Omischl Crowned World Champ

RUKA, Finland - Aerialist Steve Omischl of North Bay shook off the tag that he wasn't really a big-event jumper by capturing the gold medal at the World Freestyle Ski Championships Friday.

He and Jeff Bean of Ottawa went 1-2 to duplicate their showing from Thursday's qualification round.

“I've never jumped better,” said Omischl, 25, who had finished a disappointing 11th at the 2002 Olympic Games and third at the last World Championships two years ago.

“I don't know what to say. You're not going to get many quotes out of me today,” said an ecstatic Omischl, while being congratulated by teammates.

“It's the most calm I've ever been for any event. I knew if I competed the way I train, then I'd come through,” admitted the North Bay Native.

Omischl called his first jump in the two-jump final pretty average, although the quad-twisting triple somersault still gave him the lead with 127 points. He added another 131 points, with “the best jump I've ever done,” a differently sequenced quad-twisting triple, for a winning score of 258.98 points.

“We have a good team. We're one of the best teams in the world and it's about time we start winning the major events,” said Omischl.

"Last year, when I was winning a lot of World Cup events, there wasn't a lot of pressure,” said Omischl of winning the overall World Cup title, and following that with second this season behind Jeret Peterson of the U.S. in the overall World Cup Aerials standings.

With files from www.freestyleski.com