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.”