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Aerial skiing World Cup gold for former gymnast

25/2/2015

Aerial skiing has achieved new heights in Moscow at the World Cup over the weekend, with former gymnast Danielle Scott winning gold for Australia.

The now 24-year-old started in gymnastics at the age of three and trained with the Pymble Ladies College Gymnastics Club before being the youngest athlete to be offered a scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport at age seven. Danielle went on to an elite level before retiring at the age of 13.

Danielle competed at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and came ninth. She is an Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA) & Victoria Institute of Sport (VIS) athlete.

Read more on Danielle's achievement here.

Gymnastics Australia (GA) is supported by the Federal Government's Australian Institute of Sport Competitive Innovation Fund. ‘Spin to Win’ is a collaborative project led by GA in partnership with Diving Australia (DA), Ski & Snowboard Australia (SSA) and the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA) that aims to build a successful and sustainable national system of talent identification, development and transfer to maximise podium performances at world championships and Olympic Games in each sport in the future.

For more information regarding talent identification or talent transfer please contact GA's National Pathways Coordinator – Spin to Win, Bree Bryant at bbryant@gymnastics.org.au.

Scott wins her first gold

22/2/2015

Aerial skier Danielle Scott won her first World Cup gold medal in Moscow this morning (Australian time), adding more strength to an outstanding season by Australian winter sport athletes.

Competing under lights in the middle of the Russian capital with thousands of Moscovites attending one of the biggest aerial skiing events of the year, Scott captured Australia’s 10th medal in World Cup and World Championships events this season.

Scott’s victory means that all three members of Australia’s aerial skiing squad, which also includes Laura Peel and Renee McElduff, have stood on the top step of the podium this season.

The win has put Scott within reach of finishing the season as the top aerial skier in the world, which would also see her bag the coveted Crystal Globe award, the highest distinction in aerial World Cup competition.

American Ashley Caldwell finished in second today while her compatriot Kiley McKinnon picked up the bronze.

The final World Cup next week in Minsk, Belarus, will see a three way tussle with points leader McKinnon and China’s Mengtao Xu, who is currently sitting in third place on the standings list, 15 points behind Scott, fighting for the season’s biggest award.

Sharing the highs of such a successful day in Russia were fellow OWIA/VIS skiers Peel and McElduff who combined to give Australia three places in the top nine in Moscow.

Reigning World Champion Peel finished in sixth, after leading each of the previous rounds of the competition going into the super final.

Peel had the final jump of the night and a slight error on landing dropped her off the podium.

McElduff, who captured her maiden World Cup win in the previous event and currently sits in fifth place on the standings list, was ninth today.

But the day belonged to the 24-year-old Scott who joins Kirstie Marshall, Jacqui Cooper, Alisa Camplin, Lydia Lassila, Peel and McElduff as the only Australian female aerial skiers to have won a World Cup event.

She powered through the super final with an impeccable double full full, attracting 94.82 points from the judges, with what was her best jump of the night.

Scott showed real grit in the six woman super final after qualifying for the finals in fourth place and ending the first final in fifth.

Not surprisingly, Scott was thrilled by her performance and proud of the way she fought hard to record her best World Cup result.

“I am so incredibly pumped to be taking home my first World Cup win,” a jubilant Scott said.

“The event was huge and such an awesome place to perform at.

“I have been jumping well all season but ran into a little bad luck in the competitions so it feels good to finally have all the hard work pay off on the day today.

“Mother Nature seemed to take my side today. The temperatures were very warm and tricky snow conditions, but at least I didn’t get caught in the wind like the last two events.

“Looking ahead, I am pretty excited to be competing both triple twisting, double somersaults now and I hope to finish off the season strong.”

Coach Jeff Bean was equally animated by today’s results.

“Dani came off a great training camp in Lake Placid, where she was able to practice many of the jumps she did in competition in Moscow and it showed,” Bean said.

“The conditions were a little difficult with warm weather and she did a great job adjusting to them to get her first win.”

Results

World Cup women’s aerial skiing, Moscow, Russia

1. Danielle Scott (AUS), 2. Ashley Caldwell (USA), 3. Kiley McKinnon (USA), 4. Liubov Nikitina (RUS), 5. Hanna Huskova (BLR), 6. Laura Peel (AUS), 9. Renee McElduff (AUS).

