Australian aerial skier Samantha Wells showed great maturity as a competitor despite competing in just her fourth World Cup event today.

The 22-year-old AIS/VIS scholarship holder claimed the best finish of her developing career by ending the day in fifth position, behind the three medalists from last year’s World Championships.

The event was won by China’s Mengtao Xu, with compatriot Shuang Cheng and Ukrainian Olga Volkova in second and third places.

Wells led an Aussie charge of four athletes, including Danielle Scott, Renee McElduff and Laura Peel, to reach the final.

Yet while Scott, McElduff and Peel all performed admirably, the day’s honours belonged to Wells.

She ended the qualifying session in ninth place after a lay tuck earned her 71.76 points.

She ramped up the difficulty of her jump in the final, using a lay full which impressed the judges and scoring 79.89 points to elevate her four places above her qualifying position.

Needless to say that today was Wells’ best performance and the Mt Buller skier was thrilled by her result.

“This is very much a year of gaining experience for me and to finish fifth today was a big surprise for me,” Wells said.

“My goals this year are to make finals and land nice jumps, so to come fifth today is unbelievable.”

Wells' team-mates final placing's in the Calgary final were Scott in 9th who was close to a perfect score on her Lay Tuck with 75.66 points, McElduff in 11th after landing both jumps and Peel finished in 12th after qualifying strongly in 5th place but missed the landing of her higher degree of difficulty Full Full in the final.

The AIS/VIS program now head to Deer Valley, UT, USA, site of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games to compete in the final North American World Cup of the season.