Roark, Babic lead U.S. mogulists at Mont Gabriel

By Published On: January 27th, 2008Comments Off on Roark, Babic lead U.S. mogulists at Mont Gabriel

World Championships medalist Michelle Roark finished third, one-hundredth of a point away from second place, in a World Cup moguls contest Saturday. Nine U.S. skiers made it into finals, including four of the top eight men.
MONT GABRIEL, Que. — World Championships medalist Michelle Roark finished third, one-hundredth of a point away from second place, in a World Cup moguls contest Saturday. Nine U.S. skiers made it into finals, including four of the top eight men.
    Russian Ekaterina Stolyarova won the women's event with 26.01 points in the 10-degree F. cold. Roark, who won last Sunday during the Nature Valley Freestyle Cup at Whiteface Mountain near Lake Placid, had 25.70. She did a back-flip off the top jump and "bronco" off the bottom in which she does a full rotation with a side kick as she faces up-course on the spin.
    In the men's contest, Guilbaut Colas of France had 26.38 points to 26.06 to Rusian Sharifullin of Russia. Dave Babic hit a back-flip X (with his skis crossed as he flipped) off the first jump and a D-spin (off-axis, double rotation) at the bottom. His run was worth 25.92, good for fourth place.
    Newcomer Pat Deneen, who had two podiums a week ago at Whiteface, was sixth with 25.55 points. U.S. moguls champion Holt Haga was seventh and Nate Roberts eighth.
    "Conditions were great, but Mont Gabriel is a flat course," U.S. moguls head coach Scott Rawles said. "That means it's tough to really make things happen, so for Michelle to be on the podium and for Dave – whose top air was simply huge – to be in there, it took some excellent skiing"
    Rawles also noted none of the nine Americans qualified higher than eighth, "so they got some good things done in their final run. Michelle was amazing again, just a hundredth out of second. And Heather McPhie was ninth, which was nice to see after some problems, which she had in Lake Placid."
    The World Cup weekend ends Sunday with an aerials event. The next stop after Mont Gabriel will be the Visa Freestyle International Feb. 1-2 at Utah's Deer Valley Resort.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2008 FIS FREESTYLE WORLD CUP
Canada Post Freestyle Grand Prix
Mont Gabriel, QUE – Jan. 26, 2008
Men's Moguls (16 make finals)

1. Guilbaut Colas, France, 26.38 points
2. Rusian Sharifullin, Russia, 26.06
3. Vincent Marquis, Canada, 25.99
4. Dave Babic, Washington, VT, 25.92
5. Dale Begg-Smith, Australia, 25.68

6. Pat Deneen, Cle Elum, WA, 25.55
7. Holt Haga, Boise, ID, 25.19
8. Nate Roberts, Park City, UT, 25.13
23. Jay Bowman-Kirigin, Salt Lake City
26. Sho Kashima, Zephyr Cove, NV

Women's Moguls (16 made finals)
1. Ekaterina Stolyraova, Russia, 26.01
2. Deborah Scanzio, Italy, 25.71
3. Michelle Roark, Winter Park, CO, 25.70
4. Aiko Uemura, Japan, 25.55
5. Chloe Dufour-LaPointe, Canada, 25.52

9. Heather McPhie, Bozeman, MT, 24.58
12. Jillian Vogtli, Ellicotville, NY, 23.09
13. Emiko Torito, Denver, 22.78
15. Shelly Robertson, Reno, N V, 13.57

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About the Author: Pete Rugh