Kelsey Schmid-Sommer earns third national championship

Whitefish telemark skier Kelsey Schmid-Sommer was named the national women's champion for an unprecedented third time after winning three of four race events at the U.S. Telemark National Championships in Idaho this past weekend.

Schmid-Sommer took first place among the five racers in the women's elite in the sprint classic, telemark giant slalom, and classic races.

"I was very excited, it was a close competition this year," she said. "I wasn't really expecting anything, but I knew if I could ski clean and make my jumps, I would do well. I won my first three races, so I knew I sealed the deal. I was able to relax for the fourth race."

She also raced in two pro-style slalom events on Sunday, featuring head-to-head elimination-style competition. Schmid-Sommer won one race, and Loren Paley, of Steamboat Springs, Colo., won the other.

Jeannine Poucel, who lives in Whitefish during the winter, took fifth place overall for the women's elite. Whitefish is home base for the U.S. Telemark Team.

Three Whitefish racers competed in the men's elite. Eric Lamb came in third overall among the 13 competitors, Peter McMahon took fourth, and David Hobbs took seventh.

Hobbs suffered a serious back injury last winter while competing in the world cup in Europe. His brother Willie, a sophomore at Whitefish High School, competed in the men's J-1 category.

The telemark race course at Tamarack Resort in Idaho drops about 300 meters. Two skiers raced at a time on parallel courses in the slalom race.

"The race events department did a great job of pulling off this race," Schmid-Sommer said.

The sprint classic is a shortened version of the classic, with 29 gates rather than 38. Both races have a meter-high jump where skiers must clear a specific distance to avoid a penalty.

Both races also feature "the rap" — a 360-degree turn with an uphill sprint. The nickname comes from the Norwegian name reipelykkje (rap-uh-loosh-uh).

The U.S. team will head to Sugarbush, VT for the Telemark World Cup Finals on March. 17-22.

"We expect to have a strong U.S. team there," Schmid-Sommer said. "We will be training here in Whitefish until then."

Schmid-Sommer said that either the U.S. Nationals or the World Cup races will be held at Whitefish Mountain Resort next year.