Deer Valley, UT (Saturday, January 31, 2004) - Olympic aerialist Jeret (Speedy) Peterson (Boise, ID) earned the second podium of his career Saturday in nasty weather, finishing third behind Belarussian Dmitri Dashinski. World Cup leader Alisa Camplin of Australia – who won the 2002 Olympic gold medal and 2003 World Championships gold at Deer Valley – won again in the women's event while Kate Reed (Montrose, CO) was top American in fifth place.

NBC will televise coverage from the Sprint U.S. Freestyle Grand National weekend Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. ET. The aerials competition was the front half of a day-night doubleheader at Deer Valley. The weekend was scheduled to conclude under the lights Saturday night with dual moguls.

Dashinski, who's No. 2 in the points behind Canadian Steve Omischl, won with 251.51 points while Omischl took second at 242.35 and Peterson completed the podium (242.30). Joe Pack (Park City, UT) bobbled his final landing and was seventh while Lane Field (Boulder, CO) made his World Cup debut, finishing 15th.

"I knew I could do it. I just had to get my head [straightened away] and do it," Peterson said after clicking with two quad-twisting triples (four twists, three flips); he completed a full, double-full, full in the qualifying round and a double-full, full, full in finals.

"This was some pretty fierce competition. To miss second place by just five-hundredths is outstanding; I'm psyched," Peterson said. "This morning it was beautiful, not a single cloud and then finals came up and it got horrible – windy, snow, couldn't see a thing. I had a couple of teammates slip the in-run. It was a mess...

"Deer Valley is always so buffed, so perfect, so maybe they figured they'd give us a little challenge for finals. This was fun."

In the women's event, Camplin scored 189.20 with teammate Lydia Ierodiaconou in second place (183.63). Reed was sixth (168.91) and Kelly Hilliman (Tonawanda, NY) 12th.

"I pretty well maxed out my jumps. Top-5, top-6, that's about where I can get to with where I'm at now, but I'm going to be working next summer on triples [three twists], looking to get my DD [degree of difficulty] up there some more," Reed said. "I feel I'm back on track."

U.S. Coach Matt Christensen was pleased with the performance but noted, "This isn't the answer but it's certainly a good step in the right direction. We're coming back and the athletes are focused on what they're doing, which is what we want."

He laughed at the weather. "It was great, then it was dumping for the guys in finals, and they had this wind...it was insane, which makes Speedy's result all the more impressive. And the girls – Kate and Kelly [Hillman] and Sharlee {Strebel] and Christina [Craddock] all came up to slip the in-run for the guys, which was a great show of team spirit. I was really proud of 'em," Christensen said.

The Sprint U.S. Freestyle Grand National weekend was to conclude under the lights Saturday with dual moguls.

FREESTYLE WORLD CUP
Sprint U.S. Freestyle Grand National
Deer Valley Resort
Park City, UT – Jan. 31
Aerials

Men
1. Dmitri Dashinski, Belarus, 251.51 points
2. Steve Omischl, Canada, 242.35
3. Jeret Peterson, Boise, Idaho, 242.30
4. Dmitry Arkhipov, Russia, 237.85
5. Ryan Blais, Canada, 226.77
6. Martin Walti, Switzerland, 225.98
7. Joe Pack, Park City, Utah, 220.93
8. Alexei Grichin, Belarus, 219.59
9. Timofei Slivets, Belarus, 209.59
10. Cord Spero, Canada, 195.84
11. Thomas Lambert, Switzerland, 194.96
12. Warren Shouldice, Canada, 193.40
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15. Lance Field, Boulder, Colo.

Women
1. Alisa Camplin, Australia, 189.20
2. Lydia Ierodiaconou, Australia, 183.63
3. Evelyne Leu, Switzerland, 180.57
4. Liz Gardner, Australia, 178.19
5. Deidra Dionne, Canada, 176.25
6. Kate Reed, Montrose, Colo., 168.91
7. Anna Zukal, Russia, 167.56
8. Anna Belikh, Russia, 166.27
9. Olga Koroleva, Russia, 158.99
10. Trudy McIntosh, Australia, 156.74
11. Assol Slivets, Belarus, 151.26
12. Kelly Hilliman, Tonawanda, N.Y., 136.51
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19. Sharlee Strebel, Layton, Utah
20. Christina Craddock, West Newton, Mass.