Miller, Leskinen advance in SuperStars

Both skiers involved in ABC’s Super Stars, Bode Miller and freeskiing star Kristi Leskinen, advanced through the second round in the June 30 show, and made some waves doing so.

Miller showed his speed, agility and strategizing talents during the program while Leskinen more than held her own leading her “team” (dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy is her teammate) to a victory in the night’s second competition, a long jump into water against a rising tide.Both skiers involved in ABC’s Super Stars, Bode Miller and freeskiing star Kristi Leskinen, advanced through the second round in the June 30 show, and made some waves doing so.

Miller showed his speed, agility and strategizing talents during the program while Leskinen more than held her own leading her “team” (dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy is her teammate) to a victory in the night’s second competition, a long jump into water against a rising tide.

Miller ably avoided elimination though his teammate Paige Hemmis is far from the top “celebrity” in the field. But he made it interesting.

The opening event, a 100 yard dash in the sand with a baton hand-off at the mid point, saw Miller pull out a couple of strategic moves. First he and Hemmis each committed a false start to begin each heat theorizing that since the second false start was grounds for elimination, the first merely leveled the playing field. He also chose to run barefoot, a tactic the fastest man in the competition, Terrell Owens, picked up on for the later heats.

Once Miller and Hemmis made it as far in the elimination format as third, they simply sat-down in the final match ups. “We decided to save some energy.”

Leskinen, though, got in the best quip of the event when in the final, matched head to head with Owens he asked her if she wanted a head start. She did not hesitate to answer: “No.”

The second event was called a “water Leap.” Basically a long jump off a pier clearing a bar into water. As the event wore on the tide came in, making distances reached in a practice jump more difficult to duplicate as rising water raised the bar. Many of the athletes, who jumped second, failed to make their mark, including Owens and Miller. Leskinen’s team got the win and combined with a solid placing in the sand run was safe from elimination.

Miller’s team was among the four that then faced off in the obstacle course.

Competing against baseball’s Jeff Kent, Miller built a sizable lead but got a foot caught in a cargo net near the end of the course. After a struggle, he kicked off his shoe to finish with just enough of a lead that Hemmis was able to squeak out a win.

Phase two is completed and both skiers remain solidly in the hunt. Miller won the event in 2002.