Tignes, France Dec. 1, 2001 (USSA)--Hannah Hardaway (Moultonborough, NH) pickedup very close to where she left off last season Saturday, finishingsecond in the opening moguls World Cup contest of the season while WorldCup rookie Jeremy Bloom (Loveland, CO) -- who postponed a collegefootball scholarship so he could follow an Olympic dream -- grabbed hisfirst podium despite erratic fog and snow on the Grande Motte Glacierabove Tignes.
Hardaway, who won the World Cup Final last March in Himos, Finland,finished behind World Cup champion Kari Traa of Norway. Traa had 26.27points while Hardaway received 25.64 for her final run; Aiko Uemura ofJapan was third in the field of 39 women.
In the men's contest, Frenchman Johann Gregoire won with 26.24 points to25.84 for Canaidan Stephane Rochon. Bloom, who chose to try for theOlympic Team and postpone a football scholarship to the University ofColorado for a year, was third at 25.54. Jonny Moseley (Tiburon, CA),the defending Olympic moguls gold medalist, was ninth (24.63).
"We did real well, given the weather," said U.S. Head Coach Don St.Pierre. "We had a lot of guns 12 athletes -- seven men, five women andsome were able to deliver."
The glacier setting meant the weather, as usual in early winter, was agrab bag of ground fog and snowy conditions to less intense weather."Some were lucky, some weren't," St. Pierre said. He said he was"elated" with the 25th-place showing by Jillian Vogtli (Ellicotville,NY), who is returning from knee surgery in the spring.
The next moguls events will be Dec. 14-15 at the Sprint U.S. GrandNational in Steamboat Springs, Colo.


