Joe Pack of Park City, 18, jumping at one of his favorite venues, fought through a snowstorm Saturday to win his first World Cup aerials contest Saturday and all but earned a berth in next week's world championships.
Pack, a former alpine ski racer and ski jumper who decided to concentrate on aerials several years ago, compiled 221.75 points with two perfect landings. Second place went to young French aerialist Jean-Damien Climonet, who received 219.50, with Smitri Dashinski of Belarus third with 217.54.Kirstie Marshall of Australia, showing no sign of the injury she suffered in training over a month ago in France, won the women's aerials for the second time this month. She had 186.39 points to 175.71 for Chinese newcomer Dandan Guo, with Stacey Blumer of Old Greenwich, Conn., third at 165.40.
The U.S. team for the World Freestyle Championships Feb. 2-9 at Nagano, Japan will be named Sunday night and Pack appeared to claim one of the aerials spots with his victory.
The reigning NorAm and 1996 world junior aerials champion, he was understandably jubilant on the third day of the Sprint Freestyle Classic at Breckenridge Ski Area.
"Conditions were bad and speeds were slow (because of the slow, soft snow) but I went for it and it worked for me.
"I love competing at Breckenridge," he said. "There wasn't much pressure so I wanted to really land both jumps. This is my ticket to the world championships."
The continuing snow caused several crashes and delays in the competition. Reigning world champion Trace Worthington of Park City, Utah, working his way back from a vertigo problem a year ago, decided not to compete because of the gnarly conditions.
Marshall said the snow, which worsened as the day went on, didn't bother her "because I trained this week in hard conditions, so I was more used to it."
Italian star won't compete
At Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, Italian ski star Deborah Compagnoni, an Olympic super-G champion, said Saturday she did not plan to start in the super giant slalom race in the World Alpine Championships at Sestriere next week.
"At 90 percent, I made my mind about not competing in the super-G. I'm going to concentrate on giant slalom and slalom," said Compagnoni, who won the Olympic super-G title in 1992.