UTAH WINTER SPORTS PARK -- An extra twist here, a subtle adjustment there -- what a difference a little bit of difficulty makes.
Park City's Joe Pack roared to the top of the men's aerial ski championship Monday without taking a step, when judges re-evaluated the degree of difficulty on his final jump and added 15 points to his score.The point windfall displaced 1998 Olympic Aerials gold medal winner Eric Bergoust, 29, and elicited applause from the crowd who had gathered to watch the country's top freestyle skiers show their tricks for the last time this season at the 1999 Chevy Truck U.S. Freestyle Championships at the Utah Winter Sports Park.
"When you're skiing in competition, all you want to do is land on your feet, and I was able to do that today," said Pack, 23.
In women's competition, relative newcomer Marissa Berman, 19, had the best score of her career and won the women's aerial competition with 165.75, nearly 20 points higher than Australian Shannon Leotta, the nearest fin- isher with 142.33.
"I've had some problems in practice," Berman says, gingerly removing her sunglasses to reveal a fresh shiner. She made "knee-to-nose" contact at practice on Sunday and had various other troubles early in the week.
No matter. On Monday, she said, "I did everything right."
Olympic gold medal aerialist Nikki Stone tumbled on her second jump and placed fourth.
In the aerial category of freestyle competition, skiers launch themselves end-over-end off jumps and perform complicated "tricks" or gymnastic-styled moves in the air. They are judged on their takeoff, how high they propel themselves into the air, their landing and the degree of difficulty in their "tricks."
Local darling Pack, who moved with his family to Park City about eight years ago, had dazzled the crowd with a "full-full-full," which amounts to a triple-twisting triple backflip on his first jump.
Bergoust, from Missoula Mont., bested Pack on his first jump but told reporters he was ill and took his second jump a bit conservatively, believing he was doing all he needed to win.
Shortly after both men had completed similar second jumps, judges changed Pack's score.
Bergoust, who is also a World Champion silver medalist, came in second with 233.68. USSA team member Britt Swartley, of Blue Bell, PA., was third with 211.45.
After the women's competition, Stone's spirits were as low as teammate Pack's were high.
Stone, 28, the golden girl of women's aerials who won the Olympic gold medal in Nagano fell on her last jump, which was also the final jump of her career.
"I was a little disappointed with myself, said Stone, who in the classy manner for which she has been known, excused herself after the fall to regain her composure, then returned to talk to reporters and fans in the crowd.
"Hopefully people will associate with me some of the things that I've been able to do for the sport," she said, still emotional. "It's hard to leave, but it was time."
Stone announced earlier in the month she would retire after this season, having met all of her career goals and suffering from chronic, painful back problems. She will be married this summer to Pepperdine University law student Michael Spencer, a former freestyle moguls skier.
She said Monday she would pour her efforts into "opportunities on the other side of the microphone in TV."
Stone is one of the most celebrated of the freestyle skiers.
She finished her career with the most impressive record of any female freestyle aerials athlete: having won the Olympic gold medal, a World Championship gold medal, two World Cup titles, 11 World Cup victories and four national titles.
"I would have liked to complete my career with a win, but I gave it my all and came up short today."
She had a lackluster first jump and decided to crank up her performance and degree of difficulty a notch on her second jump in an effort to pull into the lead. Her second jump, a "full, double full, full" which consists of three twists and three backflips, was executed well in the air, she said.
"But the wind hit me up there. I just didn't have time to get my feet under me."
Stone's coaches and United States Ski and Snowboard Association staff have said Stone leaves a legacy for younger skiers like Berman, the winner of Monday's contest.
Berman, who is from Yorktown, N.Y., executed a trick called a "lay full," which is actually a single twisting double backflip, and earned the highest points of the day, 75.98. Later she added a "full full," to polish off the win under sunny Park City skies.
While several of the skiers talked of vacations and time off before summer training, Berman is headed to Florida next week to play in a college lacrosse tournament. She plays at attack and midfield positions for Williams College in Williams, Mass., where she is a freshman.