Locals do well at World Cup telemark finals
By DAVID ERICKSON / Whitefish Pilot
Whitefish telemark racer Kelsey Schmid-Sommer placed fourth in all of her races at the World Cup finals in Sugarbush, Vt., over the weekend. Her male teammates also made great improvements in their events.
America's top finisher, Schmid-Sommer raced in four major events — classic, sprint, slalom and giant slalom. Both slalom races had a vertical drop of 354 feet, with 37 and 44 gates, respectively. The sprint classic had a vertical drop of 223 feet.
Schmid-Sommer finished the year as the fifth-place female telemark skier in the world.
She might have finished in fourth place, but she missed several races in Europe. Three Norwegians and one Swiss woman finished ahead of her.
Her total time of 2:28:68 in the giant slalom was 11.52 seconds behind first-place Katinka Knudsen of Norway. She beat fifth-place finisher Julie Duedahl of Denmark by 1.02 seconds.
"It was kind of tough to keep placing fourth in every event, because only the top three get to podium," Schmid-Sommer said. "But at the same time, I'm glad to give these girls some competition, and I earned their respect. It's good to be that person, an American really competing with them. I closed the gap this year, and I'm really pleased."
Schmid-Sommer was the lone American in the top-tier for every event, a glimmer of North American talent in a sport long dominated by Europeans.
For the men, Whitefish racers Shane Anderson and Eric Lamb placed 15th and 18th overall, respectively, with teammate Drew Hauser at 16th.
Anderson was the top American finisher for the men. Lamb finished nine places higher than last year, when he placed 27th.
Whitefish racer Peter McMahon finished 34th overall in the classic and 39th in the giant slalom.
"I was pleased with how I skied," Lamb said. "It was a successful trip, and the U.S. team did very well."
Lamb placed 15th overall in both the giant slalom and the classic races and 19th overall in the sprint. He said the weather in Sugarbush went from good to bad throughout the week.
"It went from super nice on Tuesday to kind of cloudy on Wednesday to freezing rain on Thursday," he said.
On Thursday, an ice storm and high winds closed the resort's chairlifts. Racers and judges had to be ferried up the mountain on a sled behind a snowcat, according to race organizer Linda Hobbs, of Whitefish.
Telemark ski racing differs from alpine racing in that each racer is judged on their form and technique around each gate.
"They have to complete a full telemark turn, with one boot space between each foot," Hobbs said. "They lose a second off their time for each penalty, and there is a judge at each gate."
Lamb said he's excited for the future of U.S. telemark racing because a number of younger skiers competed well at this year's finals and in other races throughout the season. Brett Stein, a Colorado-based racer, finished 14th overall in the giant slalom.
For more information and complete results, visit www.telemarkski.org.