Finn, American Win in Whistler
February 1, 1999 - 0:0
WHISTLER, British Columbia Finland's Janne Lahtela edged Canadian Jean-Luc Brassard to win the Moguls event at the fourth stop on the Freestyle Skiing World Cup circuit on Saturday. Lahtela, Moguls silver medalist at the 1998 Olympics, had 27.24 points. Brassard, the 1994 gold medalist who finished fourth at Nagano, had 26.17 points. The tough course at Blackcomb Mountain was made even more difficult by more than one meter of fresh snowfall overnight which forced the competition into the later afternoon, when the light became much flatter.
Finland's Minna Karhu a two-time winner already this season and American Shelly Robertson, were taken from the course on stretchers after crashing on the bottom section of the run during the women's finals. The light was so bad that we couldn't see much, said Lahtela. And the loose snow for the girls was really bad. Even though I'm really happy that I won today, my teammate got hurt, so that's really bad.
Thony Hemery of France took the men's bronze with 25.91 points. Among the women, American Michelle Roark was a first-time winner with a run that included a big spread off the top jump on the course, and a twister spread on the bottom jump. I just tried to play it safe so I could get good strong landings and ski out of them fast, the 25-year-old Chemical engineering student said.
Her previous best result was a fifth in Heavenly, California. Before that I had nothing. I wasn't even going to Ski World Cup this year. I was sleeping in a tent, trying to scrape to afford it, and now here I am. She also said conditions were very tough. I really hate it when it's powder courses. I want some bumps, Roark said.
It was the toughest I've seen for sure. It's hard when it's so soft because it constantly changes throughout the day and you can't just get one line dialed in you have to be very flexible. Swedish veteran Marja Elfman was second and Norwegian Kari Traa third among the women. While the men's competition did not include reigning World Cup and Olympic champion Jonny Moseley, who is currently recovering from a back injury suffered during the 1999 Winter X-Games earlier this month, Lahtela could still celebrate his best World Cup result to date.
His final run included a double-twister-spread and a quadruple, featuring four consecutive twisters. The second one I tried once during training and it went really well. But it's always a different thing in the finals, he said. I've been holding back too much this season. I haven't tried enough. So here I wanted to really go for it and try for the win, and it really paid off.
(Reuter)
Finland's Minna Karhu a two-time winner already this season and American Shelly Robertson, were taken from the course on stretchers after crashing on the bottom section of the run during the women's finals. The light was so bad that we couldn't see much, said Lahtela. And the loose snow for the girls was really bad. Even though I'm really happy that I won today, my teammate got hurt, so that's really bad.
Thony Hemery of France took the men's bronze with 25.91 points. Among the women, American Michelle Roark was a first-time winner with a run that included a big spread off the top jump on the course, and a twister spread on the bottom jump. I just tried to play it safe so I could get good strong landings and ski out of them fast, the 25-year-old Chemical engineering student said.
Her previous best result was a fifth in Heavenly, California. Before that I had nothing. I wasn't even going to Ski World Cup this year. I was sleeping in a tent, trying to scrape to afford it, and now here I am. She also said conditions were very tough. I really hate it when it's powder courses. I want some bumps, Roark said.
It was the toughest I've seen for sure. It's hard when it's so soft because it constantly changes throughout the day and you can't just get one line dialed in you have to be very flexible. Swedish veteran Marja Elfman was second and Norwegian Kari Traa third among the women. While the men's competition did not include reigning World Cup and Olympic champion Jonny Moseley, who is currently recovering from a back injury suffered during the 1999 Winter X-Games earlier this month, Lahtela could still celebrate his best World Cup result to date.
His final run included a double-twister-spread and a quadruple, featuring four consecutive twisters. The second one I tried once during training and it went really well. But it's always a different thing in the finals, he said. I've been holding back too much this season. I haven't tried enough. So here I wanted to really go for it and try for the win, and it really paid off.
(Reuter)