A one time opportunity to purchase tickets to the Australian Premiere of The Will To Fly film about Lydia Lassila is available for a limited time only.
 
This black tie event will be held on March 8th (International Women’s Day) - tickets are selling fast!

Australian Premiere @ Rivoli Melbourne
Date: Tuesday 8th March, 6:30pm
Location: The Rivoli Cinema - 200 Camberwell Rd Hawthorn East, VIC
 
To purchase (over 18), click here:
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-will-to-fly-premiere-black-tie-event-adults-only-tickets-21607149566

Sydney Preview Screening: The Will to Fly + Q&A with Lydia Lassila
Date: Thursday 3rd March, 6:30pm
Location: Hayden Orpheum - 380 Military Road Cremorne NSW

Sydney friends! Don't forget there is a special Q&A preview screening of The Will To Fly coming up very soon on the 3rd of March at the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace in Cremorne!

Get in early and be one of the first to see the film before the national release! Grab your tickets in this link below:
http://www.orpheum.com.au/wp-cinema/movie/OWILLTOFLYQA/Preview+Screening+The+Will+to+Fly+QA+with+Lydia+Lassila/

 The Will To Fly is the story of Olympic Champion Lydia Lassila, who as a young mum, against all the odds competing in one of the most challenging sports in the world, dares to reach for an almost impossible dream and in doing so, helps pave the way for women in sport.
 
"Lassila's story is one of amazing tenacity, self-will, and perseverance that
supersedes one's interest (or disinterest) in sport" FilmInk
 
"The Will To Fly is an inspirational film of determination and triumph" Vogue
Australia

"The Will To Fly is an incredible story of one woman's courage, resilience and
determination in the face of impossible odds" Women's Fitness

WEBSITE
www.thewilltoflyfilm.com

TRAILER
https://vimeo.com/134584319

Danielle Scott has finished second overall for the season in the 2015/16 FIS Freestyle Skiing Aerials World Cup, after finishing second in the final event of the season in Minsk, Belarus.

The 25-year-old Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA)/Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) athlete was locked in a battle with World Cup leader, Ashley Caldwell of the United States.

After finishing first in qualifying, Scott entered the first final with confidence, putting in a good jump to finish equal fourth, and therefore qualifying for the Super Final.

With the top six qualifying for the Final, Scott was third to jump, and put in an excellent Double Full Full, a triple twist double somersault under pressure, scoring an impressive 96.93, and her second highest score for the season.

Caldwell though responded strongly. Last to jump, and with the World Cup title on the line, she finished with a score of 103.27 performing a Full Full Full, a triple twisting triple somersault to claim a good win, taking home the crystal globe as World Cup champion for 2015/16.

Following the event, Scott reflected on what was a thrilling finale to the aerials competition.

“I’m pretty happy with second overall; it’s one up from last season, so I guess it just keeps getting better and better,” Scott said.

With so many possible scenarios today, Scott maintained her focus on each individual performance.

“The strategy today was definitely dealing with the conditions and speed,” Scott said.

“I’ve had a little bit of trouble with that recently, so I just trusted the coaches were putting me in the right places and do what I needed to do,” she added.

Samantha Wells finished eighth overall in today’s event, after a very strong performance of 3rd place in the qualification round, while Renee McElduff finished in 17th place.

In the Men’s, David Morris finished 21st to finish the season inside the top ten, finishing ninth overall.

IMAGE: Danielle Scott (left) celebrates on the podium © FIS

The Australian Flying Kangaroos OWIA/VIS Aerial Skiing program athletes are currently taking part in a highly successful on snow jumping camp in Powder Mountain, Utah, USA.

Powder Mountain is the official & home North American jumping resort and facility for the “Australian Flying Kangaroos” OWIA/VIS National Team Aerial Skiing program.

Major earth works have taken place during the past two summers to construct a jump site to full FIS specifications. During this season Powder Mountain has provided excellent staff and equipment who pushed the snow to build both the aerial site and jumps, and have since maintained the facility in ideal condition.

The completely new training facility this season has provided both inverted aerial jumps and upright jumps, ideal for many of the VIS athletes performing their first jumps on snow.

OWIA CEO Geoff Lipshut was extremely grateful for the leading training facility provided by Powder Mountain for our development athletes and visited the resort to attend a training session during early February.

OWIA CEO Geoff Lipshut was extremely thankful and enthusiastic about the training facility provided by Powder Mountain for the aerial skiing development athletes, and was able to visit the resort to attend a training session during early February.

“The training available to the athletes was just fantastic. Our athletes really enjoyed the perfect snow conditions and the quick turnaround with the chairlift perfectly placed to make training both convenient and efficient. When I was there, the weather was great, I saw the athletes loving being on the jump hill, and I was impressed with the standard of first ever jumps the athletes were performing."

"This facility will only be better in the future, Powder Mountain and their staff are to be congratulated on a job really well done!”

IMAGE: Britt George jumping at the Powder Mountain Aerial Site © Maddie Bennett

Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA)/Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) athlete Samantha Wells has continued her good form after once again qualifying for the Super Final, this time finishing sixth, at the Aerial Skiing World Cup event in Moscow, Russia.

