Australian aerial skier David Morris today received a harsh reminder of how Mother Nature can often be one of the toughest "opponents" in sport.
Sitting in a career best fourth place after the first jump at the World Cup season opener in Beida Lake, China, the AIS scholarship holder was poised to get his hands on a medal for the first time in his short World Cup career.
However, in a matter of a few minutes the wind and snow conditions changed dramatically causing the Mt Buller athlete to arrive at the take off ramp about four kilometres-per-hour slower than the speed required to correctly execute the jump and, in doing so, crashed out of podium contention.
The event was won by China's Zongyang Jia, Canadian Warren Shouldice finished in second place while China's Chao Wu made up the other position on the podium.
To add further to Morris' disappointment, a speed check was carried out just before attempting his final jump. It was the brief moment between the practice approach and the actual jump when Mother Nature's scorn was felt.
Attempting a quadruple twisting triple somersault as his second jump, Morris landed heavily on his side, a mistake that caused the Australian to slip from fourth to 12th place in the day's end results.
"The speed check two minutes before was fine but maybe the wind was a bit stronger and the snow became a little sticky or some other bizarre change of conditions occurred," Morris said.
"Whatever happened, it will make me go back and compete with even harder tomorrow."
Morris said that he was "shattered" by not landing the last jump but his fighting spirit was kept intact by the large number of positives from the day.
He goes into the World Cup second round at the Beida Lake ski resort tomorrow with the confidence that if he lands both jumps he can be up there with the best in the world, a big step for the man who finished his debut season last year ranked 15th.
Morris added that he had executed the same jump that he was attempting, the most difficult in his repertoire, perfectly in practice earlier in the day.
Sitting in a career best fourth place after the first jump at the World Cup season opener in Beida Lake, China, the AIS scholarship holder was poised to get his hands on a medal for the first time in his short World Cup career.
However, in a matter of a few minutes the wind and snow conditions changed dramatically causing the Mt Buller athlete to arrive at the take off ramp about four kilometres-per-hour slower than the speed required to correctly execute the jump and, in doing so, crashed out of podium contention.
The event was won by China's Zongyang Jia, Canadian Warren Shouldice finished in second place while China's Chao Wu made up the other position on the podium.
To add further to Morris' disappointment, a speed check was carried out just before attempting his final jump. It was the brief moment between the practice approach and the actual jump when Mother Nature's scorn was felt.
Attempting a quadruple twisting triple somersault as his second jump, Morris landed heavily on his side, a mistake that caused the Australian to slip from fourth to 12th place in the day's end results.
"The speed check two minutes before was fine but maybe the wind was a bit stronger and the snow became a little sticky or some other bizarre change of conditions occurred," Morris said.
"Whatever happened, it will make me go back and compete with even harder tomorrow."
Morris said that he was "shattered" by not landing the last jump but his fighting spirit was kept intact by the large number of positives from the day.
He goes into the World Cup second round at the Beida Lake ski resort tomorrow with the confidence that if he lands both jumps he can be up there with the best in the world, a big step for the man who finished his debut season last year ranked 15th.
Morris added that he had executed the same jump that he was attempting, the most difficult in his repertoire, perfectly in practice earlier in the day.
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