Aerial skiing Olympic Champion Lydia Lassila’s much-anticipated comeback continued impressively at Lake Placid in the United States today when she pocketed her third World Cup podium finish from four starts.
The Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of sport athlete ended night two of the Lake Placid double-header in the silver medal position, adding to second places in China and Canada in the opening two events of the season.
Fellow AIS / VIS scholarship holder David Morris, who captured a career-first podium finish yesterday, also continued his successful season.
Morris backed up his third place yesterday by qualifying for his third super final in the four rounds of World Cup so far.
Morris leaves Lake Placid with a third and a fourth added to his record, clearly the best two days of his career.
As well as picking up her 32nd World Cup podium, Lassila can be pleased with several important steps forward in her quest for a tilt at another medal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.
This weekend saw Lassila jump triple somersaults in competition for the first time since the Olympic final in 2010.
Chinese athlete, Yu Yang, won today’s event, with compatriot Mengtao Xu third.
Fellow AIS / VIS skier Laura Peel is getting back to her best after a delayed pre-season start.
The 23-year-old Mount Buller-based skier finished Lake Placid in sixth and was today’s top qualifier.
AIS / VIS scholarship holder and world number five Dani Scott was ninth and was the third Australian woman to finish in today’s top 10.
The other two members of the AIS / VIS aerial squad, Renee McElduff and Samantha Wells, came 12th and 17th respectively, after very good jumps in the qualification round.
Lassila said she believes her return to competition is on track and living up to her expectations.
“Today I felt I had more fun. It’s been a while but it is coming back,” Lassila said.
“I’m very happy with how things are progressing and we could not have asked for more.
“We wanted to do the first couple of events with doubles and they were successful, then we added triples, which is what we did this week.
“It’s a really good start. The jumps are nice. I just need to get the landings a little more consistent.”
Lassila’s landing in the super final was the difference between winning and second today, with Yu Yang being the only competitor in the four woman super final to successfully complete her landing in the blustering conditions.
“It was strange because the conditions changed a lot for the final,” Lassila said.
“We were taking steps up on the in-run down. We were all over the place but we got the speeds right.
“Also through the course of the day, and I wasn’t ready for this, the landing hill was super soft and I just sank in. I couldn’t save it.
“Three girls crashed in the final as a result. We didn’t expect the landing hill to get that soft from one jump to another.”
Morris said he was really “happy and disappointed at the same time” with his fourth place and the fact that he missed his second podium in as many days by the small margin of 1.57 points.
“Today I probably set my expectation of myself a little higher than yesterday,” Morris said.
The Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of sport athlete ended night two of the Lake Placid double-header in the silver medal position, adding to second places in China and Canada in the opening two events of the season.
Fellow AIS / VIS scholarship holder David Morris, who captured a career-first podium finish yesterday, also continued his successful season.
Morris backed up his third place yesterday by qualifying for his third super final in the four rounds of World Cup so far.
Morris leaves Lake Placid with a third and a fourth added to his record, clearly the best two days of his career.
As well as picking up her 32nd World Cup podium, Lassila can be pleased with several important steps forward in her quest for a tilt at another medal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.
This weekend saw Lassila jump triple somersaults in competition for the first time since the Olympic final in 2010.
Chinese athlete, Yu Yang, won today’s event, with compatriot Mengtao Xu third.
Fellow AIS / VIS skier Laura Peel is getting back to her best after a delayed pre-season start.
The 23-year-old Mount Buller-based skier finished Lake Placid in sixth and was today’s top qualifier.
AIS / VIS scholarship holder and world number five Dani Scott was ninth and was the third Australian woman to finish in today’s top 10.
The other two members of the AIS / VIS aerial squad, Renee McElduff and Samantha Wells, came 12th and 17th respectively, after very good jumps in the qualification round.
Lassila said she believes her return to competition is on track and living up to her expectations.
“Today I felt I had more fun. It’s been a while but it is coming back,” Lassila said.
“I’m very happy with how things are progressing and we could not have asked for more.
“We wanted to do the first couple of events with doubles and they were successful, then we added triples, which is what we did this week.
“It’s a really good start. The jumps are nice. I just need to get the landings a little more consistent.”
Lassila’s landing in the super final was the difference between winning and second today, with Yu Yang being the only competitor in the four woman super final to successfully complete her landing in the blustering conditions.
“It was strange because the conditions changed a lot for the final,” Lassila said.
“We were taking steps up on the in-run down. We were all over the place but we got the speeds right.
“Also through the course of the day, and I wasn’t ready for this, the landing hill was super soft and I just sank in. I couldn’t save it.
“Three girls crashed in the final as a result. We didn’t expect the landing hill to get that soft from one jump to another.”
Morris said he was really “happy and disappointed at the same time” with his fourth place and the fact that he missed his second podium in as many days by the small margin of 1.57 points.
“Today I probably set my expectation of myself a little higher than yesterday,” Morris said.
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