Michelle Roark Wins Silver at FIS World Championships

DEER VALLEY, UT (Jan. 31) - The reigning champions successfully defended their titles Friday but U.S. moguls skiers collected three medals with silver for Jeremy Bloom (Loveland, CO) and Michelle Roark (Denver) while Toby Dawson (Vail, CO) earning the men's bronze medal. The performance tripled the number of medals U.S. skiers got at the 2001 championships.

NBC will televised two hours of coverage Saturday (3-5 p.m. EST) and two more hours Sunday (1-3 p.m. EST). The championships, the second freestyle Worlds to have been held in the USA (after Lake Placid in 1991), conclude Saturday with dual moguls in the morning and aerials under the lights at Deer Valley Resort.

Mikko Ronkainen of Finland - motivated by wanting to upset a potential U.S. medals sweep - laid down a sizzling final run that earned 28.09 points. Bloom, still dealing with an intense dislike for the Champion run after several years of disappointing results, finished with 27.33 and Dawson had 27.22. Olympic medallist Travis Mayer (Steamboat Springs, CO) was bumped to fourth at 26.85 with Travis Cabral (South Lake Tahoe, CA) sixth.

The top three women from the qualifying run Wednesday finished in the same order in finals. Olympic and World Cup champion Kari Traa of Norway, who won moguls and duals two years ago at the World Championships at Blackcomb, B.C. (where Joe Pack's aerials bronze was the lone U.S., medal), had a run that's the second highest-scoring in history (27.99) and would have had her second among the men. Roark, the 1999 dual moguls World Cup champ who has battled knee problems since an injury at Deer Valley in 2000, earned 27.13 for her run with Canadian Stephanie St. Pierre the bronze medallist at 26.46 and Olympic silver medallist Shannon Bahrke (Tahoe City, UT) fourth. Emiko Torito (Englewood, CO) was 12th.

Roark Ignored '00 Injury on the Same Hill
" This was especially rewarding considering this is the [course] I went down on, considering my week I had with the struggle with my knee, and putting all that behind me, and it's also one of the longest courses, so it feels good to find the rhythm on the most technical and long courses."

Head Coach Pleased with U.S. Performances
" We've been at it with the Finns for a long time," Head Coach Jeff Wintersteen said, "but at the end of the day when you see the American flags next to the names on the leader board and that's pretty rewarding."

2003 FIS Freestyle World Championships
Deer Valley, UT
Moguls Finals

1. Kari Traa, Norway, 27.99
2. Michelle Roark, Denver, 27.13
3. Stephanie St. Pierre, Canada, 26.46
4. Shannon Bahrke, Tahoe City, CA, 26.12
5. Ingrid Berntsen, Norway, 25.42
6. Elisa Kurylowicz, Canada, 24.94
7. Nikola Sudova, Czech Republic, 24.57
8. Kristi Richards, Canada, 23.70
9. Tami Bradley, Canada, 23.66
10. Sandra Laoura, France, 22.86
11. Jane Sexton, Australia, 22.78
12. Emiko Torito, Englewood, CO, 20.04
13. Daria Serova, Russia, 16.60
14.-16. Aiko Uemura, Tae Satoya, Miyuki Hatanaka, all Japan - all Run not scored