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Air Force on top in World Cup

Rousseau injured; Canadian freestylers net five medals The Canadian freestyle team rounded up five medals last weekend at a moguls competition at St-Lary, France, and an aerials competition at Mont Tremblant. The mogul team got some bad news on Jan.

Rousseau injured; Canadian freestylers net five medals

The Canadian freestyle team rounded up five medals last weekend at a moguls competition at St-Lary, France, and an aerials competition at Mont Tremblant.

The mogul team got some bad news on Jan. 10 when Olympic contender Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau of Drummondville, Quebec, crashed during a training run in the French Alps. At a nearby hospital, Rousseau underwent surgery to use a piece of his hip bone to replace a cracked vertebrae in his upper back.

"I’m not ruling anything out," said the 21 year old of his chances to return in time to compete in the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. "There’s nothing I can do at the moment, so I just have to take it one day at a time.

"My grandmother had a back operation and she’s 82, and she was walking the next week."

Rousseau’s injury was the second to hit the team in a week after Jim Schiman of Cranbrook injured his knee in Germany.

If there was a silver lining to the cloud, it was the surprise bronze medal performance of Calgary’s Ryan Johnson.

"I’m back," said the 27 year old. "It’s been five years. The last time I medalled was in 1997 in Tignes, France. So today’s result was totally encouraging."

The result puts him in better contention for a spot on the Olympic team, where he’s competing with Scott Bellvance and Ann Marie Pelchat, provided that Rousseau is able to compete.

American freestyle legend Jonny Mosely, who came out of retirement this season after calling it quits after winning gold at the 1998 Olympics, took the top spot on the podium with a score of 27.28. Fredrik Fortkord of Sweden won silver with a 27.10, and Johnson edged out Janne Lahtela of Finland to take third with a 27.01. Quebec skiers Jean-Luc Brassard and Stephane Rochon, who have already qualified for the Olympics, finished in eighth and 11 th respectively.

In the women’s competition, Kari Traa of Norway continued to dominate the standings with yet another win. Marina Cherkasova of Russia was second, followed by Shannon Bahrke of the U.S.

Ann Marie Pelchat of Levis, Quebec, was seventh for Canada, while Jennifer Heil of Spruce Grove, Alberta, was 12 th .

On the following day, Scott Bellavance of Prince George had his say, and clinched the fourth and final berth on the Canadian Olympic freestyle team with an eight place finish. Rochon and Brassard were fifth and sixth in the standings.

"It’s been tough for me, I haven’t been sleeping well," said Bellavance of his long road to the Olympics. "After my fifth place at Steamboat there seemed to be a good gap (between Bellavance and other potential Olympians), but Ryan closed the gap."

In the women’s event, Norway’s Traa was first, Bahrke of the U.S. second, and Hannah Hardaway of the U.S. third. No Canadians qualified for the finals.

Meanwhile, the aerials team was being tested in Mont Tremblant, and came through with flying colours.

On the first day of competition, Ottawa’s Jeff Bean earned a silver medal and a spot on the Olympic team with back-to-back quadruple-twisting triple somersaults and solid landings.

"It’s just a great feeling," said Bean, who has struggled on the World Cup circuit in recent years and needed a strong result at Tremblant to make the Olympic team again. "It was a hard choice – do I do (the jump) or do I hold back?"

Andy Capicik of Vancouver, Nicolas Fontaine of Magog, Quebec, and Steve Omischl of North Bay, Ontario, have already qualified for the Games, but none of them qualified for a second jump on Saturday.

The contest went to defending Olympic champion Eric Bergoust of the U.S., while the bronze went to Alex Valenta of the Czech Republic.

The women’s team had better luck with two athletes cracking the top 10. Veonika Bauer of Toronto, 21 years old and the 2001 world aerials champion, won a bronze medal, while Deidre Dionne, 19, of Red Deer Alberta was happy to finish fourth.

Australian Jacqui Cooper took the top spot, followed by Alla Tsuper of Belarus.

The Canadians continued to rack up the gold medals on Sunday with both Veronica Brenner of Sharon, Ont, and Nicolas Fontaine throwing down gold medal performances for a crowd of 5,000 fans.

For Brenner, the win signified her return after sitting out for most of last season with an injury.

"It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever done," Brenner said of her comeback. "The rehab was easy, it wasn’t hard to stay motivated, but when I first came back jumping on snow this year it was like I was starting all over again."

It was Brenner’s 11 th World Cup victory.

For Fontaine, a four-time world champion who has battled injuries of his own in recent years, a gold medal was overdue.

"If feels so good winning because yesterday I was just so disappointed," said the 31 year old .

Alexei Grichin of Belarus was second, and Bergoust was third in the men’s competition.

There is a moguls and aerials competition at Lake Placid on Jan. 18, which will be followed by dual moguls and aerials competition in Whistler at the end of the month.