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• Wednesday, Aug 05, 2009 @ 07:18:46 AM
• Written by Paul Aro
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• Comments(1)

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As predicted on The Ski Channel all along, extreme skier Kristi Leskinen and dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy of ABC's Dancing with the Stars took the Superstars championship, in a field that included Terrell Owens, Lisa Leslie, Robert Horry, over World Cup alpine skier Bode Miller and Paige Hemmis of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Will there be an encore between Kristi & Maks on DWTS?

First, here's how the finals shaped up.

The Kayak Pursuit was won by Kristi & Maks somewhat as a gimme from Bode & Paige as Bode's strategy was to take second place and save themselves for the next event. Since Bode & Paige overtook Lisa Leslie & David Charvet they were guaranteed at least the second place spot.

This strategy worked as Bode & Paige won the next event with the Strength Pull thus advancing them to the finals. Bode Miller showed amazing power and good strategy once again as he pulled 2 of the 3 buoys simultaneously at 450 lbs while Paige pulled one buoy. The object of the game was to pull in three different weighted buoys from the water first.

In the Arch to Triumph Triathlon rubber match to determine the other team finalist, Kristi & Maks beat out Lisa & David on the run, swim, and surfboard paddle events.

The finals were now set for the obstacle course where Bode & Paige have been there a couple of times before. Kristi & Maks have never seen the course since they have dominated most of the previous events and have received byes. Obstacle course was an elimination event in the past for the lowest seed teams. However, keeping with the Superstars tradition, in the finals the champions had to win the obstacle course. Advantage Bode & Paige? Not so as Kristi & Maks showed both of their excellent athleticism and swept their opponents in the first two heats in the best of three format. Bode demonstrated great prowess in the obstacle course but just couldn't gain a big enough lead for Paige. Kristi & Maks were crowned Superstars Champions.

Kristi Leskinen & Maksim Chmerkovskiy had great team chemistry on the Superstars winning 8 of the 14 events. They would make a great dance team on Dancing With The Stars. At the end of the show, Maks & Kristi were shown dancing atop the obstacle course ramp. Was that a preview of things to come? Let's hope so and get these skiers from extreme to mainstream.

Photos courtesy of ABC

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