Steamboat Tele Racer Brings US Women To The Forefront Of International Competition

When Lorin Paley showed up for her practice runs, at Gran Pallars Espot, it didn’t appear that luck was on her side. “Jet lag caught up to me and I felt like I was still waking up during jump practice. On top of that, my new training skis were tuned different than my old ones… so when i went to warm up I crashed a couple times,” she told us while drinking a latte at a local café on her day off.

Paley has taken women’s telemark racing to a new level in the US this year by dominating contest after contest, both at home and abroad. In February she finished in second position in the Sprint Classic on the first day of World Cup racing in her home town of Steamboat Springs, CO, a mecca of telemark skiing. This was a follow up podium finish to her third place finish in the Classic Race in Bjorli, Norway just one month before, solidifying that she really is one of the best in the world of drop-knee racing.

At Gran Pallars Espot Lorin found herself going head-to-head with some of the best in the classic style race, like Amelie Reymond of Switzerland. The Classic Race can range from three to six minutes in length, and incorporates a nordic-style skating section, distance jump, and a reipelykkje, a 360 degree turn placed in the middle of the GS format of gates. Paley exceeded expectations and through sheer determination was able to clock in the fastest skate-split by over one second putting her in the second place position overall.

Reflecting on her earlier runs, Paley said, “So as the saying goes, it doesn't matter if you crash in practice or yawn in the start, the race doesn't start until you hear GO,”