World Cup women’s aerial skiing standings, after round 6

1. Kiley McKinnon (USA) 327, 2. Danielle Scott (AUS) 264, 3. Mengtao Xu (CHN) 249, 4. Ashley Caldwell (USA) 224, 5. Renee McElduff (AUS) 217, 6. Veronika Korsunova (RUS) 217, 10. Laura Peel (AUS) 165.

Former gymnast Renee McElduff wins gold in aerial skiing world cup

5/2/2015

Australia can celebrate another former gymnast achieving incredible results in Aerial Skiing with Renee McElduff winning the gold medal at the Aerial Skiing World Cup event in Lake Placid, New York.

Renee, 23, started gymnastics at the age of 6 and comes from Sydney Olympic Park Gymnastics Club where she competed as a Level 10 gymnast. Alongside her Aerial Skiing career and commitments Renee has continued her involvement in gymnastics as a National Squad coach in the Gymnastics team at Macquarie University Gymnastics.

She is an Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA) & Victoria Institute of Sport (VIS) athlete.

Gymnastics Australia (GA) is supported by the Federal Government's Australian Institute of Sport Competitive Innovation Fund. ‘Spin to Win’ is a collaborative project led by GA in partnership with Diving Australia (DA), Ski & Snowboard Australia (SSA) and the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA) that aims to build a successful and sustainable national system of talent identification, development and transfer to maximise podium performances at world championships and Olympic Games in each sport in the future.

For more information regarding talent identification or talent transfer please contact GA's National Pathways Coordinator – Spin to Win, Bree Bryant bbryant@gymnastics.org.au.

McElduff wins World Cup gold

1/2/2015

Renee McElduff became only the sixth Australian women’s aerial skier to record a World Cup win when she captured gold at the second event in Lake Placid, USA.

The 23-year-old OWIA/VIS athlete joins Kirstie Marshall, Jacqui Cooper, Alisa Camplin, Lydia Lassila and Laura Peel as the only female athletes with this achievement.

The win and the 100 World Cup points that accompany the gold medal have sky-rocketed McElduff’s world ranking from 14 to five in just 24 hours.

She finished ahead of Russia’s second placed Veronika Korsunova and Belarusian Hanna Huskova in third in the revised one jump formatted event.

McElduff’s first win in 20 World Cup starts in three years was a result that has left her stunned.

“I’m very surprised,” McElduff admitted.

“It is absolutely the highlight of my career.”

The Australian thought her weekend had peaked in yesterday’s day one of a double-header in Lake Placid when she reached her first super-final, recorded a World Cup career best result of sixth and achieved her highest score for the jump she chose in one of the finals.

How wrong she was.

Using the same jump – a full full, which won her a place in yesterday’s super-final - McElduff scored 84.42, an improvement on yesterday’s 84.10.

After McElduff finished in sixth place on day one of Lake Placid, coach Jeff Bean predicted “bigger and better things” were ahead for McElduff. How right he was.

McElduff said that her significant improvement this season is all related to her newly-found confidence.

McElduff’s goal going into today’s event was to finish in the top six and is now hoping to reach at least one more super-final in the season’s remaining two events.

Her OWIA/VIS teammates Laura Peel and Danielle Scott ended today’s event in minus 20 degree Celsius conditions in 10th and 21st places respectively.

McElduff's win is the latest addition to Australia’s aerial squad’s highly successful season, which includes Peel winning the World Championships title Scott fifth at at the World Championships after taking the World Cup silver medal in Beijing at the start of the season.

The one jump format of today’s event was used to give organisers the opportunity to stage a nation’s team event on the same day.

The OWIA/VIS aerial squad now has several weeks to prepare for the season’s second last event in Moscow, Russia, on February 21.

IMAGE: Renee McElduff (middle) celebrates her win in Lake Placid © Ashley Merkur

Aerial skiing World Cup gold for former gymnast

Scott wins her first gold

Former gymnast Renee McElduff wins gold in aerial skiing world cup

McElduff wins World Cup gold

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