Kristi & Jen

Kristi Leskinen and Jennifer Robyn "Jen" Hudak are a team of Professional Skiers on The Amazing Race 30.

In a cast billed as the "most competitive ever", Kristi & Jen perhaps best embodied this trait as they regularly obsessed over their statistics and placements in the top three, despite acknowledging that only finishing first in the final leg mattered. Kristi & Jen finished in the top 3 in an every leg except one, which included two first place finishes. Their competitiveness and athletic background led to them bonding with Alex & Conor and Cody & Jessica, with the three teams regularly working together, allowing Kristi & Jen to make it to the final three. In the final leg, the professional skiers raced neck-and-neck with Cody & Jessica until they reached the final task. However, with the Finish Line in sight, Jen overthought the memory-based final task, resulting in both Cody & Jessica and Henry & Evan passing them, leaving Kristi & Jen to finish in 3rd place.

Profile[]

Retrieved from cbs.com^[1]

Kristi[]

Name: Kristi Leskinen
Age: 36
Instagram: @kristileskinen
Twitter: @kristileskinen
Hometown: Uniontown, Pennsylvania and Scottsdale, Arizona
Current occupation: Retired professional skier, athlete mentor, and entrepreneur.
Describe what you do: My family owns a resort hotel and a marina in Pennsylvania. I help there where I can. I also have investments in sports-related startups and have a love for mentoring young female athletes.
Three words to describe you: Adventurous, daring, and literal.
Favorite hobbies: Skiing, wakeboarding, biking, hiking, golfing, and painting.
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of? All my medals pale in comparison to the honor of helping to develop a brand new sport and watching it grow from one or two women competing all the way to the Olympics. I'm also very proud to have competed as a pro in multiple sports.
What scares you most about traveling? Food poisoning and mosquitos.
What excites you most about traveling? Experiencing new and different cultures and seeing all of the world's natural beauty.
What country and place would you most like to visit and why? I'd love to see the coasts of Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. As a skier, I traveled to cold destinations all over the world and I'd love to see the tropics.
What do you hope to accomplish by running the race (other than winning $1 million)? The experience of traveling to places I may never get the chance to see otherwise, meeting new friends, and sharing the adventure of a lifetime with them.

Jen[]

Name: Jen Hudak
Age: 30
Instagram: @jenhudak
Twitter: @jenhudak
Hometown: Park City, Utah
Current occupation: Professional skier, coach/mentor, and marketing manager
Describe what you do: As a professional skier I formerly competed intensely on the world stage in halfpipe skiing. I now create content (video, photo, and written word) to share the power that outdoor adventure can have in one's life. It's time spent outdoors, pursuing new challenges, that teaches me about this world and helps me be a better person. I also help various publishing entities make money through referral-based advertising (that's technically my day job now!).
Three words to describe you: Indomitable, intelligent, competitive, and empathetic.
Favorite hobbies: Skiing, writing, mountain biking, and coaching.
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of? I am most proud of my impenetrable mind. Coming back from numerous injuries to continue my pursuits in skiing, I was able to return strong and have big wins after some pretty major knee injuries.
What scares you most about traveling? Not being able to communicate effectively to get where we're trying to go. Also, potentially getting sick from food and/or water.
What excites you most about traveling? Seeing the different ways that people go about their daily lives, immersing myself in someone else's culture, realizing how BIG the world truly is, and experiencing new cuisine!
What country and place would you most like to visit and why? I would most like to visit Southeast Asia (Vietnam or Thailand)—it's an area of the world that I've never been able to visit. The mountains and hills look breathtaking and the architecture is majestic. Most of my travels have taken me to snow-capped mountains, so traveling to a warmer climate would be a nice change of pace!
What do you hope to accomplish by running the race (other than winning $1 million)? Besides winning, I hope to reignite my inner competitor, to fight hard for something again, and to work as a team toward a common goal! My competitive ski career ended short because of injury and I left some things on the table—I don't want to let that happen ever again!

The Amazing Race 30[]

Race History[]

Kristi & Jen's Race History
Episode	Leg	Destination(s)	Detour Choice (underlined)	Roadblock Performer	Placement	Notes
1	1	United States → Iceland	No Detour	Jen	1 of 11
2	2	Iceland → Netherlands → Belgium	Old Print / Diamond Glint	Kristi	3 of 10
3	3	Belgium → Morocco	Drop It Off / Shake It Off	Jen	3 of 9
4	4	Morocco → France	Bread / Tread	Kristi	3 of 9
4	5	France	Full of Bull / Colorful	Kristi	2 of 8
5	6	France → Czech Republic	This / That	Jen	1 of 7
6	7	Czech Republic → Zimbabwe	Rhino Track / Bush Whack	No Roadblock	5 of 6	^[1] ^[2]
	7	Czech Republic → Zimbabwe	Rhino Track / Bush Whack	No Roadblock	5 of 6	^[1] ^[2]
	8	Zimbabwe	Handle With Care / Just Get It There	No Roadblock	2 of 6
7	9	Zimbabwe → Bahrain	No Detour	No Roadblock	2 of 5
7	10	Bahrain → Thailand	Size It / Seize It	Jen	3 of 4
8	11	Thailand → Hong Kong	Hairy Crab / Grub Grab	Kristi	3 of 4
8	12	Hong Kong → United States	No Detour	Kristi	3 of 3
				Average	2.36
Legend: The team finished in first place The team finished in last place and was eliminated from the race The team finished in last place in a non-elimination leg or continue racing in a no-rest leg The team that won The Amazing Race The team that crossed the Finish Line second The team that crossed the Finish Line third ∇ The team that lost the Double Battle ⊂ The team used the U-Turn ⊃ Recipient of the U-Turn ⋐ The team that used the second slot of the "Double U-Turn" ⋑ Recipient of a second U-Turn due to the "Double U-Turn" twist
Notes: 1: On Leg 7, teams switched partners for part of the leg, with Kristi & Jen switching partners with Cody & Jessica. The rows on Leg 7 are in order of team name (i.e. Kristi is the first row, Jen is the second). The finishes on Leg 7 are not averaged in with the other legs teams raced due to the twist. Kristi raced with Jessica, while Jen raced with Cody. 2: Leg 7 had no mandatory rest period between legs, and all teams were ordered to continue racing. Neither Kristi & Jen or Cody & Jessica had to face a Speed Bump during Leg 8, despite coming in last during Leg 7.

Post-Race[]

On March 4, 2021, Jen gave birth to a son, Raymond Hudak, 15 days before her projected due date.^[2]

Trivia[]

Jen first applied for Survivor before being asked if she wanted to compete on The Amazing Race.^[3]
Kristi & Jen have the highest racing average out of every all-female team in the US version of The Amazing Race, with 2.36.
- They are the first and only all-female team in the US version to be the team with the best average placement in their season.

External links[]

Kristi's Wikipedia page: Kristi Leskinen

Jen's Wikipedia page: Jen Hudak

Interviews[]

Mike Bloom at Parade (2/23/2018): Kristi Leskinen and Jen Hudak on the Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski at RealityTVWorld (2/22/2018): Exclusive: Kristi Leskinen and Jen Hudak talk 'The Amazing Race'