Laguna Los Morros - Chile
Latinos 2000 - Final Report

We started a bit late but what else is new in Latin America.

Some great results here today with some big upsets and some tremendous skiing in these pressure packed finals.  Some notables were Francisco Miranda and brother Rodrigo Miranda tying in the slalom event for first of which Rodrigo came out the winner with a couple at 11.25 meters.

Reversing the fortune, Francisco kicked a personal best of 55.3 meters in the jump event to take the Sub-21 lead that Rodrigo could not attain.

Natalia Hernandez of Colombia continued her winning ways taking the Open Women Overall and Jump titles with Veronica Linuales of Argentina taking the slalom title.

Men's Slalom was spectacular but when the spray settled, Jorge Renosto was first, Javier Julio second and Arturo Nelson (MEX) a close 3rd - all in the 11.25 meter line.

Men's Jump was taken by Javier Julio in the fading light and glaring water with an official leap of over 59 meters give or take a few cms. His last jump was longer but we completely lost it in the glare of the setting sun.

Oh well - stuff happens...

We then had medal presentations and got on the bus in the longest traffic jam in Latin America! It is late and I must go to the closing ceremonies and final medal presentations.

Vern Oberg

Sabado Marzo 25, 2000
Laguna los Morros, Chile
Late nite report

After fighting with telephones that don't work and battling 3rd degree sunburn on my ears, I am finally able to give this report - although it is not final because we have only finished the prelims and all of the trick finals. Of course, the computer disk I got of the final trick round was blank!

Nevertheless, we had a great jump round this morning with Javier Julio kicking some beauts to lead into the finals followed close behind by Mr. Personal best, Francisco Miranda (CHI) and the perennial favorite, Martin Lopez (ARG).

In the 17-21 division, Rodrigo Miranda (55.5 M), Francisco Miranda, and Jose Moreno all of Chile, lead in that division. Camilo Andrade (COL) is a close 4th. Rodrigo's jump is a personal best and what a time to put it together!

Hopefully, I can figure out the scoring program to get the trick finals early manana and send you the resultados. All that I can remember after some tremendous tricking by these Latin Stars is that Sergio Font (MEX), with a beaut of a Ski Line 7 to finish his pass, score 9500 points to win the Open Division and, Lorena Botana (ARG) with close to 6000 pts won the Open Women's division.
Great skiing here in South America - to bad your missing it all...

VernO

Marzo 24, 2000
Laguna Los Morros, Chile
Latin 2000

I got a little messed up with the internet today and had some problems logging in and as well, my computer went dead in the middle of a transfer.  Not a good thing.

However, after the excellent Open Mens slalom event where you almost needed to dip into the 11.25 meter line to get in the finals, we switched to jumping prelims. Some notables were Natalie Hernandez of Colombia who went a personal best in both the 17-21 and upped it in the Open Womens division to take the lead in both.

Larry Gisler of Chile leads the seniors A event and as well, found that landing on the video grid buoys was somewhat painful.  Of  course he showed us the welt on his butt to prove it!

During all this time I sat as a judge in the boat under a sweltering high altitude sun in Chile and cooked both ears, but we did well in the re-ride department!

At the end of the day, the Open Men's trick elims were held and it was a battle to the finish. Javier Julio twisted and turned, flipped and finessed his way to a 9990 point run to lead the pack followed by Jorge Renosto and Sergio Font.

I have sent the results and some photos to the IWSF.com page so have a peek. Right now, I shall sleep.....

VernO

March 24, 2000
Laguna Los Morros, Chile
Latino's 2000

This is an update report for the Open Men Eliminations:

Taking the lead from the Senior Men yesterday, the Open Men skiers put on a terrific show on the calm waters of Laguna Los Morros.

Javier Julio (ARG), early in the random seed, set the pace by breaking the Latin Open Slalom record with 5 buoys on a 11.25 m line. He skied flawlessly! And, the rest of the competitors took the bait
and skied their hearts out.

Some notables were Martin Lopez (ARG) who appeared to be completely toast at buoy 6 at 13 meters, made an amazing recovery to gain an extra 2.5 bouys on the 12 meter line.

Jorge Renosto (ARG) also took aim at the latin record and took a spectacular spill at buoy 5 on the 11.25 m line scoring 58.25, just behind Javier.

Man, these Argentines are showing their stuff in Slalom!

But, watch out for the Brazilians! Nicholas Fuldauer (BRA) skied a flawless/textbook 3 passes and on his way back on the 11.25 line, appeared to have it made when a slight bobble at 4 turned into a 4.5 buoy score - it was sooooo close!

Other notable performances came from Rodolfo Guzman (CHI) skiing way over his head making it around 2 buoys at 11.25 and, Juan Saenz (COL) who literally hacked his way for 3 passes to score 3.5 at 12 meters.

With a field of 15, only 8 will ski in the finals.  The final results are not printed yet and I must go for an afternoon boat ride!  Will update you later... Jumping up next.

