It was a big weekend for Australia on the FIS World Cup aerials circuit. First up, both Danielle Scott and Abbey Willcox qualified for the aerials final at Lake Placid.
Though tricky wind conditions during qualifiers troubled the field, with some notable names missing the cut to the finals. Winter Vinecki (USA), who was second on the standings last season, missed the top 12 while two-time world champion Laura Peel (AUS) also did not qualify.
Olympic champion Xu Mengtao returned to competition after a season off, having competed in just one World Cup since the Beijing Olympics. But the 34-year-old showed little rust as she defied both competitors and conditions to win at Lake Placid.
Her back double full-full was the hardest trick landed in the women’s field, earning her a 95.52 in the superfinal.
Australia’s Danielle Scott, the Crystal Globe winner for last season, took a very close silver with 95.17 points followed by Marion Thenault (CAN) was in third place, with a 90.94.
Then the next night Australia won its first medal in the aerial skiing mixed team event since 2017, after Laura Peel led Australia to a bronze medal performance in Lake Placid, USA.
The Australian team featuring two-time World Champion Laura Peel, World Cup medallist Abbey Willcox and World Cup debutant Reilly Flanagan, qualified for the final in fourth place with 263.33 points, highlighted by Peel’s triple twisting triple back somersault scoring 114.62 points which was comparable with the leading men in the same event.
In the final, Peel was even better, scoring 118.48 points performing the same jump. Willcox and Flanagan both landed every competition jump on the night, which were double somersaults with two twists and one twist respectively.
The Australian team landed all six jumps in competition, to finish on the podium in third place and a combined score of 277.63 points. All of the other teams in the competition featured two men and one female competitor, while Team Australia featured two females and one male.
Finishing in first place was China on 289.17 points, followed by Canada in second with 289.17.
“It was a good day, I am super happy, it was the first time I have competed in a team event in a long time, we are happy to have Reilly here now, we have someone in the men’s event so we can compete, and to finish on the podium is amazing” said the 35-year-old Peel from Canberra.
The aerial skiing team now heads to Lac-Beauport, Canada, for a double World Cup next weekend on January 25 and 26.
