Li Nina, above, is half of a young, talented Chinese duo who could each wind
up on the podium. American Emily Cook will make her Olympic debut. (AP)
The only certainty in aerials is gravity. One by one, skiers launch themselves off an icy ramp that soars nearly straight up to the clouds. A few seconds later, they plop down to earth. The thrill revolves around how many acrobatic stunts they can pull off while aloft, and the tension revolves around what position they're in when they smack the ground. A two-footed landing with knees slightly bent and torso slightly forward is ideal. Anything else is a recipe for disaster.
The field of aerialists likely to advance to the women's final includes two skiers who are well acquainted with the sport's hazards: American Emily Cook, who shredded ligaments and shattered bones in both feet when she landed short on a training jump two weeks before the 2002 Olympics; and Australia's Alisa Camplin, the defending Olympic champion, who underwent radical reconstructive knee surgery last fall. Cook needed two surgeries and three years to recover from her injuries and, at 26, will make her long-awaited Olympic debut in Turin. Camplin, 31, who tore her right anterior cruciate ligament twice in one year, returned to jumping roughly two months after surgery.
Both will have sentiment on their side when they take flight tonight, as the aerials final is conducted under the lights, in the village of Sauze d'Oulx. But they may well be eclipsed by a pair of young Chinese skiers who have surged up the World Cup rankings since 2002: Li Nina, 23, who won the World Cup title in 2004-05, and Guo Xinxin, 22, who finished third in the World Cup rankings that year. Twelve aerialists will advance to the final, where they will take two jumps each. Medals are awarded according to the combined scores of the two final jumps.
NEW FACE
Resi StieglerUnited States
Alpine skiing
Women's slalom
It certainly helped that the 20-year-old Stiegler started skiing at age 2. And it was a plus that she grew up splitting time between Jackson Hole, Wyo., and Lienz, Austria. But Stiegler's greatest advantage in becoming a world-class skier was having a three-time Olympic medalist for a father and a skiing instructor for a mother. Though Stiegler skis for the United States, her father, Pepi Stiegler, skied for Austria at the 1960 and 1964 Winter Games. Resi (pronounced RACE-ee) isn't expected to win a medal in her Olympic debut, but her future looks bright, having finished sixth at the 2005 World Cup slalom in Bormio.
2002 FLASHBACK
SnowboardingParallel giant slalom
After having a rare liver disease diagnosed, Chris Klug, pictured, underwent a transplant in June 2000. Less than two years later, Klug was climbing the podium in Salt Lake to receive a bronze medal in the parallel giant slalom. In 2004 he started the Chris Klug Foundation, which promotes organ donation and improves the quality of life for organ donors, recipients and their families. But Klug's bid to appear in a third Olympics ended in disappointment. At 33, Klug was passed over in favor of Tyler Jewell, 28, of Sudbury, Mass., the only American male named to the PGS squad. Klug appealed the U.S. Ski and Snowboarding Association's decision, but an arbitrator upheld Jewell's selection.