Stone, 26, of Park City, Utah, finished fourth overall in the preliminary round to secure one of the 12 spots in Wednesday's medal competition.

Stone struggled with the landing on her first jump Monday, putting both hands down on the snow after a full double full (triple back somersault), and received a modest score of 78.10 points.

But she was nearly perfect on her second jump, a lay tuck full (triple back somersault with a single twist). That effort was worth 95.90 points, giving her a combined total of 174.00.

U.S. teammates Tracy Evans and Stacey Blumer flubbed the landings on their triple somersaults and failed to qualify. Evans finished 17th with 147.23 points, while Blumer was 20th with 130.90.

But the biggest surprise was the elimination of the two Australians, reigning world champion Kirstie Marshall and the World Cup circuit's second-ranked Jacqui Cooper.

Both sat back on their landings on the first jump, with Marshall earning only 66.46 points and Cooper 69.65.

On the second attempts, Marshall touched her right hand on the snow while Cooper failed to complete her somersault and landed heavily on her side.

Cooper lay on the snow for several minutes but eventually walked off under her own power. Australian officials said she was being examined for a possible concussion.

Marshall finished 14th with 148.99 points and Cooper was 23rd out of 24 competitors with 101.19.

For Stone, making the final made up for her performance in Lillehammer four years ago, when she finished 13th and just failed to qualify. Stone nearly retired then but went on to win the World Cup title in 1995 and has been a force ever since.

"I definitely had my nerves pumping up there,'' Stone said. "It's a huge relief. I'm just happy to make the final this time.''

Xu Nannan, 20, a former gymnast who is one of the stars of the emerging Chinese team, was the top women's qualifier with 182.01 points. She was followed by Ukraine's Alla Tsuper (178.46) and Canada's Veronica Brenner (174.86).

Twenty-six men, also divided in two groups, were also competing for 12 spots in the final.

Evans, 30, of Hornell, N.Y., was third after the first of her two jumps, nailing a lay tuck tuck (backward double somersault) that earned 88.96 points. But on her second jump, a lay tuck full (backward triple somersault), she wobbled on the landing and got only 58.27 points.

Evans' combined two-jump total of 147.23 points put her out of contention for the final.

"I didn't hit the takeoff the way I wanted to,'' said Evans, who finished seventh at the 1994 Lillehammer Games. "I didn't set up for the landing. It's disappointing, but I was here to do two good tricks, to throw the triples.''

Blumer, the 1997 overall World Cup freestyle champion, earned a solid 84.00 points on her opening lay tuck tuck. But she completely misjudged the landing on her lay tuck full and tumbled head over heels in spectacular fashion.

The mistake her a score of only 46.90 points for a two-jump total of 130.90.

"I panicked,'' Blumer said. "I knew I was a little slow on the approach. Then I twisted too early and came up short on the landing. I'm OK now, but my ego's a little bruised.''

"I was landing all the hardest tricks in training,'' she said. "I was ready — I felt sure I would make it.''

Blumer barely made it to Nagano.

She was left off the U.S. freestyle team by American coaches last month. But she fought her case in court and won a spot on the team when an American Arbitration Association judge in Denver ruled the selection process was flawed.

"I wish I hadn't had to go through all that,'' Blumer said. "It could have affected me a little bit. I missed two whole weeks of training at a crucial time.''

Blumer said she was disappointed that head coach Wayne Hilterbrand had not welcomed her fully onto the team.

"It would have been nice if `Wayno' acknowledged the fact and said to me, `You deserve to be here and I'm behind you 100 percent.' I didn't want to have any bitter memories. It would be nice to acknowledge it. But I guess he acknowledged it by coaching me on the hill.''