It was a polarized premiere for the two Pittsburgh-area women competing on the 30th season of the CBS reality show “The Amazing Race,” with one landing at the top and the other at the bottom. One woman – Kristi Leskinen, a native of Hopwood, Fayette County – came in first at the end of Wednesday night’s episode with her partner, Jen Hudak of Park City, Utah. Dessie Mitcheson, an Apollo native, came in last – but only by a few feet behind the second-to-last team – with her partner, Kayla Fitzgerald of Florida. The episode started in New York City’s Washington Square Park with the season’s 11 racing pairs, who all are champions of competitive professions and include NBA all-stars and racecar drivers. The racers ran under the park’s arch past a crowd of cheering onlookers, then hopped into the fountain to get their first racing clue in the water. There, the contestants discovered they were heading to Reykjavik, Iceland, and they went to JFK International Airport to catch a flight. Once they arrived in Iceland, the contestants had the treacherous task of ziplining over a steep canyon and rushing water to grab the Iceland flag. Then, they rode buggies over a riverbed and searched for their next clues in ice blocks. When they reached Reykjavik, each contestant drank a glass of cod liver oil, then met with show host Phil Keoghan at a designated spot in town to learn their placement in the race. Leskinen and Hudak, pro skiers who used to compete against each other, dominated from the beginning of the episode; they were in third place, then second and third. The pair talked about how they were the original pioneers of women’s skiing. “I didn’t accept that girls didn’t do it,” Leskinen said in her interview, which aired earlier in the episode. “I was all about proving that wrong.” After learning they came in first place, Leskinen and Hudak – called #teamextreme – jumped, screamed and hugged. Leskinen said that this first stretch was, indeed, the first leg in an amazing race. Mitcheson and Fitzgerald, both models who call themselves “Mitchfitz,” started with boxer gloves, saying they were going to knock out the competition. Footage showed the team, called #theringgirls, driving around Iceland in their car, checking out a road map as they tried to navigate their way. When they approached the finish point, the young women ran neck-to-neck with the other remaining team. It came down to just a split second, Keoghan said, and only a few feet separated the last two teams. Fitzgerald and Mitcheson took their loss in stride, embraced, and said that “The Amazing Race” was an amazing experience. The show continues at 8 p.m. Jan. 10 on CBS. Kellie B. Gormly is a Tribune-Review contributing writer. Related Content ‘Amazing Race’ French-fry challenge no problem for skiers Kristi Leskinen and Jen Hudak Western Pennsylvanian Kristi Leskinen — a retired pro skier from Hopwood, Fayette County — has survived another round of challenges in “The Amazing Raceâ€? after... Watch out for these 2 Western Pennsylvania women on the next ‘Amazing Race’ Slow start barely hampers Kristi Leskinen and Jen Hudak on ‘Amazing Race’ Email Newsletters TribLIVE's Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox.