Steamboat Springs hosts Telemark World Cup

tanner 2013 skate - webJanuary 31, 2014, Steamboat Springs, CO – The Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club and the US Telemark Ski Association will host the February Telemark World Cup races February 11-14. Eleven athletes from the US will compete in Steamboat along with the best Telemark racers in the world.

The US men will be led by Tanner Visnick, (17) of Steamboat Springs. Tanner’s commitment to training these past several years has put him in a position to have exceptional results on his home hill. Tanner is a veteran racer at the World Cup level the last two seasons. Devon Wright (21) of Campton, NH comes from an alpine race background but has fully committed to telemark skiing, from powder to backcountry to racing. His progress over the last two years has been notable and his results in his first World Cup event should be strong.

The US women will be led by veterans Madi McKinstry (19) of Steamboat Springs and Zoë Taylor (18) of Atlanta and Steamboat. McKinstry, a student at Montana State University, is the reigning US National Champion and finished the Junior World Championships last year with a Bronze medal in the Sprint Classic. McKinstry had two 3rd place finishes in the Classic when the World Cup was held at Steamboat two years ago and does well on her home mountain. Taylor,a student at Williams College, spent the last few winters living and training in Steamboat. With her college schedule, Taylor will only be able to compete in the first day of racing. Two years ago, Taylor won the World Cup Parallel Sprint event at Howelsen Hill. She was only the 2nd US women to ever finish in first place finish at a Telemark World Cup event.

Other US competitors include Sara Godek of Gilford, NH; Sarah Carley of Brentwood, NH; Birk Larsen of Salt Lake City; Chris Henery of McCall, ID; Jeffrey Gay and Jack Rosenthal of Steamboat Springs; and Larry Bosche of Berkeley, CA. Larsen and Henery are veterans of World Cup competition, while the other racers will be experiencing this level of competition for the first time.

The international field will include to top racers from Germany, France, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Canada, Slovenia, Great Britain, Austria and Italy. Current standings show last year’s World Champions, Amelie Remond of Switzerland and Tobias Mueller of Germany, as the overall leaders this year.  Both have held the World Champion title for several years. Other athletes that have been on the podium this year several times include Mathilde Ilebrekke of Norwary and Laura Grenier-Soliget of France for the women and Nicholas Michel of Switzerland and Phillip Lau of France for the men.

This event schedule includes:

February 8 -Team introductions and welcome at Howelsen Hill during the Winter Carnival Extravaganza
February 9 and 10 – Training
February 11 and 12 – Classic races on Vagabond Run, Mt Werner
February 13 – Sprint Classic at Howelsen Hill
February 14 – Parallel Sprint at Howelsen Hill

All of the Telemark events include Giant Slalom style gates, an Nordic style jump, a 360 degree banked turn and Nordic style skating. The Parallel Sprint has quite a bit more excitement because it is a head to head competition between two racers side by side down through the course.

The World Cup circuit has already seen competition in Austria, France, and Slovenia this season and will move on to Sweden and Norway to finish the season in March. Steamboat’s Tanner Visnick plans to compete in these races and Ken Gay of Steamboat will be the FIS Technical Director in Sweden and Norway.