AERIALS: Australia’s aerial skiers will look to build on their rich tradition of Winter Olympic success when a team of five high flyers hit the jumps at the PyeongChang 2018 Games.


The team features a full contingent of Aussie women with dual Olympic medallist Lydia Lassila lining up at her fifth Winter Olympic Games alongside 2017 World Championship silver medallist Danielle Scott, 2015 World Champion Laura Peel and Sochi 2014 Olympian Samantha Wells.

Sochi 2014 silver medallist and 2017 World Championship bronze medallist David Morris will fly the flag in the men’s competition.

While the accolades for each member of this team are exceptional there is none more astounding than those of 2010 Olympic Champion and 2014 Olympic bronze medallist Lassila.

With so much adversity throughout her career it is astonishing to think she has made it to the start line of her fifth straight Olympic Games, let alone be well in contention to win an Australian record third Winter Olympic medal at PyeongChang.

“I never dreamed of going to 5 Olympics or having a career this long,” said Lassila who claimed a gold and silver medal at back-to-back World Cup events in Lake Placid last weekend.

“I’ve learned so much about myself, endured set backs and celebrated the victories.

“I love my sport, I love my country and that’s what has kept me coming back.”

The team has been in strong form throughout the season with Peel also claiming dual bronze medals in Lake Placid and Scott winning World Cup gold in China. The trio of Scott, Wells and Morris then linked up to win silver in the non-Olympic team event in Secret Garden.

“I competed all the jumps that I will be competing in PyeongChang in Lake Placid so doing that and finishing on the podium definitely gives me a confidence boost,” Peel said.

“However I know every day is a new day and everyone will be bringing their A game to the Olympics so right now it’s about getting back to work and building consistency.

“It’s just as exciting to be selected the second time around. I know more what to expect this time amd I think that experience will help me to really focus on the task at hand.

“I’m also looking forward to cheering on all the other Aussies.”

The team trains and lives with each other throughout the year and puts a lot of their success down to the combination of strong team camaraderie and the ability to push one another to new heights.

“We're all pretty chilled here in Finland at the moment in a last training camp before heading to PyeongChang,” Morris said.

“Everyone is up to standard and really jumping quite well. We were all lucky enough to basically qualify our spots last year so it hasn't been a stressful season for us, just making sure we stay healthy and have enough energy to peak at the big event.”

Having secured a medal at his second Games, Morris is now looking to pull out all the stops and perform a jump he has never tried on snow to climb one step higher on the Olympic podium.

“So far we haven't had enough time to practice my quintuple-twisting triple-flip,” he said.

“It's on my bucket list as something I need to do in the sport so the plan will be to perform it in this training camp, and then hopefully get the opportunity to show it off at the Games.

“If I make the super final (last round) that'll mean I'm having a pretty epic day and landing so by that point I'll be confident to perform it in competition for the first time and compete for a medal.”

Just like Morris, Scott too has the jumps she needs to lift her too Olympic glory. The 27-year-old claimed her best result to date at the 2017 World Championships and will be hoping that the experience from her first Games will help her lift at PyeongChang.

“It feels pretty cool knowing that this will be round two of flying the green and gold in the Olympic arena,” Scott said.

“Winning a medal at the World Champs has given confidence as it is the same format as the Olympics.

“Confidence is everything but so is being prepared and being able to handle the different conditions at each site so I hope to go out and put all my preparations to work.”

Wells will also be looking to take her Games experience, as well as some solid form that includes two top six World Cup results this season, onto the Korean slopes as she aims to better her 18th place finish in Sochi.

“Leading into my second Games, I’m feeling much better prepared and I am bringing with me an arsenal of competitive jumps,” she said.

“I’m excited to share this Olympic experience with my coach, and support staff, as well as some of my family, who will be coming to watch.”

Aerials skiing will kick off on with the women's qualification on Day 6 (February 15) followed by the finals on Day 7 (February 16). The men's competition then runs across Day 8 and 9 (February 17-18). 

