Australia’s current Olympic gold medallist Lydia Lassila made a strong return to the elite level of aerial skiing in Changchun, China, today when she finished second in her first World Cup competition in almost three years.
However, despite her impressive return, Lassila, who became a mother for the first time in 2011, will not yet allow herself to start thinking about the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.
The Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of Sport athlete said she would have been disappointed had she not recorded her 30th World Cup podium finish today.
“I wanted to be on the podium and that’s what I thought I could do,” Lassila said.
“It’s too early to start thinking of another Olympic medal. Obviously that is what I dream of, and that is why I’m here, but there is a lot of building to do.”
Finishing second to China’s Mengtao Xu and ahead of Nina Li, also from China, clearly signaled to the skiing world that Lassila is back with the same desire that propelled her to Olympic glory in February 2010.
Right from the start of the first World Cup aerial event of the season, Lassila made it clear that her intentions would not revolve around “easing” her way back into competition.
She finished fourth in qualifying with a full-full scoring 89 points and then increased the degree of difficulty in the first final with a double full-full, earning 94 points and a place in the super-final contested by the day’s best four athletes.
Competing for the first time in the new two finals format, Lassila maintained her degree of difficulty in the final round with a full-double-full, a double somersault with three twists, but with a double twist on the second flip, picking up 97 points in the minus 18 degree conditions to snare second place.
Lassila said that she was thrilled by the result but at the same time, she expects that sort of result of herself.
“I knew that if I could get to the final four, I’d have a pretty good chance of being on the podium.
“That was the first time I have competed with that format so I didn’t know what to expect other than expecting it to be a long day.
“As it turned out, the format was less of the big deal than what I thought it would be and that was surprising.
“The girl that won did triples, so there was nothing I could do about that at this stage.
“Today gives me a lot more confidence for when I start to do triples again.”
However, despite her impressive return, Lassila, who became a mother for the first time in 2011, will not yet allow herself to start thinking about the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.
The Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of Sport athlete said she would have been disappointed had she not recorded her 30th World Cup podium finish today.
“I wanted to be on the podium and that’s what I thought I could do,” Lassila said.
“It’s too early to start thinking of another Olympic medal. Obviously that is what I dream of, and that is why I’m here, but there is a lot of building to do.”
Finishing second to China’s Mengtao Xu and ahead of Nina Li, also from China, clearly signaled to the skiing world that Lassila is back with the same desire that propelled her to Olympic glory in February 2010.
Right from the start of the first World Cup aerial event of the season, Lassila made it clear that her intentions would not revolve around “easing” her way back into competition.
She finished fourth in qualifying with a full-full scoring 89 points and then increased the degree of difficulty in the first final with a double full-full, earning 94 points and a place in the super-final contested by the day’s best four athletes.
Competing for the first time in the new two finals format, Lassila maintained her degree of difficulty in the final round with a full-double-full, a double somersault with three twists, but with a double twist on the second flip, picking up 97 points in the minus 18 degree conditions to snare second place.
Lassila said that she was thrilled by the result but at the same time, she expects that sort of result of herself.
“I knew that if I could get to the final four, I’d have a pretty good chance of being on the podium.
“That was the first time I have competed with that format so I didn’t know what to expect other than expecting it to be a long day.
“As it turned out, the format was less of the big deal than what I thought it would be and that was surprising.
“The girl that won did triples, so there was nothing I could do about that at this stage.
“Today gives me a lot more confidence for when I start to do triples again.”
Lassila is planning to reintroduce triples when she competes at Lake Placid in the United States later this month.
“I think it is a good idea to get these doubles going again, Lassila said.
“There will be times with this format that I’ll need to do doubles so it is good to have them in my back pocket if I need them.
“The format is pretty cut throat now compared to 2010, with only four passing through to the super final.
"Whatever jump you do before the super final, you don’t get any reward for that at the end of the day.
“Now it’s that last jump that counts. That’s a little hard for me to digest at this stage but you have to jump to the new format and with strategy.”
Lassila’s second place was not the only impressive news from Changchun with solid results and range of new jumps unveiled for the first time by a number of the AIS/VIS squad
Danielle Scott continued her impressive results from the 2011/2012 season by finishing in 6th place executing FF for the first time in competition scoring 84 points in the qualification and then almost 88 points in the round of twelve.
Sam Wells went close to making Changchun’s first final, also executing FF for the first time finishing the qualification round in 14th place. Sam will improve in the weeks ahead with more confidence in the new skill.
Renee McElduff performed LF for the first time in a World Cup and was close to a good performance, only having a problem at the end of the outrun after landing her jump in competition.
Laura Peel, who ended the 2011/2012 season as the world’s fourth ranked aerial skier, missed the landing on her FF in the qualification round, but is jumping well and already looking towards Val Saint Come in Canada on January 12 and the opportunity to improve on her 18th place today.
In the men’s draw fellow AIS skier David Morris, who missed all of last season, recorded an impressive 11th place after qualifying through to the round of twelve with a very solid FdFF, his best World Cup result since 2010 and is very optimistic about a solid season ahead.
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