2009 World Championships

Back Row:  Ken Recker, Ben Paley, Shane Anderson, Drew Hauser, Jeffrey Gay, Peter McMahon
Front Row:  Lorin Paley, Kelsey Schmid-Sommer, Erika Walters

Two local Whitefish Telemark team members raced in the Telemark World Championships in Austria last week.  Kelsey Schmid-Sommer and Peter McMahon raced against 130 of the best telemark racers in the world.  There were three races.  The first race was the Giant Slalom on 1/21.  Kelsey had a 7th place finish out of 38 women, Peter was in 15th place out of 91 men, and then had a fall in the second run which took him out of placement.  The next day was the classic.  Kelsey had a 8th place finish, Peter had a 41st place.  They had a day off on the third day and skied the local ski hill named Kreischberg.  The fourth day was the sprint classic.  Kelsey had a 8th place finish, Peter had a 28th place finish.  All three races were televised in Austria.  There were 9 U.S. Telemark team members who attended the races.  The overall winners were Sigrid and Erik Rykhus, brother and sister, from Norway.
Peter is now in Spain for two more races before returning home, and Kelsey is skiing powder in Alta, Utah before heading home.  Peter’s best result so far this year was in Slovenia before the Austria races.  He had an 11th place finish out of 69 men in a sprint classic on 1/17.  The next set of races for the team is the U.S. Telemark Nationals in Steamboat, Colorado Feb. 26th through March 1st.  Kelsey will be trying for her 4th National title and Peter is going for the podium.

Back Row:  Tory Hauser, Ben Paley, Shane Anderson, Drew Hauser, Jeffrey Gay
Front Row:  Lorin Paley, Kelsey Schmid-Sommer, Ken Recker, Erika Walters, Peter McMahon