After two days of big mountain ski competition, POC Team athletes Mark Welgos of Aspen, Colo. and Arne Backstrom of Squaw Valley, Calif. took first and second place at the 4rd Annual Subaru Telluride Freeskiing Open this past weekend. Telluride marks the first of a five-stop Freeskiing World Tour that continues next weekend in Created Butte, Colo.

“I’m really excited with our Big Mountain Freeride team, we’ve got some supremely talented athletes,” states Erin Sullivan, Marketing & Promotions Director of POC USA. “Both Mark and Arne are off to a great start on the competition circuit and we expect to see more fantastic results from all of our team athletes as the season marches on.”

Welgos, a veteran to the freeskiing circuit comes off of an impressive 2008 season with a win at the Jackson Hole Freeskiing Open, a fifth in the Squaw Valley Freeskiing Open and third in the Colorado Freeride Championship in Snowmass, Colo. Welgos, who not only clinched his first victory of the 2009 season, received the coveted Sickbird award after dropping some of Palmyra’s notable cliffs.

“The high winds and poor visibility definitely made Telluride a challenging first comp, but I’m excited with how I’m skiing,” says Welgos. “This win is a great start to the season.”

Fellow POC teammate, Arne Backstrom, also made his presences be known on the tour with a commanding second place finish that solidified his spot for the rest of the 2009 Freeskiing World Tour. Backstrom is no stranger to the competition circuit dabbling last year in the 48Straight skier cross in Telluride and the Subaru Freeskiing World Championship in Alaska, but this second place finish marks a strong beginning for his 2009 season.

Other notable POC athlete finishes were in the women’s field with Karine Falck-Pedersen, fifth place and Robin McElroy, eight place.

POC is a Swedish company that develops and markets personal protective gear for gravity sports.