Moomba Monday Finals
Conditions were close to perfect for the Moomba Monday finals. Women’s then Men’s trick was first up in the morning. Alexandra Lauretano was third last off the dock and really put the pressure on the remaining two trickers with two stand up passes (8180). Erika Lang was next off and an early fall on her second pass meant she only tricked 7750. Top seed Natallia Berdnikava stood up both her passes to post her best score for the tournament and win the Women’s trick event (8870).
Early falls by Rodrigo Miranda, Joel Wing and Javier Julio meant the Men’s Trick event was blown right open for someone to win it. Second off the dock Russell Gay really put his stamp on the competition with two stand up passes to score 10430. Aliaksei Zharnasek had a couple of minor hiccups in his run and took third place with a score of 10330. Jimmy Siemers saved his best score for the final tricking an almost flawless 11510 and took out the Men’s Trick.
The Women’s Slalom was next and the skiers had to battle with a slight current. Delfina Cuglievan was first off and put out a respectable score of 2@12m. Anais Amade skied into the 11.25m line and got 1.5 buoys which was not matched until Karen Truelove got exactly the same score on the 11.25m line. The upset of the day was top seed Karina Nowlan falling on her first pass. In the run off for first place Anais Amade was first off the dock and got 2 on the 11.25m line. Truelove bettered that score by half a buoy to claim the Women’s Slalom Title.
The Men’s Slalom was hotly contested and was a very high standard as well with all skiers in the final getting onto the 11.25m line. Thomas Degasperi was the first skier to get on the 10.75m line and got 1.5 buoys. Aaron Larkin next off the dock then got 3 buoys on the 10.75m line which put the pressure on top seed Will Asher. A fall around 2 buoy on the 10.75m line meant Larkin took out the Men’s Slalom for the second year in a row.
First off the dock in the Women’s Jump event was top seed Jacinta Carroll as she was jumping on the 5’ ramp. She put out the score to beat on her second jump, jumping 53.1m. Second last off the dock Alex Lauretano took third place with a jump of 48.9m, while last off the dock Natallia Berdnikava came close to beating the eighteen year old with a jump of 52.4m.
In the Men’s Jump the script was written almost the same as it was in the Women’s Jump. First off the dock was Tim Bradstreet as he was jumping on the 5’6” jump ramp. On his second jump he put out a personal best of 67.1m to hold first place until second seed Ryan Dodd jumped a 68.8m jump on his second jump to take the lead. Last off the dock Rodrigo Miranda left nothing in the tank, on his final jump taking a late one past the tower only to lose the right tip in the air and go out the front. His ski broke on impact just to rub insult into injury. Fortunately Miranda limped away relatively not hurt. Scot Ellis took third place.
The new overall trophies were awarded to Anais Amade and Adam Sedlmajer. Jacinta Carroll took home the most outstanding Australian skier award.
Joshua Louder
Jacinta Carroll Draws Top Seed for the Women’s Jump Final
21.15pm Saturday 12th March 2011
Australian Jacinta Carroll has jumped 51.5 metres in the women’s jump semi final to be last off the dock on the Monday final. She narrowly out jumped Natallia Berdnikava from Belarus (51.2) and Alex Lauretano from the United States (50.2) to claim top spot for the final which is scheduled for Monday afternoon. This is the first time an Australian has been in the top spot for the final since Emma Sheers.
Berdnikava has a strong grip on the women’s trick event with a score of 8600 in the first round. Michale Briant score of 7510 was not good enough to take top spot for tomorrow’s semi final but claimed second last off the dock ahead of fifteen year old Erica Lang (7270).
An early fall on top seed Aliaksei Zharnasek’s second pass meant he only scored 8130 which puts him in ninth position. Jimmy Siemers two stand up passes put him in the prime position with a score of 11410 ahead of Javier Julio (10040). Russell Gay’s score of 9910 puts him in second place just ahead of Joshua Briant (9700).
More to come after Men’s Slalom
Joshua Louder