VernO

March 24, 10:00 AM update report:
Laguna Los Morros - Chile:

The day started with the 17-21 Slalom skiers and what a show on the water!  The Latino slalom record was tied twice by brothers Toti and Francisco Miranda on their home lake, each advancing to the
finals with 2 buoys at 11.25 meters.  The current record was held by Emiliano Botana who, unfortunately, suffered a knee injury during jump practice earlier this week.

The others who qualified for the finals were Arturo Torres (MEX) at 48.5 buoys and Jose Moreno (CHI) at 46.25. Jose by the way had the most spectacular fall bouncing off buoy 5 and cartwheeled down the lake.

In the 17-21 Women event, Natalia Hernandez (COL) leads with Marina de Lorenzo (BRA) close behind. Natalia ran 5.25 buoys at 13 meters.

As we go to press, the Open divisions have just begun and I will try to get a report off during the lunch break as I get to sit in La lancha for all of today's jumping eliminations.

Vern O.

What started out as a cool morning in the autumn of Chile ended up as hotly contested divisions both in figures and Slalom.  By far the most spectacular event today was the Seniors division where 4 skiers are virtually neck and neck at the 11.25 meter line and it took 51.25 buoys to make it to the finals! Last year's winner, Juan Cuglievan of Peru is sitting nicely in 3rd spot with Marco Figeireo of Brasil in 1st and Larry Gisler of Chile in Second.  There are lots of great battles shaping up in this 2000 Latinos and hopefully, we can get you more pic.'s of the events. However today, the digital camera ran out of battery power because the kids were taking photos of each other. I will commandeer it tomorrow!

Great skiing yet in store - the jumping prelims begins on friday and the skiers are pumped!  Problemos - si, we have a few - like our video blaster card blasted, but we still have one left!  Long days here in Chile - stay tuned.
Vern O.

Prelim round scores

Because I have to type this from scratch, I ain't gonna send it all. So, you just get the finalists.

Juvenil Damas (Junior Girls)

1. Natalia Corea (COL) 3740
2. Tatiana Andrade (COL) 2580
3. Maria Linares (COL) 2350
4. Fatima Ruiz (MEX) 1980

17-21 Damas (Women)

1. Natalia Hernandez (COL) 3750
2. Roberta Rendo (ARG) 2100
3. Marina de Lorenzo (Brazil) 840

Open Damas (Women)

1. Lorena Botana (ARG) 4730
2. Aline Nelson (MEX) 3860

Senior Varones "B" (Basically Men's III)

1. Edgardo Martin (ARG) 4830 

2. Jose Luis Visconti (ARG) 3210 

3. Eduardo Gullardo (ARG) 2610 

4. Carlos Garcia (MEX) 1840

17-21 Varones (Men)

1. Rodrigo Miranda (CHI) 6040 

2. Francisco Miranda (CHI) 5200 

3. Jose Moreno (CHI) 3840 

4. Felipe Leal (COL) 2650 

5. Hector Gonzales (MEX) 1720 

6. Camilo Andrade (COL) 950

Juvenil Varones (Boys)

1. Felipe Miranda (CHI) 5720 

2. Carlos Lamadrid (MEX) 2730 

3. Felipe Corea (COL) 2230 

4. Claudio Berrios (CHI) 2120 

5. Alvaro Torres (MEX) 1950 

6. Fernando Neves (BRA) 1350

Slalom Preliminary Results

Juvenil Damas (JR. Girls)

1. Natalia Correa (COL) 38.5
2. Fatima Ruiz (MEX) 38.0
3. Tatiana Andrade (COL) 33.0
4. Tiare Miranda (CHI) 28.5

Juvenil Varones (Jr. Boys)

1. Felipe (Pipe) Miranda (CHI) 51.00 

2. Fernando Neves (BRA) 47.50 

3. Diego Mariscal (MEX) 46.00 

4. Felipe Correa (COL) 39.50 

5. Carlos Lamadrid (MEX) 39.00 

6. Alvaro Torres (MEX) 39.00

Senior Varones (Sr. Men)

1. Marcos Figurereo (BRA) 57.5 

2. Larry Gisler (CHI) 57.0 

3. Carlos Chicharro (CHI) 56.0 

4. Juan Cuglievan (CHI) 56.0 

5. Fernando Stabio (ARG) 52.0 

6. Robert Ritter (CHI) 51.25

Senior Varones "B"

1. Ricardo Zazzali (PER) 49.00 

2. Eduardo Gallardo (ARG) 49.00 

3. Jose Visconti (ARG) 48.00 

4. Edgardo Martin (ARG) 46.00

March 23, 10 am report 

Well, we got to a late start here today mainly because the the bus with all the skiers got lost in traffic in Santiago, but this is not unusual. With one main freeway and 2.6 million inhabitants, and everyone owns a car, this is a normal occurance. However, the site is fully prepared for the 2000 Latinos featuring 80 Competitors from 6 countries - Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. This morning we have begun with Senior Men B followed by Junior Girls/Boys, Senior Women/Men A, and 17-21 Girls. This afternoon we will be running the prelims. in figuras for Jr. Boys/Girls, Senior Men, 17-21 Girls/Boys and Open Women. The weather is cooperating with rather cool mornings, glass calm water and sunny skies. It promises to be an excellent tournament with first class performances by these stars of South America.