BEAR HOLLOW — A slight young athlete from Salt Lake City so delicate she was injured by a hug, and a computer programmer from Park City, are leading in races for the U.S. skeleton team.
Two of four race days are finished in the competition for the rest of the skeleton team that this country will field for the Salt Lake Winter Games. The final two races will be held next weekend.
Leading the women sliders is 21-year-old Tristan Gale, who won the first of four races on Friday and came in second on Sunday.
Although Gale traded places with Lea Ann Parsley (Granville, Ohio), who won Friday and took the silver on Sunday, Gale's overall time for the two days of racing was 0.04 of a second faster than the Ohioan's cumulative time.
Third on Friday and fourth on Sunday was Tricia Stumpf, Park City. Colleen Rush, Park City, traded places with Stumpf, fourth on Friday and third on Sunday.
In men's skeleton trials, the leader is Lincoln DeWitt, Park City. On Sunday he outdistanced his nearest rival, Zach Lund (Salt Lake City), by 0.13 of a second. On Friday, DeWitt was second to Brian McDonald (Kingston, N.Y.), whose performance on Sunday earned him only fifth place.
Depending on how the United States finishes in world rankings, definitely two, and probably three, men will represent this country in the Winter Games. One for sure, and possibly two, women will slide.
Two men already are on the team, based on their records earlier this season: Jim Shea (Lake Placid, N.Y.), who becomes a third-generation Olympian, and Chris Soule (Trumbull, Conn.), who is ranked second in the world.
Gale, who stands 5 feet 2 inches and weighs 108 pounds, said a congratulatory hug delivered on Friday hurt her rib cage. "A really strong person gave me a really strong hug," she said.
"The cartilage that connects my ribs to my sternum is stressed and really inflamed. And my ribs aren't popped out, they're just twisted," Gale said.
The person who had hugged her was almost in tears about the damage. "I went to the hospital right after the race," she said.
On Saturday, she made a practice run. To cushion the injury, she wore a knee pad in front of her chest.
Gale could take an anti-inflammatory but not potent pain-killers because athletes are tested for doping.
She refused to tell reporters who delivered the hug but said he is "a great guy."
Speaking of medical experts, Gale added, "They told me I don't think you can make it any worse by sliding. It's just going to hurt for a while."
In fact, the pain was an inducement to go faster because the faster she finished, the less time she had to spend flat on her sled.
"Basically, I just put it out of my mind. I said you're not going to hurt, and I didn't hurt. The only thing that really hurts is breathing," Gale said.
"I can't quite sleep on my side or on my stomach yet, but you're not sleeping anyway during race week," she laughed.
DeWitt was not ecstatic about the first of his two runs on Sunday. "Let's just say you wouldn't get away with that run in February."
But then he improved. "The second run was a pretty good run," he said. "The things that I did wrong the first run, I fixed all of them the second run. So that's all I can ask for."
The extended four-race format is fair but dragged-out and tiring, DeWitt said. "To hit some kind of physical peak now and still also be able to build up well for February is hard," he said.
Brady Canfield — an optical physicist who is a major in the Air Force and is based in Utah but whose hometown is Red Lodge, Mont. — came in third in both qualifying races for the men's skeleton trials. Asked what would be key to his winning, he replied, "Starting faster."
Can he do that? "Find out next week. . . . I've got nothing to lose."
Rush said she feels good about Sunday's race. "It was a really tight race, and all the women raced really well so I was happy to be part of it."
E-MAIL: bau@desnews.com