Skiers Bode Miller, Kristi Leskinen go head-to-head in 'The Superstars' basketball event

July 7, 9:41 PMSkiing ExaminerEric Wagnon

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Dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy and skier Kristi Leskinen (left) beat
Olympic skier Bode Miller and television personality Paige Hemmis
in a basketball shooting competition in "The Superstars."
  Photo:Adam Larkey/American Broadcasting Companies (ABC)

Alpine ski racer Bode Miller and freestyle skier Kristi Leskinen, the two skiers in the ABC primetime series, "The Superstars," ended up competing against each other to avoid the elimination obstacle course in the July 7 episode. Leskinen and her partner, professional dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy, beat Miller and his partner, Paige Hemmis of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" in the basketball shooting competition.

Leskinen, Miller advance

With the head-to-head win, Leskinen and Chmerkovskiy advanced to the next week. For the second straight week, Miller and Hemmis needed to survive the obstacle course to advance. Miller and Hemmis beat basketball player Lisa Leslie and actor David Charvet in the obstacle course relay to move on to the fourth week of the show.

Click here for Kristi Leskinen slideshow

Taped at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, the six-show series airs on Tuesday evenings. Starting with eight two-person teams, the program pairs an athlete with a celebrity for various physical challenges such as swimming, biking, running and kayaking. Each week, one athlete-celebrity team is eliminated from the overall competition. Former baseball player Jeff Kent and model Ali Landry were knocked out in the July 7 show.

Kristi Leskinen won the Lagoon Swim event in "The Superstars."
   Photo:Adam Larkey/American Broadcasting Companies (ABC)

Leskinen, Chmerkovskiy swim to win

After excellent performances in the first two shows, Leskinen and Chmerkovskiy continued to look strong during the first event of the third show, the Lagoon Swim. Leskinen, a competitive swimmer as a youth, and Chmerkovkiy each dominated in the relay swim to take first place. Miller and Hemmis finished fourth in the swimming event.

Leskinen struggles on basketball court

Leskinen and Chmerkovskiy finally faltered in the basketball shooting competition. The pair finished dead last of the six remaining teams and slipped to third overall for the week's standings.

Miller and Hemmis took second in the basketball event to move up from fourth to second overall and set up a face-off between the two teams with skiing connections.

Leskinen and Chmerkovskiy recovered to defeat Miller and Hemmis, 25-16, in a head-to-head basketball jump-shot match. Through three weeks, Leskinen and Chmerkovskiy have yet to face the elimination round on the obstacle course.

Five teams remain

Soccer player Brandi Chastain and singer Julio Iglesias Jr. finished first in the overall standings for the third show. In the fourth show of the series, airing on ABC, July 14 at 8 p.m. EDT, five teams remain to compete: Chastain and Iglesias, Leskinen and Chmerkovskiy, Miller and Hemmis, Leslie and Charvet, and football player Terrell Owens and model Joanna Krupa.

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