Pack 4th in LP; Five U.S. in Finals

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (Jan. 18) - Aerials World Cup leaders Steve Omischl of Canada and Australian Alisa Camplin won the second aerials competition of the Nature Valley Freestyle Cup weekend Sunday while Olympic medalist Joe Pack (Park City, UT) was fourth and four other U.S. skiers made finals.

The competition, which featured a mix of snow and light snow, heavy winds and swirling gusts, will be broadcast Sunday Jan. 25 on NBC at 3:30 p.m. ET. Also included in that telecast will be coverage of Saturday's moguls event in which eight U.S. skiers reached finals (top 12) and Luke Westerlund (Breckenridge, CO) and defending World Cup moguls champs Travis Cabral (South Lake Tahoe, CA) and Shannon Bahrke (Tahoe City, CA) posted top-3 results at Whiteface Mountain.

Omischl, who won Friday's event at the MacKenzie-Intervale Jumping Complex, collected his fourth win of the season with 246.42 points to 246.05 for Alexei Grichin of Belarus. Ryan Blais, another Canadian, was third at 245.13 with Pack fourth (242.29).

"I'd like to have that second landing back," said Pack, who has been battling back and leg ailments. "But that 'triple' [quad-twisting triple - four twists, three flips] is the first I've landed since the Olympics in 2002, so I'm happy about that. I'm behind in my training but we really threw it down today and it was a great comp.

"Things are going in the right direction for me. I can't train as much as I'd like, but it's getting there."

Ryan St. Onge (Steamboat Springs, CO) was eighth and Jeret Peterson (Boise, ID) was 11th.

Battling back from injury, Joe Pack (left) flew high, but was one spot away from the Nature Valley podium. (Photos by Matt Sullivan)

Camplin, the 2002 Olympic and World Cup champion and '03 World Championships gold medalist and World Cup repeat champ, nailed her second jump and had 192.76 points with teammate Lydia Ierodiaconou second at 187.08. Kate Reed (Montrose, CO) was sixth and Kelly Hilliman (Tonawanda, NY) finished seventh.

The U.S. results were a sharp pickup from Friday when no U.S. aerialists made finals. "We had a couple of talks [Saturday]," said aerials Head Coach Matt Christensen, "and we made the point that we're here to get some business done, not just enjoy some travel, and Friday was unacceptable. I think everyone got the point."

The World Cup tour moves on to Fernie, B.C., and then completes its annual January swing through North America with a Jan. 30-31 visit to the Sprint U.S. Grand National at Deer Valley, Utah, with aerials, moguls and nighttime dual moguls.

For complete results and World Cup standings, go to: http://www.fis-ski.com/calendar/event.php?id=11770

Source: US Ski Team