| LA PARVA, Chile (Sept. 19) - Four-event skier Keely Kelleher (Big Sky, MT) turned a Chilean training trip into a podium double Tuesday as the women's U.S. Alpine speedster finished first and third in a pair of South America Cup super G's. Both races, held in the same day, where make-ups from a series scheduled for Sept. 1 and 2. Kelleher's time of 1:15.82 in the first race lead an American sweep, finishing 1.2 seconds in front of Ski and Snowboard Club Vail athlete Erika Ghent (Edwards, CO), while U.S. Development Team racer Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, CO) nabbed third. All three racers also worked with the U.S. Ski Team as juniors through the National Development System over the years. "Keels ripped one the first race, put herself into a scoring position and gained 12.18 FIS points - it was awesome," said Europa Cup Head Coach Kraig Sourbeer. "Then we decided to make it a training day for super combined, so after the first race we went and managed three runs of slalom, changed back over to our SG gear and hammered out the second race. It was an action packed day!" The podium shuffled in the second race with McKennis, also a Rowmark Ski Academy athlete, tying British World Cup skier Chemmy Alcott for the win in 1:17.84, followed by Kelleher in third. Slovenians Andrej Jerman and Alek Glebov won the first and second races respectively for the men. A super combined scheduled for Thursday was cancelled. Kelleher and fellow Europa Cup athletes wrap up a three-week training camp in La Parva later this week. For complete results: http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/fiscalendarresults/results.html |
