Deer Valley, UT (Thursday, January 30, 2003) - Defending World Cup aerials champ Eric Bergoust (Missoula, MT) qualified third Thursday in leading three U.S. men into finals Saturday night for the FIS Freestyle World Championships. Earlier, Switzerland's Evelyne Leu set a world record as she led women's qualifying with Kate Reed (Montrose, CO) the lone U.S. aerialist to reach finials.

NBC will broadcast coverage of the championships at Deer Valley Resort, the 2002 Olympic freestyle venue, Saturday 3-5 p.m. EST and 1-3 p.m. EST Sunday.

Belarussian Alexei Grichin of Belarus led the men, getting 255.90 points for his two jumps on the second day of the Worlds with Xiatao Ou of China second (246.97) in the warmth and changing weather conditions. Twelve moved through the finals under the lights as the concluding events of the championships.

Bergoust, who led the first round of jumping, was third at 244.16 and Jeret Peterson (Boise, ID), second in the first run, was fifth (238.36) with Ryan St. Onge (Winter Park, CO) finished 10th (232.56). Joe Pack (Park City, UT), who won the Olympic silver medal at Deer Valley a year ago, came out of one ski on landing his second jump and failed to make the final 12 who qualified.

In compiling 206.34 points, Leu bettered her own mark of 203.16, also set at Deer Valley – a year ago in the Olympic qualifying round (before she finished 11th). Olympic champion Alisa Camplin of Australia qualified second )191.57) with Reed eighth at 176.73, her personal best. Jana Lindsey just missed qualifying as she was 13th with Kelly Hilliman (Tonawanda, NY) 20th.

VARYING WEATHER CREATED PROBLEMS
"There were some great performances today. I think it was awesome," said U.S. head Coach Jeff Wintersteen. "It was tough [warm] – probably one of the toughest things, I mean we're killing ourselves trying to keep the jumps together. It was just really soft and we had a little bit of cloud cover, some rain would come down at times, then the sun would come out and we were concerned about the jump baking and starting to fall apart.

"We didn't want to salt because it's so early in the week, the salt really starts to destroy the jumps, and so we didn't want to salt because we've still got a ways to go. I'm looking forward to the night event because I think it'll be a little more consistent…

Bergoust, who won under the lights in the Gold Cup Olympic qualifier on New Year's Eve 2001, has struggled on the World Cup. He said skipping a World Cup last weekend in Fernie, BC, gave him time to rest a sore neck and get in some valuable training.

"First jump, I knew it had to be good. I couldn't go conservative," he said. "I wanted a big score because you know when everyone else is going to jump and the conditions were good, so I expected the scores to be high. So, I tried to do a very nice jump on my first jump.

"Second jump, I wasn't sure about the speed – my coaches said it was the same but it was close to an hour later, a little bit of wind coming and going, so I took a step down, took it easy on takeoff to try to make sure I wasn't too big and make sure I landed. It wasn't very pretty in the air, the landing wasn't perfect, but it was exactly what I wanted to do….get enough points to get in [to finals].

BERGOUST "VERY HAPPY" IN STRIKING DISTANCE
"If I had been jumping better all year," Bergoust explained, "I probably would've tried to win semis, just because it's great to go last in finals because you know exactly how many points you need. Your coach says, 'You need 126.4 to win' so you know exactly what you can get away with and what you can't. So, it would've been nice to be in that position but after jumping pretty poorly all year, I'm very happy to be third in semis."

Peterson, a 2002 Olympian who skipped training camps during the summer and fall so he could attend classes at the University of Utah, was delighted with his performance at his first World Championships.

"I have been really happy with my results so far this year. I came out planning on having a good time. This summer was more of a burnout from the Olympics; I was just burned out – there was so much stress that I didn't realize until after the event when I came back and was changing out of my ski clothes and I passed out asleep, I'm sure because of all the stress…

"I was just a little burned out from skiing so much, at such intensity, because I take things at 100 percent," Peterson said. "I give everything 100 percent, then I need to back off for a little bit and that's what I was doing. I just took time off; I wanted to be a kid again….go to school, hang out…"

PETERSON RE-BOOTS THINKING ABOUT WORLDS
"I'm happy exactly where I am. …It's like the Olympics all over again. …I thought this going to be like another World Cup and I pulled up and 'Wow!' I said, 'I better get my head in the game because this is a little bigger than I was planning on'…"

St. Onge said finishing 10th was "pretty spectacular" after his erratic jumping this season. "All season long," he said, "I've been having moments of brilliance and moments of failure, so for me to be able to put two on my feet and get into top 12 is pretty exciting for me. Even today I recognized things I need to do better and things I know I can do better."

Reed, who graduated from high school last June, said, "I'm feeling pretty good. Obviously, the World Championships is a really big event but I tried to treat it like any other World Cup except push the envelope a little more because the other woman were jumping expert today. I knew I had to step it up knowing I didn't have the DD [degree of difficulty] that they had.

"This was my personal best [176.73 – four points over her previous best], so I'm definitely happy with that. It's really exciting…but it's not over yet."

Concluded Wintersteen, "That was a huge women's contest. As Kate said, 'I posted a 91 and was leading in Lake Placid; here I post a 92 and I'm fourth.' That kinda says it all."

2003 FIS FREESTYLE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Deer Valley, UT – Jan. 30
Aerials qualifying (12 make finals)

Men
1. Alexei Grichin, Belarus, 255.90 points
2. Xiatao Ou, China, 246.97
3. Eric Bergoust, Missoula, MT, 244.16
4. Stanislav Kravchuk, Ukraine, 239.98
5. Jeret Peterson, Boise, ID, 238.36
6. Dmitri Rak, Belarus, 236.01
7. Sen Qiu, China, 234.88
8. Dmitri Arkhipov, Russia, 234.69
9. Steve Omischl, Canada, 234.36
10. Ryan St. Onge, Winter Park, CO, 232.56
11. Ales Valenta, Czech Republic, 224.49
12. Enver Ablaev, Ukraine, 223.87
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15. Joe Pack, Park City, UT, 210.60

Women
1. Evelyne Leu, Switzerland, 206.34
2. Alisa Camplin, Australia, 191.57
3. Nina Li, China, 19.81
4. Alla Tsuper, Belarus, 190.15
5. Veronika Bauer, Canada, 180.14
6. Deidra Dionne, Canada, 179.92
7. Xin Xin Guo, China, 179.04
8. Kate Reed, Montrose, CO, 176.73
9. Anna Zukal, Russia, 175.88
10. Liz Gardner, Australia, 171.44
11. Veronica Brenner, Canada, 164.82
12. Olga Koroleva, Russia, 164.28
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13. Jana Lindsey, Black Hawk, SD, 162.18
20. Kelly Hilliman, Tonawanda, NY, 136.23