7 Springs Skier On ABC's 'Superstars' Credits Her Local RootsX Games Medalist Kristi Leskinen Teams With Maksim From "Dancing"UPDATED: 11:41 am EDT August 4, 2009 FARMINGTON, Pa. -- A Fayette County native who won a bronze medal in the Winter X Games is one of the contestants on ABC's new show, "The Superstars."Professional skier Kristi Leskinen -- a 1999 Laurel Highlands High School graduate -- is teaming with ballroom dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy from "Dancing With The Stars.""I have grown up swimming and biking and all those different kinds of sports," Leskinen told WTAE Channel 4 Action News.Together, they're competing in various sporting events and head-to-head challenges against teams that include Buffalo Bills wide receiver Terrell Owens, former French Open tennis champion Jennifer Capriati, former World Cup soccer champion Brandi Chastain, actress Ali Landry and models Julio Iglesias Jr. and Joanna Krupa."T.O. has this reputation of being a troublemaker, but in the show, it's clearly Joanna that is the troublemaker, and T.O. handled it really well," Leskinen said. "You have to pat him on the back, because I don't know if I could have."The six-episode series airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on WTAE Channel 4. One team will be eliminated each week until the champions are crowned.Leskinen medaled in the women's superpipe event in the 2005 Winter X Games. Her home course is Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Champion, Somerset County.The world-class action sports athlete said her Farmington roots helped her to get where she is."My parents ran the Summit (Inn) and it's only open in summer, so we had winters off, so my mom always took me to Seven Springs, and after that, I went away to ski academies," Leskinen said.
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