Aerials, Women

At the 1994 Winter Olympics, Nikki Stone (USA) was one of the favorites but failed to get out of the qualifying round, missing the final by only 0.43 points. In 1995 she won the World Championships and the overall World Cup title. She then sustained a serious back injury and was out of competition for over a year. But in the 1997-98 season she returned to win four of the six World Cup events prior to the Nagano Olympics and entered the Games as the favorite. The 1997 World Champion was Australian Kirstie Marshall, but like Stone in 1994, she failed to get thru qualifying. In the final, Stone took a big lead on the first jump with a perfectly executed back full-double full. In the second round she placed second to China’s Xu Nannan but was far enough ahead that she won the gold medal easily. Xu had been fourth after round one, but moved up to the silver medal with her back full-double full. The competition was held in difficult weather, with strong, gusty winds. The bronze medal went to Colette Brand (SUI), who had won the 1992 Olympic demonstration event. In 1994, she had also been among the favorites, but failed to qualify for the final.