Dale Begg-Smith has finished in fifth place in the World Cup in Mont Gabriel, Canada, but retains his position as the world’s number one mogul skier.

Begg-Smith’s turns were again up with the top of the field, rating second with the judges on 14.0 points compared to the 14.3 of event winner Guilbaut Colas of France.

But the 23-year-old Australian lost out in the air, rating eighth of the finalists, and his renowned speed was also below his best, coming in at sixth fastest down the Quebec hill.

In a high scoring event that saw eight competitors top 25 points, Colas won with 26.35 points from Russian skier Ruslan Sharifullin on 26.06, with Vincent Marquis of Canada in third place on 25.99 points.

Begg-Smith earned 25.68 points, still his second best score of the season.

“Dale had a pretty good run today,” said Olympic Winter Institute head mogul skiing coach Steve Desovich.

“We thought his turns score should have been a lot higher, and his top jump was perhaps a little ordinary, good but not spectacular. He could have been a little more aggressive on that.”

“But this season is not going to be like the last couple of years when Dale won 50 per cent of the events. Generally he’s in good shape and over time he’s going to get better and better.”

“We’ve got three or four days off now before we start training again, and that will be good.”

Begg-Smith’s Olympic Winter Institute team-mate Ramone Cooper, battling an inflammation of his knee tendons, was well back in the field in 33rd place on 21.86 points.

Begg-Smith now leads the World Cup standings on 265 points, 41 clear of Colas on 224, with Canadian Alexandre Bilodeau third on 171 points.

The next World Cup event, a dual moguls, will be on the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic course on February 2.

The OWI aerial skiing team will compete in Mont Gabriel tonight.

In alpine skiing, Craig Branch has picked up the second World Cup points of the season, finishing in equal 29th place in the downhill in Chamonix, France, while in snowboard, Torah Bright collected silver in the X Games in Aspen, Colorado.

Courtesy OWI/Sportcom