Jeret Peterson earns first World Cup podium at freestyle season opener in Mt. Buller, Australia

Jeret Peterson earns first World Cup podium at freestyle season opener in Mt. Buller, Australia{mosimage}Jeret ‘Speedy’ Peterson, the 2004 national aerials champion, earned his first World Cup podium of the season and the third of his career on Sunday after finishing second in the aerials event at Australia’s Mount Buller Ski Area the opening event in the freestyle World Cup season.

Ales Valenta of the Czech Republic won the event with a new World Cup record score of 262.76 (the previous record of 260.98 set October 1, 2001, at Mount Buller by American Eric Bergoust).

‘It was an awesome day’ said Peterson, 22, who was treated to good weather and conditions. ‘I’m really excited because this boosts my confidence way up.’

Peterson said he’d been having trouble with landing his first jump, and it was actually Joe Pack who came up with a solution. Pack suggested Peterson lead with a double full-full-full (three flips, four twists), which is a jump he is more confident with. He stuck his landing and followed up with a full-double full-full to grab his spot on the podium.

‘It was great to land that first jump and get it out of the way’ said Peterson. ‘I’m excited for myself and my teammates, who are really off to a great start.’

Joe Pack of Park City, Utah posted his second-straight top-5 result for the weekend, while Ryan St. Onge of Steamboat Springs finished sixth.
‘Both days I jumped well’ said Pack, the 2002 Olympic silver medalist. ‘But both days I had trouble landing one of my jumps. I wasn’t off by much and still got some good scores. Posting two top-fives is very consistent and puts me in a good spot. With this being our first time competing on snow this year, everyone is still trying to get comfortable. Being able to put down a couple jumps this weekend was great. Everyone is pretty pumped.’

Aerials head coach Matt Christensen said the opening event gave him every indication the aerialists are on track for the upcoming world championships and the 2006 Olympics. ‘Today was awesome’ he said. ‘It was really fun seeing how excited people were for us. The last few years have been interesting. There has been talk that our program really tapered off after peaking in 2001 and 2002, but I think the last two years have really helped us. It motivated everyone the last few months to really focus and train hard. This is the year we want to lay the groundwork, so next year (at the Olympics) we can really pull it off.’

Bergoust, a native of Missoula, Montana, who crashed during his first training run Saturday and did not compete, also sat out Sunday. The Olympic and world championships gold medalist previously won four times in Australia.

Australian Lydia Ierodiaconou made it “two for two” on Sunday, following up Saturday’s victory with another win. On Saturday she beat out fellow Aussie Jacqui Cooper, who had not competed for two and half years after a knee injury knocked her out of the 2002 Olympics the day before her event. No American women competed in either of the women’s events.

The aerials World Cup schedule resumes December 18 in Madonna di Campiglio, Italy. With the World Cup standings now based on all results (athletes could drop certain results until the 2004 season), Christensen said it was important not to skip the opening events.

FREESTYLE WORLD CUP
Mount Buller, Australia

MEN
1. Martin Walti, SUI, 240.68 points
2. Xiaopeng Han, CHN, 234.21
3. Ales Valenta, CZE, 230.95
4. Chritian Rijavec, AUT, 230.83
5. Joe Pack, USA, 226.48
10. Jeret Peterson, USA, 214.04
11. Ryan St. Onge, USA, 213.59

WOMEN
1. Lydia Ierodiaconou, AUS, 201.81
2. Jacqui Cooper, AUS, 171.10
3. Anna Zukal, RUS, 166.80
4. Xinxin Guo, CHN, 166.71
5. Nina Li, CHN, 165.94-

September 5, 2004
Aerials

MEN
1. Ales Valenta, CZE, 262.76 points
2. Jeret Peterson, USA, 245.85
3. Dmitry Dashinski, BLR, 243.24
4. Kyle Nissen, CAN, 243.19
5. Joe Pack, USA, 263.62
6. Ryan St. Onge, USA, 235.62

WOMEN
1. Lydia Ierodiaconou, AUS, 205.71
2. Diedra Dionne, CAN, 182.49
3. Nina Li, CHN, 178.55
4. Anna Zukal, RUS, 176.13
5. Xinxin Guo, CHN, 170.27

For more on these events, visit www.worldaerials.com

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