2010 Olympic Champion aerial skier, Lydia Lassila has had a gondola cabin dedicated to her at the Snowbasin resort in Utah, USA, in a ceremony introduced by resort General Manager Kent Lyons.

Snowbasin is the North American home of the Australian Aerial Skiing program – “the Flying Kangaroos” and a long term supporter of Lassila and her team mates in the AIS/VIS program.

Lassila who gave birth to her first child in May, 2011 is on track to return to international competition in late 2012, in the quest to defend her Olympic Championship.

Last week Lassila travelled with her family to Utah, to join VIS scholarship athletes for a ski camp opportunity in Snowbasin.

Lassila commented at the dedication: “I am so thrilled that Snowbasin have chosen to recognize me. The resort has been a great supporter of the Flying Kangaroos for nine years now and provides an amazing mountain for training”.

Olympic Winter Institute of Australia Chairman, Geoffrey J Henke AO, praised the resort upon learning of the recognition of Lassila:

”Snowbasin has been just so important for our athletes, and our team has been extremely fortunate to have had the benefit of training and skiing at a World Class facility. We appreciate that Lydia is now the second of our athletes to be honoured with a gondola car, joining 2002 Olympic Champion Alisa Camplin.

As an organisation we are very proud to have Mrs Carol Holding as the only honorary member of the Flying Kangaroos, and we remain thankful to Carol and her husband Earl for their ongoing support of our young athletes.”

Immediately prior to the Gondola car dedication, Lydia presented Ross Mathews with a Chrystal membership plaque and a Karbon Flying Kangaroos team jacket for Carol Holding.

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.

The first FIS Freestyle World Cup event of the New Year takes place this weekend in Mont Gabriel, Canada.

For the AIS/VIS Aerial team the event marks their first World Cup of the season.

After a solid training camp in Apex, BC, Canada prior to Christmas, the AIS/VIS Aerial Skiing team have just returned from their Christmas-New Year break to resume training in Val Saint Come, a relatively new site in Quebec, Canada.

The lack of snow across the Northern Hemisphere to date this season has meant a couple of last minute destination changes, but has not compromised the quality of training.

The girls have been given the opportunity to jump with different teams this preparation, including the Canadian and Ukrainian National teams.

AIS Aerial Skiing Head Coach, Cord Spero, will be assisted by former Canadian World Champion Steve Omischl during the upcoming North American leg of the World Cup tour.

All girls are jumping well off the double kicker, and are prepared leading into the first World Cup of the season.

This event will mark the World Cup debut of AIS/VIS Scholarship holders Samantha Wells, Danielle Scott and Renee McElduff. Laura Peel completes the four-member squad, and will be commencing her second World Cup season.

AIS/NSWIS Mogul Skiing athletes competing include Britt Cox, Matt Graham and Nicole Parks who will compete in her first World Cup of the season.

Australian aerial skier Laura Peel produced another strong performance to finish 5th in today’s 3rd round of the World Cup at Lake Placid in the United States, building on her 3rd place last week.

The Mt Buller skier finished just 0.84 points behind the current World Cup equal leader, Ukrainian Olga Volkova, and 1.02 points behind the reigning World Champion, Shuang Cheng from China in the round before the super-final.

Having qualified in 9th place, Peel improved in the next round to finish in 5th place overall and joined teammate Danielle Scott in the overall top 10 placings, which provided a successful day for the Australian team.

Peel's double twisting double somersault scored the Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of Sport scholarship holder an outstanding 88.51 points, but she could not quite match the top four.

For the second event in a row, all podium positions were occupied by Chinese athletes, with first place going to Mengtao XU, who was comfortably ahead of Shuang and Fanyu Kong in third. Today’s three place-getters finished in exactly the same order as yesterday’s second round competition.

Peel said she was pleased that she was able to deliver another top score today, which she rates as being on a par with the jump that took her to third place in the World Cup opening event in Mont Gabriel, Canada, on January 15.

“I would say Mount Gabriel and today are the best I have ever jumped,” Peel said.

“Everybody can always improve a little but the way I jumped today was everything I had but maybe I can eventually do jumps with more difficulty.

“I am really confident with the jumps I have now and it’s nice to know that I am not too far behind the Chinese.”

Scott backed up her finals berth from yesterday with another top 12 performance in qualifying, which elevated her to the next round in today's competition.

