Camplin, Grichin triumph in aerial competition at Tremblant

Camplin, Grichin triumph in aerial competition at Tremblant{mosimage}USSA — World champion Alisa Camplin of Australia got her second straight World Cup win Sunday and Alexei Grichin of Belarus won the men’s event at Tremblant in Quebec. Olympian Jeret Peterson, who had the highest scoring second jump in the men’s event, had the top U.S. result for the day, finishing fourth, less than a point from the podium.

Grichin, the 2003 world championships silver medalist, finished with 252.06 points to 242.47 for Canadian Warren Shouldice. Chinese aerialist Xiaotao Ou was third at 241.85 with Peterson fourth (241.18).

Olympic medalist Joe Pack, who has been fighting a back problem, competed in his first World Cup of the season and was ninth.

“My first jump wasn’t so good,” Peterson, nicknamed Speedy, said of his quad-twisting, triple flip, “but my second went really well.” The weathered moderated from the intense cold of early in the week, he said, but still was uncomfortable. “The weather’s been crazy — it was only minus 4 today but it was down around 30 below two days ago … just nuts, so we were having fun today.”

Camplin had an even bigger lead in the women’s event, scoring 201.46 with Nina Li of China second at 183.71. Kelly Hilliman had the best U.S. woman’s results, finishing eighth with 164.02 while Kate Reed was 10th (163.42).

“To have both girls in finals is good; that’s the goal because they’re working up their DD [degree of difficulty] and still have to get more,” said coach Matt Christensen. “But Speedy was absolutely amazing. That second jump was so good and it’s because he worked so hard on his technique all summer. He’s only done five or six, and to land that today was incredible.

“And this was a big breakthrough for Joe. He hasn’t had a lot of jumps since hurting his back, but this was jumping like we saw when he was fully healthy. He’s on the way back, big time.”

The World Cup’s next stop on its traditional January swing through North America will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Nature Valley Freestyle Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y., where there will be two aerials events sandwiching moguls on Saturday.

FREESTYLE WORLD CUP
Tremblant, Quebec
January 11, 2004
Aerials (12 make finals)
Men
1. Alexei Grichin, Belarus, 252.06 points
2. Warren Shouldice, Canada, 242.47
3. Xiaotao Ou, China, 241.85
4. Jeret Peterson, Boise, Idaho, 241.18
5. Ryan Blais, Canada, 239.12
Other Americans
9. Joe Pack, Park City, Utah, 226.72
16. Ryan St. Onge, Steamboat Springs, Colo.

Women
1. Alisa Camplin, Australia, 201.46
2. Nina Li, China, 183.71
3. Deidra Dionne, Canada, 179.09
4. Shuang Cheng, China, 171.43
5. Lydia Ierodiaconou, Australia, 168.08
Other Americans
8. Kelly Hilliman, Tonawanda, N.Y., 164.02
10. Kate Reed, Montrose, Colo., 163.42
22. Christina Craddock, West Newton, Mass.