Games become Turin tuneup

Several athletes decided to skip the event in order to rest for the Olympics.
ASPEN, Colo. (AP) -- The three-time defending champion was out, resting her sore knee for the Olympics.
It didn't matter to Maelle Ricker.
Ricker, a member of the Canadian Olympic team, ended American Lindsey Jacobellis' reign as snowboard X champion, passing Joanie Anderson on the final jump on Saturday to win her second Winter X Games gold.
"For sure, it would have been more legit if she was there because she was competing to hold her four straight wins," said Ricker, of West Vancouver, British Columbia. "But it's still nice to win. Despite the fact that Lindsey was missing, it was still good competition."
U.S. Olympic team member Nate Holland edged Switzerland's Marco Huser in the men's snowboarder X to win his first Winter X gold, putting him in good shape headed into the Turin Olympics next month.
MIA
But the first day of Winter X was as much about the Olympians who didn't compete -- Jacobellis, Hannah Teter, Gretchen Bleiler -- as the ones who did.
Jacobellis is at the top of the list.
A technically sound stylist, Jacobellis has a high profile headed into Turin. She's a favorite to win gold in snowboardcross and the focus of a Visa commercial that's been all over the TV the past few weeks.
The 20-year-old from Stratton Mountain, Vt., had won three straight snowboarder X titles at Winter X, but strained her knee during practice on Friday. Instead of risking further injury with the Olympics less than two weeks away, Jacobellis decided to pull out of snowboarder X and superpipe.
"I am extremely disappointed that I can't defend my snowboarder X title and go for the first four-peat in Winter X history," she said.
"In no way will this incident change my status for the 2006 Winter Olympics."
Bleiler and Teter, members of the U.S. halfpipe team, also dropped out of Winter X as a precaution.
Gaining confidence
Jacobellis' absence cleared the way for Ricker to gain some much-needed confidence.
One of six Canadian Olympians at this year's Winter X Games, Ricker's had more than a half-dozen knee surgeries, including three to repair torn ligaments in consecutive years. She hadn't won a race this season and even had trouble during her training runs on Friday, falling every time before earning a spot in the semifinals on her lone qualifying run.
In the finals, Ricker jumped to the lead out of the starting gate in the finals, got passed midway through, then took advantage of Anderson's awkward landing on the final jump.
"This is a really good confidence boost," Ricker said. "It should be a lot of fun in Turin."
Janna Meyen became the fourth Winter X athlete to win four straight golds -- first in slopestyle -- climbing from last to first on the day's final run.
Meyen, of Bend, Ore., pulled off a big trick in the middle of her run (a 540) and had a smooth landing on the final kicker, finishing with 91.33 points to beat Hana Beaman, of Big Bear, Calif., by eight points.
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