Competing in her debut World Cup season, Scott finished the day in 9th overall, ahead of more experienced athletes from Russia, Belarus and the United States.

After today’s solid performances, Peel and Scott are placed in the World Cup’s top 10 standings, in 6th and 10th respectively.

The other two members of the aerials team, Renee McElduff finished one place out of the final, in 13th overall, while Samantha Wells placed 16th after making the final of yesterday’s first stage of the double-header in Lake Placid. McElduff and Wells are also in their first year of World Cup competition.

After the physical demands of two competitions in as many days, the team has two days of recovery before traveling to Calgary, Canada, to compete in the fourth round on January 29.

Australian aerial skiers Danielle Scott and Samantha Wells continued their encouraging start to their debut World Cup season by qualifying for the finals in Lake Placid, USA.

Both Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of Sport scholarship holders advanced to their second finals appearance within five days, backing up their impressive start to the season opener in Canada last weekend.

In a field that boasted the current champion and runner-up from the last World Championships, Scott finished 11th while teammate Wells was one place lower.

The second World Cup event of the year was a clean sweep for China with Mengtao Xu winning gold, World Champion Shuang Cheng securing silver and Fanyu Kong picking up bronze.

Australia’s Laura Peel, who finished on the podium in the first round in Canada, finished 14th.

She was affected by a strong tail wind while approaching the take-off kicker in her qualifying jump and missed the cut for the finals.

The fourth team member Renee McElduff, who is also experiencing her first World Cup season, was 18th.

It was a physically demanding day for all athletes, with qualifying held in gusty conditions in the afternoon and the finals under lights four hours later.

The young team now faces round three of the World Cup, the second part of the Lake Placid double-header, tomorrow.

Results – round two women’s World Cup aerial skiing, Lake Placid, USA:
1. Mengtao Xu (CHN) 93.06, 2, Shuang Cheng (CHN) 85.65, 3. Fanyu Kong (CHN) 81.2, 4. Olga Volkova (UKR) 71.97, 5. Nadiya Didenko (UKR) 81.42, 6. Olga Polyuk (UKR) 79.08, 7. Tanja Schaerer (SUI) 77.17, 8. Emily Cook (USA) 77.01, 9. Allison Lee (USA) 73.8, 10. Alina Gridneva (RUS) 73.45, 11. Danielle Scott (AUS) 70.98, 12. Samantha Wells (AUS) 68.87, 14. Laura Peel (AUS) 60.16, 18. Renee McElduff (AUS) 41.99.

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Aerial skier Laura Peel captured the first podium finish of her career in the opening round of the World Cup aerial competition at Mont Gabriel, Canada,while AIS team mates Samantha Wells, Renee McElduff and Danielle Scott made a successful debut in the first World Cup event of their Aerial Skiing careers at the Canadian resort.

Although the 22-year-old Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of Sport scholarship holder is still going through an “experience building” phase in her aerials career, Peel was surprised when she secured third place in the event.

Alongside the Australian on the podium were the Ukrainian winner Olga Volkova and American Emily Cook in second place.

Peel said she was “super-stoked” by her performance in the new competition format which is based on a qualifying round, a first final from the top 12 qualifiers, with the top four then going into a super final to determine podium places.

The Mt Buller skier fought back from eighth place in qualifying to win the first final with the most difficult jump in her repertoire, a double twisting double somersault, and advanced to the super final.

The Super Final is a one jump shoot-out. With regulations preventing an athlete from using the same jump in the first final and the super final, Peel opted for her lay-full jump in the super final, a double somersault with a full twist in the second somersault.

Apart from the excitement of winning her first World Cup medal, Peel said she was pleased that she successfully executed a new jump that she has added to her repertoire during the off season.
“It was awesome to finish third but I wasn’t really expecting it,” Peel admitted.

“I never expected a podium at all this season.

“I still need to increase the level of difficulty to go further but it was an awesome result.

“I hope I can make the final at least a few more times this season.”

Samantha Wells, Renee McElduff and Danielle Scott all performed a Lay Tuck double somersault jump in their debut World Cup competition. All three athletes executed very well with strong landings in the competition and placed in sixth, seventh and eighth place respectively.

The AIS/VIS Aerial Skiing team will travel to Lake Placid in the United States to compete in the seasons second round next weekend.