The discipline of Freestyle Skiing is Australia’s most successful Winter Olympic event with Alisa Camplin’s two medals (2002 – gold, 2006 – bronze), Lassila’s two (2010 – gold, 2014 – bronze) and Morris’ Sochi 2014 silver accounting for half of the nation’s Winter medal haul.   
​

Matt Bartolo
olympics.com.au

Last weekends Aerial Skiing events in Lake Placid. NY, USA, marked the almost perfect end of an amazing World Cup career for Lydia Lassila.

Lassila's incredible World Cup career spanned over 17 years, with her first World Cup start coming at Mt Buller in September 2001.

With the two medals on the weekend, Lassila's brings her total career World Cup tally to 39, which includes 16 total victories.

Lassila is undoubtedly one of Australia's sporting greats and well in the conversation as Australia’s greatest ever wintersports athlete.  After her final event on Saturday night, Lassila sits equal second for the most World Cup medals ever won by an Australian, but is the only Australian to have better than a 50% lifetime conversion of World Cup starts to podiums.

Top-5 Australian World Cup medal winners

Kirstie Marshall (Aerial Skiing) - 41 World Cup medals (17 wins & 1 WC Globe from 93 starts)
Jacqui Cooper (Aerial Skiing) - 40 World Cup medals (24 wins & 5 WC Globes from 133 starts
Lydia Lassila (Aerial Skiing) - 39 World Cup medals (16 wins & 1 WC Globe from 77 starts)
Dale Begg-Smith (Mogul Skiing) - 29 World Cup medals (18 wins & 4 WC Globes from 74 starts)
Alisa Camplin (Aerial Skiing) - 19 World Cup medals (10 wins & 2 WC Globes from 53 starts)

Lassila was remarkably near the top of the World Cup rankings in each season she was in competition, finishing on top of the standings as World Cup champion Globe winner in 2009, runner-up four times and in third place twice.

Next month Lassila will be aiming for her third medal at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, Korea, which will be her fifth start at the Winter Olympics, the most by an Australian female.

IMAGES: Lydia Lassila at her first ever World Cup at Mt Buller in 2001 ©  Mark Ashkanasy / Alpine Images

Four-time Olympian Lydia Lassila has claimed silver and teammate Laura Peel has taken bronze at the second Aerial Skiing World Cup in Lake Placid, New York.

It’s the second time in as many days that the two VIS athletes have stepped up onto the podium at the last World Cup before PyeongChang.

It was very close, with both Australian athletes tied on the same score after doing the same jumps during each round of the competition, Lassila received the benefit of the tie break to move to the higher step on the podium.

Lassila, who woke up on the second competition day with a bout of food poisoning, finished in second place with a score of 93.76.

“Today was a real grind for me but I just did the bare minimum of jumps just to try and keep my energy reserves,” she said.

“It was tough but somehow I made it through, I had a nap in between qualifications and finals. The wind was really tricky today and it got a few people out but we managed it really well as a team and just did what I needed to do – nothing special, but just good!”

Joining Lassila on the podium again in third place was 2015 World Champion Laura Peel also with a score of 93.76.

The 28-year-old said that while she wasn’t “feeling great coming here” she leaves Lake Placid feeling “really good” after putting down the tricks she plans on performing at PyeongChang.

“I felt like I’d been training well but I didn’t feel like I’d been able to put it into the competition,” she said.

“I think I just kind of found a different mindset this week and I just wanted to go for it, hold nothing back before the Games and build some confidence, do all my tricks I’m going to do at the Games.

“It’s just about becoming more consistent and repeating … I can’t change the past so all I can do is attack the next competition and I think I did a really good job this weekend.”

For Lassila, who has now claimed five medals since rejoining the World Cup circuit in 2017, stepping back up onto the podium in Lake Placid was a bittersweet moment.

“This is my last ever World Cup, so it’s a little sad,” she said.

“I tried to really just enjoy each moment today, standing up there and feeling those nerves and that focus and that’s the part of this I miss – that feeling before the jump and then of course the exhilaration when you land. Those feelings can't be replicated anywhere else.”

All four Australian women made the top 12 and qualified for the finals on Day 2, with Peel and Lassila joined by 2017 World Championship silver medallist Danielle Scott, in sixth palce, and Sochi Olympian Sam Wells who finished 11th.

