Americans Bump and Grind Out Spots in the Finals

If it’s better to be lucky than good, Ann Battelle is in great shape for Wednesday’s mogul finals in freestyle skiing. But Jonny Moseley might want to think about his position.

Battelle, second in this season’s World Cup standings, qualified for the 16th and last berth in the women’s finals, thanks to a piece of luck Sunday at the Iizuna Kogen ski area that defied belief. And Moseley, with a what-the-heck run down the bumps and a startling aerial maneuver, finished first among the men, which means he gets to ski in the preferred position, last, on Wednesday.

What Moseley did in leading five U.S. skiers--two men, three women--into the finals was more or less expected, considering he’s the World Cup leader.

What Battelle and France’s Candice Gilg did . . . well, they don’t write goofy scripts like that.

What Battelle did was misread the snow conditions in the event that requires skiers to race against time down a field of big snow bumps interrupted twice by jumping ramps, off which tricks are performed. And misreading the snow, which was slicker than she had expected, had Battelle slipping and sliding at the very edge of control. But at least she landed her jumps and stayed upright.

Gilg didn’t. The women’s World Cup leader, the last of the 28 women to ski, mistimed the takeoff on her first jump and came down on one leg. Nothing good can come from that, and seconds later she was off the course and out of the finals. And Battelle was in, a turn of events even she found hard to believe.

“Candice, she’s a world champion and World Cup winner,” Battelle said. “She’s awesome. I got a lot luckier than she did.”

That was her second surprise. The first was that she had been in such a precarious position at all.

“I knew I hadn’t skied that clean, but I figured I at least would be in the top 10,” she said. “When I heard 16 and I knew Candice had to go, I was pretty sure my Olympic experience was over.”

But as she stood watching Gilg’s run, her anguished look turned to one of relief.

“I got lucky and I got one more chance,” she said.

Which is one more than Gilg has.

“I was a little off-balance going into [the jump], “ she said. “I should have fought harder to hold the landing, but I guess I didn’t have the energy.”

The day’s skiing started in bright sunshine, which changed snow conditions. By the time the men started, clouds were overhead, dropping sifting snow. But the sun had done its work when it was Battelle’s turn to ski.

“The snow wasn’t what I expected it to be,” she said. “I wasn’t ready for it and didn’t adjust well enough.

“I got information that the course was soft, just like in training, so I pushed it right out of the gate. I shouldn’t have, because it was really slick.

“Japanese snow, there’s something about it. It’s the slickest snow I ever skied and I just wasn’t ready for it.”

She has two days to get ready for more of the same.

“Now that I know, I can adjust,” she said.

U.S. women joining her in the finals will be former Olympic champion Donna Weinbrecht, who finished second to Canadian Anne-Marie Pelchat in qualifying, and Liz McIntyre, who tied Tatjana Mittermayer of Germany for third.

Moseley skied seventh among the 33 men and it was widely assumed after his run that the competition for first was over. In a sport in which hundredths of a point often separate the competitors, he finished more than a full point ahead of second qualifier Janne Lahtela of Finland. Jean-Luc Brassard of Canada, defending Olympic champion and last season’s World Cup champion, qualified seventh.

“It was a good run, but I can do a lot better than that,” Moseley said. “But I was definitely a little more on edge that I’d planned on. The course had slickened up a lot since training. I was hanging on in the middle a little bit.”

Speed, form and the jumps are used in determining mogul skiers’ scores and Moseley scored heavily with his jumps, a double-twister spread off the first ramp, then an eye-popping 360 off the second, known in the trade as a helicopter, with an iron-cross grab.

“You do a helicopter and a position backward,” he said. “When I’m in the position, I grab the inside ski, my left ski, and I tweak it so it creates an effect of a cross, a really tweaked-out kind. It looks like I’m in a ball. I’ve got more air, it’s really exciting. People have never seen it and it’s cool to do.”

It was well-received here, and it put Moseley right where he wants to be Wednesday.

Joining him in the finals will be Alex Wilson, who qualified 10th. Jim Moran, who went to arbitration with the U.S. Ski Team before the Games to regain what he considered his rightful place on the freestyle team, failed to qualify for the finals, finishing 23rd.