Skier recovers from crash
to emerge as champion

Saturday February 26, 2000
Calgary Sun

BASIN, IDAHO (CP) -- Despite crashing and being sent to the hospital on Saturday, Melissa Prefontaine of Grand Prairie, Alta., emerged as the overall Nor Am aerials women's champion for the season.

Prefontaine led the field entering the second round, but fell hard after catching a ski edge entering her second jump in changing and difficult jumping conditions.

Despite the fall, Prefontaine emerged atop the overall standings, to lead the Canadian women to a 1-2-3-4 finish for the year. The order was Prefontaine, Karen McDonald of Toronto, Pascal Gadvois of Pincourt, Que., and Amber Peterson of Thunder Bay.

In Saturday's actual final, the only Canadian women on the podium was bronze-medallist Peterson. Peterson, who trains out of Calgary, was also the first to resume jumping after Prefontaine's crash. But she kept her composure to finish with a two-jump score of 127.21 points. "I was right after her, but my teammates got me pumped up," said Peterson. "They were just saying the jump was okay, that she just caught an edge, and that the transition (into the jump) was okay."

Kate Reed and runner-up Sarah Horovitz, both of the U.S., posted scores of 138.60 and 131.07 on a low-scoring day that featured snow, rain and drastically changing approach speeds.