Olympic silver medallist David Morris narrowly missed out on the finals by 01.77 points, finishing the day in 13th place.

While there may have been 16,000 kilometres between Lake Placid and the land the athletes call home, there was still a strong Aussie support group present on Saturday to cheer on the Flying Kangaroos.

“It’s wonderful to have support here,” Lassila said.

“Dave Morris’ family have been an amazing support for me over many years but as well for the team so it’s good to have some connection to home when we’re so far away.”

Peel, whose mother was in the crowd, added that it has been “really awesome and cool to see the rest of Australia getting into winter sports and rallying a bit”, especially with just 18 days left until the opening ceremony of PyeongChang.

David Barden
OWIA

Four-time Olympian Lydia Lassila has won gold and fellow Flying Kangaroo Laura Peel has taken bronze at the Aerial Skiing World Cup in Lake Placid, New York.

Following what were disappointing results in Deer Valley last week, Australia’s aerial skiers bounced back in the first of their final two competitions before PyeongChang.

Lassila, who celebrated her 36th birthday during the week, finished in first place with a score of 99.75, said that it had been important “to step up the intensity this week” after she missed out on last week’s finals by 0.63 points.

“Long day, you know it’s hard for me to make it through a day I’m one year older this year!” she joked.

“You always want to be in the final especially in the Super Final so it’s important for me to do that and go through that process and have these long days so that I know in PyeongChang I’ve got that.

“But it was good, I really took it one jump at a time which is how I’ve kind of always tried to and I just felt really on, especially tonight I just felt really calm, confident, aggressive, assertive – all the right things that I needed to feel.

“I didn’t do too many training jumps because I just needed to conserve my body for tomorrow and, you know, just in general!”

Lydia shared the podium on Friday evening with Sochi Olympian and 2015 World Champion Laura Peel taking bronze with a score of 90.59.

With the Winter Games kicking off in 20 days, Peel said that it was “exciting to know that I did the jumps well today that I’m going to need to do”.

“So often in the top 12 I just do a full full and then one of my triple twisting doubles but today I decided to do two triple twisting doubles because we’ll have to do three jumps in PyeongChang,” she said.

With the last World Cup “not great for Australia”, Peel said that it had been “awesome” to get to stand on the podium with Lassila.

“I mean, Lyd’s like a superwoman so it’s always cool to be on the podium with her and Hanna [Huskova] from Belarus doing triples, it’s awesome seeing triples out there from the ladies,” she said.

“I think after Deer Valley I just had a little time to reflect and sort of refocus and I felt in a good place today, I felt calmer and more confident,” she said.

Fellow VIS skier Danielle Scott, who recently won gold in Secret Garden, finished the day in 12th place with a score of 52.52 after missing out on the six-woman Super Final after leading all Aussies earlier in the day qualifying in 3rd and teammate Sam Wells was 24th while two-time Olympian and Sochi silver medallist David Morris also finished 24th in the men’s event.

Speaking prior to Friday’s World Cup, coach Jeff Bean said that the focus for Lake Placid had been “just to take care of the little things” after the team “were all just a little bit off” at Deer Valley.

“We had a disappointment there,” Lassila said.

“The whole team did, so it was really important for us to step up the intensity this week and we did.”

With PyeongChang following a similar back-to-back consecutive day schedule, the tight turnaround in Lake Placid will be a great trial run for the Flying Kangaroos.

“It is great practice,” Lassila said.

“It will be about really conserving energy tonight, not getting too excited, going to sleep, getting physio – doing all the right things for my body which seems to be my biggest challenge and hopefully feeling fresh tomorrow.”

David Barden
OWIA

Australia’s Flying Kangaroos are jumping straight back in the saddle for this week’s Aerial Skiing World Cups in Lake Placid, New York following disappointing results in Deer Valley, Utah.
 
Coach Jeff Bean described the team’s last World Cup as being his “worst event in four years coaching with the team” but added that the Aussies are ready to “step up our game”.
 
“It just felt like everybody and everything was a little bit off across the board,” he said.
 
