Aerials World Cup FInals in down town Moscow this weekend. Photo: FIS Australia’s Flying Kangaroo Aerial skiers are in Moscow for the World Cup Final this weekend and will be jumping from a massive multi-storey high scaffold set-up just outside of the city centre.
Following Lydia Lassila and Danielle Scott’s one-two podium finish last weekend in Belarus, the Flying Kangaroos remained in Minsk for two days ahead of the Moscow final.
“All the athletes are in great shape,” coach Jeff Bean said. “We had a great few days jumping prior to coming here (Moscow).”
“Everyone is jumping better and becoming more confident as we continue to train their jumps. They are ready for Moscow and for the World Championships next week in Sierra Nevada.”
The Ladies overall title will come down to Scott and China’s Xu Mengtao. Scott narrowly regained the yellow bib in Minsk and is sitting on 402 points - just a hair’s breadth ahead of Mangtao’s 400 points.
In six competitions this season Scott has one victory and three runner-up results plus a top ten placing, as she seeks to improve on a 2015/16 season in which she finished second overall in the Aerial Skiing World Cup to USA’s Ashley Caldwell.
With Scott’s double-flipping precision and exceptional form matched up against Xu’s explosiveness and triple-flipping degree of difficulty, the drama developing ahead of this weekend’s competition and the battle for first overall is high.
Following Lydia Lassila and Danielle Scott’s one-two podium finish last weekend in Belarus, the Flying Kangaroos remained in Minsk for two days ahead of the Moscow final.
“All the athletes are in great shape,” coach Jeff Bean said. “We had a great few days jumping prior to coming here (Moscow).”
“Everyone is jumping better and becoming more confident as we continue to train their jumps. They are ready for Moscow and for the World Championships next week in Sierra Nevada.”
The Ladies overall title will come down to Scott and China’s Xu Mengtao. Scott narrowly regained the yellow bib in Minsk and is sitting on 402 points - just a hair’s breadth ahead of Mangtao’s 400 points.
In six competitions this season Scott has one victory and three runner-up results plus a top ten placing, as she seeks to improve on a 2015/16 season in which she finished second overall in the Aerial Skiing World Cup to USA’s Ashley Caldwell.
With Scott’s double-flipping precision and exceptional form matched up against Xu’s explosiveness and triple-flipping degree of difficulty, the drama developing ahead of this weekend’s competition and the battle for first overall is high.
Australian coaches Jeff Bean and Joe Davies working on the jump in Moscow. Photo: FIS Third overall currently belongs to Lassila, and the 35-year-old mother of two has written one of the most remarkable stories in Freestyle this season with two gold medal podiums.
Laura Peel and Samantha Wells have shown great consistency and find themselves just outside the overall top-ten. in eleventh and twelfth places respectively.
Dave Morris has not had the season he was hoping for, coping with niggling injuries earlier in the tour but is now feeling more like his Olympic self. Morris enters the final event on sixteenth place overall and has been using the current World Cup season to test out some new advanced skills.
Morris enters the final event in 16th place on the world ranking leader board.
Conditions in Moscow are different to normal with the aerial skiers jumping from a scaffolding set up, which requires two elevators at the rear to transport the athletes to the top.
“The in-run is steeper and the transition area in front of the jumps is longer than normal so the visuals are slightly different,” coach Bean said.
“We are fortunate to have a very experienced group of athletes who have jumped here in Moscow for the last three years as well as in Beijing so we are jumping and training as per normal.”
"The weather here is currently challenging and looks like it will continue down that track with warm condition and rain, we are happy to have a good training foundation and feel ready regardless of the conditions."
Competition begins in Moscow on Saturday, with qualifying commencing at 10.05pm (AEDT) and finals from 3am on Sunday morning, which can be watched live on Eurosport.
Laura Peel and Samantha Wells have shown great consistency and find themselves just outside the overall top-ten. in eleventh and twelfth places respectively.
Dave Morris has not had the season he was hoping for, coping with niggling injuries earlier in the tour but is now feeling more like his Olympic self. Morris enters the final event on sixteenth place overall and has been using the current World Cup season to test out some new advanced skills.
Morris enters the final event in 16th place on the world ranking leader board.
Conditions in Moscow are different to normal with the aerial skiers jumping from a scaffolding set up, which requires two elevators at the rear to transport the athletes to the top.
“The in-run is steeper and the transition area in front of the jumps is longer than normal so the visuals are slightly different,” coach Bean said.
“We are fortunate to have a very experienced group of athletes who have jumped here in Moscow for the last three years as well as in Beijing so we are jumping and training as per normal.”
"The weather here is currently challenging and looks like it will continue down that track with warm condition and rain, we are happy to have a good training foundation and feel ready regardless of the conditions."
Competition begins in Moscow on Saturday, with qualifying commencing at 10.05pm (AEDT) and finals from 3am on Sunday morning, which can be watched live on Eurosport.
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