Conditions in Moscow were challenging for all athletes, as the event site, constructed from scaffolding, was subjected to high winds in the lead-up, which made training extremely difficult.

Wells suffered an injury during the week, making her performances even more impressive.

“On the second day of training I had a considerable crash on my first jump,” Wells said.

“I was way too slow due to wind and snow conditions, and injured my ankle, sidelining me for the day’” she added.

Following her best ever World Cup result in Deer Valley, USA last weekend, where she collected a Silver medal, Wells, with her ankle heavily strapped, put in a solid performance in qualifying, where she finished seventh, to secure a berth in the top twelve.

In the Final, Wells finished third after an excellent Full Full (bFF), scoring 85.36 and therefore qualifying for the Super Final.

“I got my speed in the right place to land a nice Full Full and finish in third position,” Wells said.

In the Super Final, Wells performed a Full Double Full (bFdF), scoring a 65.56 and securing a sixth placing overall.

“I hadn’t prepared any Full Double Fulls, but we decided to put it out there anyway and see how it went,” Wells said.

“The risk didn’t pay off. I made a bad call in the air to crash the landing and finished up sixth,” she said.

Danielle Scott, the defending Moscow World Cup Champion, was so close to also reaching the Finals, missing out by just one spot, after finishing 13th in Qualifying, whilst Renee McElduff finished in 16th.

In the Men’s, David Morris finished in 23rd place in Qualifying, therefore missing out on the finals action.

With one World Cup aerial event remaining, Danielle Scott is in second place, David Morris fifth, Samantha Wells ninth and Renee McElduff 15th on the World Cup standings.

Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA)/Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) athlete Danielle Scott has capped off an excellent weekend for the Australian Aerials team, by taking silver in the second of the World Cup events at Deer Valley, USA this afternoon (Australian time).

Following Samantha Wells second placing in yesterday’s first World Cup event of the double header weekend, Scott could not contain her excitement when she realised she had secured the silver at the 2002 Olympic resort.

Today’s women’s event was taken out by China’s Xin Zhang who finished with a score of 99.40, just 2.11 points clear of Scott with Ashley Caldwell of the United States third.

“I feel fantastic; I’m just soaking it up,” Scott said, shortly after her Super Final run.

“The atmosphere is so awesome here in Deer Valley,” she added.

Scott was thrilled with her performance, and said she felt relaxed leading up to her final jump.

“I just maintained my focus and went out and had fun, not thinking about things too much,” Scott said.

Scott progressed to the Super Final after finishing fourth in qualifying, and again in her first final run.

Scott was thrilled with her final jump and said once she landed it, there was then a nervous wait.

“I just had my fingers and toes crossed; I knew it was close and when I realised I was second, it was just a great feeling,” she said.

Renee McElduff and Samantha Wells finished 15th and 22nd respectively in qualifying today, to miss out on a place in today’s final
In the Men’s event, David Morris finished 24th in qualifying to miss out on a place in the finals.
​
Petr Medulich of Russia was the overall winner, with Oleksandr Abramenko of Ukraine second, and Japan’s Naoya Tabara third.

OWIA/Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) athlete Samantha Wells is celebrating her first ever podium finish at an Aerials World Cup event.

Wells finished second in the Women’s Final in Deer Valley (USA), with just 0.04 points separating her from winner Yang Yu of China.

Wells performed a Back Full-Double Full in the final; the first time she has ever performed this jump in an event.

“I have been working really hard on this routine in training, so I was just really happy to land a new jump in a Final,” Wells said.
As soon as she landed the jump, Wells couldn’t contain her excitement.

“I just screamed out loud when I landed,” she said.

“I just kept going after I finished, and the finish area is quite small, that I actually ended up running into the fence, but I didn’t care,” an elated Wells said.

It was a good morning for all three Australian women, with Danielle Scott and Renee McElduff all reaching the Final.

Scott finished in fourth place, while McElduff was eighth, therefore placing all three inside the top ten.

Men’s World Cup series leader David Morris missed out on qualifying for the Men’s Final this morning after finishing 23rd in the  qualifying round.

IMAGE: The OWIA Aerial Skiing team joins Samantha Wells in celebration after winning her first ever World Cup medal  © Andrew Pattison

The Australian Flying Kangaroos OWIA/VIS Aerial Skiing program has taken part in celebrating Snowbasin Resorts 75th year of operations.

Snowbasin, situated in Utah, USA, is the North American home of the Flying Kangaroos OWIA/VIS Australian Aerial Skiing program.

Steeped in history, Snowbasin Resort opened in 1940 as the 'Ogden Snow Basin Winter Playground' and proudly hosted the 2002 Olympic Games' Downhill, Combined and Super G races.
 
Australian Olympic Gold Medallists Alisa Camplin and Lydia Lassila also feature at the resort, with their own signature Gondola, recognised alongside many of the greatest snowsports athletes in history from all over the world

At a special celebration at the resort, OWIA and VIS athletes were on hand to meet the Snowbasin guests and sign autographs at the base of the resort.

Snowbasin is having a fabulous winter season, with excellent snow and many days of perfect weather for the athletes to enjoy skiing at one of the North America’s very best ski resorts.

IMAGE: The Australian Flying Kangaroo Aerial Skiing athletes with Snowbasin Resort General Manager John Loomis.