WHISTLER, British Columbia — Alexei Grichin thought about what it might be like to win the World Championship in aerials. And then he stumbled on the landing of his first jump.
His second jump, however, was nearly perfect, and he scored the second highest marks on a jump Saturday. His total — 226.46 — was enough to give him a gold medal.
"I'm in shock," Grichin said. "And I'm happy."
His teammate from Belarus, Dmitri Dashinski, took second with a 225.90 and had to jump right after their teammate Dmitri Rak fell and had to be carried off on a stretcher.
American Joe Pack had trouble on his first landing but stuck his second to take home the bronze medal.
"Crazy day," Pack said. "It was a day of days. (The weather) just messes with us. I don't like being third on a day when everyone else falls. But I'll take it."
Pack's teammate Brian Currutt finished 11th and had trouble landing both his jumps. The conditions for the 2001 FIS World Championships were anything but ideal, with snow so heavy at times it was difficult to see the athlete at the top of the course.
"It's tough that World Championships under these conditions because not always will the best person win," Currutt said. "It was tough to watch Nicolas Fontaine (four-time overall world champion), and then we had to wait while they fixed the jump."
Fontaine was the first male jumper to go in the second round of competition. He flew off the side of the jump and then crashed. He received no score for his second jump. He told reporters that the edge of his ski got caught and sent him off the kicker prematurely.
U.S. skier Eric Bergoust finished fourth after scoring the day's highest score in the first round of jumping. He came very close to a perfect jump but couldn't hold onto the landing.
Bergoust said he has sometimes watched the competition and if he could get away with a less difficult jump, he would scale back his tricks. He didn't do that Saturday.
"That hasn't worked for me," he said of performing easier tricks.
Corey Hacker made his first appearance in a World Championship and finished fifth. He's only been competing on the World Cup Circuit for about three weeks, with Deer Valley being his first event this year. He finished eighth there.
It was another good day for the hometown crowd in the women's jumping as Canadian Veronica Bauer finished first with 184.41. Her teammate Deidra Dionne took third with 172.53.
Switzerland's Michelle Rohrback came in second with a 172.59 and said the most important thing for her was not letting the weather undermine her confidence.
"It was difficult," she said. "You have to stay strong in your head. You just had to know your speed would be right."
The only American woman to compete in the finals Saturday was Kelly Hilliman. She finished fifth overall after having a bit of trouble on her first jump.
"I was flying solo this week, so it was a little lonely," she said. Hilliman moved up the hill to try and increase her speed on the second jump.
"I was still a little slow," she said. But she hung on with a score of 157.82.
Defending World Champion Jacqui Cooper from Australia was unable to cleanly land either of her triple jumps.
E-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com