Eric Bergoust

It would not have been surprising had all four U.S. freestyle skiers in men's aerials advanced to the final Thursday. But these Turin Olympics have been full of surprises -- few of them good for the United States -- and here's another one: Jeret "Speedy" Peterson is his country's only hope to win an Olympic aerial medal. Though they were scattered throughout the 31-skier qualifying lineup -- trying with two runs apiece to be among the 12 athletes to advance to the finals -- the U.

It's off to Europe now for the Alpine World Cup troupe, and the going isn't likely to get any easier for the U.S. ski team, which left its star performer in Vail, Colo., on crutches. With Picabo Street out for the season and Hilary Lindh still hampered by a sore back, the only question remaining is whether the once-potent American men's speed squad has recovered enough from injuries and just plain slow skiing to provide at least one or two shining moments in an otherwise bleak winter.

Nikki Stone redeemed herself, for misses distant and recent, and Britt Swartley and Eric Bergoust joined her American celebration in freestyle skiing aerials qualifying Monday at Iixuna Kogen. Stone, who just missed qualifying for the finals four years ago at Lillehammer, Norway, came close to missing again here with a sprawling landing on her first jump, which left her in a vulnerable position.

Alpine Skiing: U.S. men will compete for an Olympic berth and $10,000 bonus in a giant slalom Saturday at Park City Resort and a slalom Sunday at Deer Valley, Utah. The World Cup circuit moves on to Bormio, Italy, for a downhill.... Caroline Lalive intends to continue competing in the downhill, slalom, giant slalom and super-giant slalom rather than specialize.

With Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark looking on, Hermann Maier won the giant slalom Saturday at Are, Sweden, for his 13th victory this season, equaling one of skiing's greatest records. Maier, who has captured the overall World Cup title three of the last four years, matched the record Stenmark set in 1979. "I never saw this emotion and celebration before, it was a great day," said Maier, whose winning time of 2 minutes 31.

OK, so most American efforts at the Nagano Games have been better suited for the Pacific Coast League Winter Olympics. Our ski jumpers pop up to shortstop while the Japanese go deep, deep, deep over the bleachers and into the parking lot. Our cross-country skiers are utility men while the Norwegians bat cleanup. Our biathletes are bench-warmers, our speedskaters are rookies, our men's Alpine teamers are aging middle relievers simply trying to hang on.

Adrian Fernandez had to win two very different battles to clinch the second Indy-car victory of his career. First, he had to overcome a bout with flu the night before the race. Then, the 32-year-old from Mexico had to hold off Al Unser Jr. in a sprint to the finish of the Budweiser 500 Saturday at Motegi, Japan. Fernandez led 102 of the 201 laps in his Reynard-Ford, and spent much of his time out front holding off Unser's Penske-Mercedes. Unser led the race twice for a total of 26 laps.

Hermann Maier of Austria continued his dominance at Beaver Creek, Colo., on Saturday, winning a World Cup downhill for his seventh victory in nine races on the Birds of Prey course. "If I don't get the house as a present, I have earned enough prize money here, maybe I can buy one," he said. Skiing aggressively and brushing gates along the way, Maier, covered the 1.6-mile course in 1 minute 40.66 seconds Lasse Kjus of Norway finished second at 1:41.15.