“We had some rough weather, but I don’t look at anything as an excuse, ever. We were just a little bit off, everybody was close but it was actually a good reminder for this week to just take care of the little things, take care of the details – the extra percentages here and there.”
 
Four-time Olympian Lydia Lassila missed out on progressing through to the first final by 0.63 points, finishing in 13th place in what was her first World Cup since March 2017.
 
Sam Wells finished 15th while Danielle Scott, who won gold in Secret Garden, China last December, came in at 17th and 2015 World Champion Laura Peel in 20th.
 
Two-time Olympian and Sochi silver medallist David Morris also narrowly missed out on making the men’s finals in Deer Valley, finishing just outside the top 12 in 14th place with a score of 104.98.
 
“The competition was actually really good, a lot of good jumps doing down which means you had to perform very well to get in [the finals],” he said.
 
“I unfortunately did a nice jump but not a fantastic landing, I got docked on my landing scores and was unable to make the finals.
 
“I’m not overly disappointed because really we’re just training for the Olympics so we can peak at the right moment – which is the whole team because we’ve all qualified so, at the moment, it’s just training and building up the skills and confidence leading into the Olympics.”

Bean said that “as painful as it was” for the Aussies, “it was a good reminder that it’s the details that help us win and have helped this program win in the past”, especially in the lead up to PyeongChang.
 
“That’s what we really need to get back to so luckily this wasn’t mid-February and we take it as a learning [opportunity] and we move on,” he said.
 
“Luckily we have two World Cups this week so we really get to get back on the horse right away which is a huge opportunity for us after a bad week.”
 
Fresh from the jump site, Bean said that Tuesday’s training “was probably the best we’ve had at a World Cup in probably a year”.
 
“The site was good, the weather was good – all of our girls did triple twists and double flips, Dave got up to triple flips so it really set us up for the week which is nice,” he said.
 
“And then we have a really good solid day of training tomorrow, we’ve already gone up two degrees of difficulties so we can work on our degree of difficulty. Quite often on World Cup you’re just scrambling to even do your jumps, here we can actually work on them.
 
With back-to-back competition days, the Flying Kangaroos will train again on Wednesday before taking Thursday off ahead of Friday and Saturday’s World Cups.
 
“I think the team’s actually feeling pretty good, [Deer Valley] was a good wake-up call for the staff as well as the athletes and everyone jumped well, just not well enough,” Bean said.
 
“We’ve just got to, for lack of a better term, step up our game and that’s what we’re doing this week, we’re just taking care of the details.
 
“Just raising the level of intensity a little bit for everyone because that’s what you need to do at this time of year in preparation for the Olympics because it’s going to be more stressful and more intense there so we have to be prepared for that.”
 
The final Aerials World Cups before PyeongChang will be held in Lake Placid, New York this week on Friday and Saturday. For live updates from the site, follow OWIA on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.
 
David Barden
OWIA

Australia’s aerials contingent have missed out on qualification for the finals of the penultimate World Cup event prior to PyeongChang 2018.

Needing to place in the top 12 in Deer Valley to progress to Final 1, Lydia Lassila came agonisingly close just 0.63 points off qualifiying in 13th place in what was her first event back since the 2017 World Championships.

Sam Wells finished 15th a further three points back with World Championships silver medallist Danielle Scott claiming 17th and 2015 World Champion Laura Peel in 20th.

In the men’s competition Sochi 2014 silver medallist David Morris also came close scoring 104.98 to finish 14th, just over five points outside of the top 12.

"It was a very tough day here for the team," coach Jeff Bean said.

"In my four years of coaching we've not had at least one athlete qualify for the final. It was all small little mistakes and in this sport when it's only three seconds it's those small little mistakes that count.

"Lydia finished in 13th only just missing the final but this is a day that we can all learn from.

"This wasn't the Olympics, we know the team is jumping well and we have two events in Lake Placid next week that we are going to move forward and focus on and make sure we are ready for the Games in February."

The Chinese and USA teams dominated the women’s event progressing four athletes each through to Final 1 while Belarus’ Sochi 2014 gold medallist Anton Kushnir topped the qualification charts for the men.

Matt Bartolo
olympics.com.au