PARK CITY — When the International Ski Federation banned quadruple flips from World Cup and Olympic competition, one of the few men who could do the trick retired rather than abide by the rule.
Matt Chojnacki may have quit the U.S. Ski Team, but he's not even close to quitting when it comes to throwing big tricks on skis. He proved that Saturday afternoon at the Utah Winter Sports Park when he performed a twisting quad summersault to win the men's individual competition in the Sprint Ultimate Airwave.
The competition is the first for U.S. Ski Team aerialists, but it's unique for another reason. The competitors ski down wet plastic ramps and land in a swimming pool, only one of two in the U.S. built just for skiers. It is used mostly for training, but summer shows are also performed there. Chojnacki said he's still training at the facility and still hoping for a shot at Olympic Gold.
"I'd change my mind in a heartbeat (about retirement), if they changed that rule," said 27-year-old Chojnacki, who is still regarded as one of the world's top aerialists. "The FIS doesn't think we're ready for it; they're wrong . . . It was a political decision."
Chojnacki, who set a world record in April when he completed the most flips and twists (four of each) on snow, said he will still be in Park City when the 2002 Winter Games are held this February.
"I will be here cheering on my ex-teammates," he said, "and there will be some Americans pulling down some medals. I guarantee it."
Chojnacki defeated Park City's own Joe Pack, who also performed the quad, but had a disastrous landing in the championship round. He'd successfully performed it in the two previous rounds of competition, and Chojnacki competed it in the semi-finals as well as the finals.
"We're training for the Olympics, not for this," Pack said. "I was pushing my envelope a little too far. You can see how competitive all the jumpers here are . . . I'm glad I'm not on any other team."
Pack said he was OK after the landing where most of the front of his body, including his head, hit the water first, except for a little water in his ear. None of the U.S. Ski Team athletes practice quad jumps, those who performed them did so without the blessing of their coach who stood on the deck of the swimming pool and hoped for the best.
"I get nervous when our guys start doing quads because it's not what we're training for," said Matt Christensen. "But there's money at stake so I can't say don't do it."
Besides Pack and Chojnaki, U.S. Ski Team member Mariano Ferrario also performed a quad, but was eliminated in the first round by teammate Brit Swartley, who hasn't competed for more than a year because of an injury last year in Australia.
"I'm just glad to be in one piece," Swartley said after defeating Eric Bergoust for third place. "My goal was to feel like I did before the competition."
He was impressed with the quad tricks, but wasn't tempted to do them himself.
"I'm in this to win the Olympics," he said. But the water competition does help prepare skiers for the World Cups to come. "It gets the butterflies going," he said.
In addition to the men's individual competition, four women competed for a share of the prize money. U.S. Ski Team member Tracy Evans won the $6,600 first prize by beating teammate Brenda Petzold. It's the second time Evans, a 1998 Olympian who came out of retirement last year, has won the Ultimate Airwave. Evans won with the two jumps she'll be competing with on snow this season.
"This is great fun," Evans said. "It gets us in competition mode, and gives me a lot of confidence going into Australia."
Evans and Petzold performed synchronized jumps in a separate competition and won that event. In the men's synchronized jumps Joe Pack and Jarret Peterson won with an almost perfect landing.
And if seeing quads wasn't thrilling enough, the 3,500 fans who attended the competition witnessed a show that featured BMX bike riders, snowboarders and slip-n-sliders doing tricks off the smallest kicker. Skiers then performed too many cool tricks to name off jumps, sometimes four at a time, and twice through fireworks.
E-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com