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Rochon, Bradley climb freestyle podium

Olympic team harder to pick Canadian mogul legend Stephane Rochon has hit the ground running this season, making the podium in all three events he has entered, and winning gold, silver and bronze medals.

Olympic team harder to pick

Canadian mogul legend Stephane Rochon has hit the ground running this season, making the podium in all three events he has entered, and winning gold, silver and bronze medals.

He won his latest medals, a gold in the moguls and a bronze in the dual moguls, at a World Cup competition at Steamboat, Colorado, last weekend.

On Dec. 14, Rochon started the day out of medal contention and a win didn’t seem likely as Travis Mayer of the U.S. posted a score of 27.13 on his first run.

"But at the same time, I was focusing on what I needed to do and told myself it was beatable," says Rochon, who was "really, really aggressive" in his second run. His score of 27.43 put him on top of the leaderboard, and while other competitors gave it a shot, nobody could dislodge the 27 year old from Saint-Sauveur, Quebec, from the top spot.

Traditionally a slow starter, even Rochon – who’s recognized as one of the top mogul skiers in the world – was amazed at how well he did.

"It feels good because it’s my first win in a singles event since Sweden in 1996," he says. Two weeks ago at the season opener in Tignes, France, he came close, finishing second overall.

Mayer, the 2000 world duals champion, went on to take the silver medal, followed by Jeremy Bloom, another member of the U.S. team.

Three other Canadians cracked the top 12, which made it more difficult to decide who would go to the Olympics.

Scott Bellavance of Prince George was fifth, after finishing 16 th in Tignes. He now leads the battle for the fourth spot on the Olympic roster, behind Rochon, Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau and Jean-Luc Brassard. His lead is slim, however, as both Jim Schiman of Cranbrook B.C. and Ryan Johnson of Calgary have an opportunity to overtake him in the next two contests.

Brassard, rebounding from a knee injury that sidelined the 1994 Olympic champion for most of last year, was fifth in the season opener but 12 th at Steamboat.

In the women’s mogul competition, none of the competitors earned a spot in the final 12. Rachel Belliveau of Quebec was 14 th , Whistler’s Tami Bradley was 17 th , Alberta’s Jennifer Heil 18 th , Whistler’s Kelly Ringstad 20 th , and Jennifer Simm of Prince George was 21 st .

On Dec. 15, Rochon was at it again, this time joined on the podium by Tami Bradley. Both competitors earned bronze medals in the dual moguls competition.

"Tami is like my podium partner," said Rochon. "Last year we both took first in Japan (World Cup) and both of us were first overall in dual moguls."

Richard Gay of France took the gold medal ahead of Janne Lahtela of Finland, and Rochon beat out Finn Sami Mustonen to win bronze.

There was some question as to whether Rochon should compete at all and risk an injury.

"I was talking to one of my coaches, Steve Desovich, who didn’t want me to ski, but I said ‘I’ll take care, I’ll be smart…’ He let me go and crossed his fingers because you don’t want an injury before the Olympics."

For Bradley, her return to the podium made up for a slow start earlier this year. She beat world champion Kari Traa of Norway to win the bronze, while two newcomers to the podium battled it out for the gold. Christine Gerg of Germany took first ahead of Emiko Torito of the U.S.

Also for Canada, Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau was fifth in the men’s event, while Heil and Vancouver’s Sylvia Kerfoot tied for ninth.

The freestyle team still has two competitions to go until the 2002 Olympics, including an aerials and dual mogul World Cup on Blackcomb in January.

Canadian aerialists fly high at NorAms

Freestyle aerialist Jay Nauchbaur of Prince George wasn’t expecting to win the third day of NorAm competitions at Fortress Mountain, Alberta last weekend, and that’s probably the secret to his success.

"I haven’t won anything since I was 14 years old, and I think that was a B.C. Youth Championship. And the last time I had a medal was a bronze at the junior nationals two years ago," said the 20 year old Nauchbaur.

On Saturday, he missed two jumps and finished second last. "I couldn’t have done any worse."

On Friday, Alberta’s Diedre Dionne finished second to Australia’s Alisa Camplin with her triple-twisting double sommersault.

"It’s only the seventh time I’ve ever done it and the first in competition," she said.

Tatiana Kozachenko of the Ukraine was third. Veronika Bauer of Toronto was sixth, Amber Peterson of Thunder Bay was eight, and Karen MacDonald of Toronto ninth.

The men competed on the following day, with World Champion Joe Pack of the U.S. taking first place over Quebec’s Nicolas Fontaine, who missed most of last season with injuries. Matt Saunders of the U.S. was third.

Other Canadians include Steve Omischl of North Bay in fifth, Jeff Bean of Ottawa in 13, and David Belhumeur of Pierrefonds, Quebec in 14 th .

On Sunday, Nauchbaur’s day, the format was reduced from two jumps to one to accommodate the high winds and delays. After Nauchbaur was Jeret Peterson and Jeremy April of the U.S. Warren Shouldice of Calgary was fourth, Ryan Blais of Grande-Prairie, Alberta, was fifth, and Cord Spero of Grande-Prairie was eighth.

Camplin once again took the women’s competition, followed by Kozachenko and Dionne. Bauer was sixth, Amber Peterson of Thunder Bay was eighth, MacDonald was ninth, Pascale Gadbois of Coteau-du-lac ws 11 th , and Melissa Prefontaine of Lloydminister, Alberta, was 13 th .