Telemarkers compete at World Cup races in France

By DAVID ERICKSON

Whitefish Pilot

The U.S. Telemark Ski team recently returned from a series of World Cup races in Europe.

The races were held in Les Houches, France, on Dec. 13-14. Racers from all over the world compete in a series of races, culminating in the World Cup finals in Norway this March.

In the Ladies Classic race, Whitefish’s Kelsey Schmid-Sommer placed eighth overall with a time of 4:03.46. Suzanne Pattinson finished 13th with a time of 4:17.95.

In the Mens Classic race, Peter McMahan finished 16th overall with a time of 3:39.52.

In the Giant Slalom, Schmid-Sommer finished eighth with a 1:19:67. Pattinson finished 14th with a time of 1:26:18. The winning time, by Reymond Amelie of Switzerland, was 1:10:59.

Schmid-Sommer is the 2006, 2007 and 2008 U.S. National Telemark Champion and was ranked fifth overall in the world for the 2008 World Cup Telemark season.

The U.S. team has had a rough start to their season because a lack of snow forced them to start training late in the year in Canada.