer at LSU, Lavelle became one of the most decorated American triathletes of her generation — earning over 50 career wins, a 2003 Pan Am Games bronze medal, the 2005 USA Triathlon National Championship, back-to-back USA Triathlon Multi-sport Athlete of the Year awards in 2006 and 2008, and a spot on the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team for the Beijing Games. Gibbs’ impact on the Team Birkie program was already felt before his official start date.
At the 2026 Craftsbury SuperTour Finals, he provided ski service for Team Birkie’s historic club relay win, one of the most significant results in the program’s history. “Team Birkie is building something rare in American Nordic skiing: a program with genuine international standards, a deep community foundation, and real ambition to develop athletes from anywhere who want to compete at the highest level. My goal is to help build the systems that make that sustainable.” — Randy Gibbs
Team Birkie is a Minneapolis-based professional cross-country ski team formed through collaboration between the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation, the Loppet
Foundation, and Central Cross Country Skiing. The team supports athletes competing at the FIS World Cup, U.S. SuperTour, and regional marathon levels, and is dedicated to building the next generation of Midwest Nordic talent.
Randy waxing in PyeongChang. Photo by: Paul Moore
