Doherty nails Telemark jump to make Nationals podium

Local Telemark racer Maggie Doherty

built on her inaugural World Cup experience this winter by claiming

a third-place overall in the U.S. Telemark National Championships

at Steamboat Springs, Colo., last month. The podium-finish marked

on of her most impresive performances of the season.

Doherty is a first-year skier for the

U.S. Regional Team and competed in eight races on the World Cup

circuit in Europe before coming home to Whitefish this

February.

“Racing in the World Cup was an

incredible learning experience,” Doherty said. “I got my butt

handed to me over there.”

Yet, Doherty says she learned more in

those eight races than she ever imagined. After returning from

Europe, Doherty dislocated her shoulder and sat out the entire

month of February before entering in the U.S. National

Championships this month.

Going into the final day of racing at

Steamboat, Doherty was in a virtual tie for third place with three

other racers. To win, she had to nail the jump landing, something

she hasn’t done all season.

“I had to ski completely clean, and I

killed it,” Doherty said. “It was one of those perfect moments. I

launched off the jump and thought, ‘This is going to happen.’ It

was a profound moment, and to put it all together in last day of

the last race of year was pretty amazing.”

Doherty hopes to make the U.S. National

team next winter and again plans to compete in the World Cup.

Veteran national team member Peter

McMahon finished the season in ninth place overall. His best race

finish was a third place in the dual slalom “King of the Mountain”

single-elimination event. McMahon placed 10th in both the sprint

classic and the giant slalom events.

Cole Schneider, of Whitefish, in his

second year as a regional team member, skied to 13th place overall.

Schneider’s best events were the giant slalom and the classic

races, both with 10th-place finishes.

Both Schneider and Doherty train at

Whitefish Mountain Resort with five-time U.S. National Champion

Kelsey Schmid-Sommer.

David Hobbs, formerly of Whitefish,

finished in sixth place in the sprint classic before suffering a

concussion during a fall off the jump and withdrawing from

competition. Hobbs’ training was limited this winter because he’s

pursing a nursing degree at the University of Montana College of

Technology, in Missoula.

Whitefish local Joseph Fetherolf just

began Telemark racing this season at the Thursday night league

races at Whitefish Mountain Resort and decided to give nationals a

try. A former alpine racer, Fetherolf struggled to find the balance

between speed and maintaining the Telemark technique, and he took a

few falls which slowed him down.

The highlight of Fetherolf’s weekend

was during the dual slalom event when he was running even with one

of the top U.S. racers all the way to the last gate of the run.

“Joe is a racer to keep an eye on,”

said Linda Hobbs, of U.S. Telemark Association. “When he’s able to

put the speed and technique together, he’ll be in the thick of the

competition.”