STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. ? Skiing in just his second World Cup event, Travis Mayer was the last man to qualify for the finals in the World Cup Mogul competition Friday.
That meant he was the first of 12 men to ski in the finals. First is usually not the best spot as times tend to get faster and other competitors have the chance to make their jumps more difficult or simple as they see the top scores. But on a glorious, sunny afternoon in his home town, Mayer made the world's best skiers sweat.
"I was so flabbergasted to ski that well," he said after finishing second in the competition. "I heard my score, but I haven't skied in too many World Cups, so I didn't know what the scores usually were."
Mayer's score of 27.13 is less than a point lower than the best-ever moguls score. The 19-year-old was joined on the podium by another U.S. Ski team member, Jeremy Bloom, who finished third with a score of 26.72. Bloom's third-place finish was his second podium in as many competitions.
The women also competed Friday with Norway's Kari Traa winning her second gold medal of the young season with a score of 26.99. She won the year's first world cup in France two weeks ago. Ljurdmir Dymchenko, of Russia, finished second with a score of 25.55, and Margarita Marbler, Austria, was third with 25.19.
Traa has dominated the sport for more than a year despite an injury to her knee (bone bruise) early last summer that kept her from jumping until October.
"Not everything went as I planned," said the 27-year-old, who now has a place on the Norwegian Olympic Team. "But sometimes when you don't think about skiing so much, you do better."
E-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com