Australian aerial skier Laura Peel has finished the season with a world ranking of four after an impressive performance in the final of the World Cup event in Myrkdalen-Voss, Norway and fellow AIS/VIS athlete Dannielle Scott was named as World Cup Rookie of the year.

Peel faced the pressure of needing to perform excellent jumps to have a chance of lifting her world ranking from sixth going into the event.

With only five points separating sixth and fourth placings, the Mt Buller skier executed a double twisting double somersault scoring 90 points to qualify for the final stage of the event.

In the super-final, a shoot-out between the top four athletes from the previous round, she backed up with a 79 point double somersault with a single twist.

The jump gained enough points to secure Peel’s highest world ranking of her short but rapidly developing career.

Peel is justifiably proud of her World Cup season, which is only her second at this level and included a win in Austria, a third place in Canada and three other top five placings.

Peel faced a challenge each week for the entire season given that her jumps do not have the degree of difficulty to match the top Chinese athletes and realistically the potential to earn enough points to consistently challenge the top three ranked skiers.

However, it is still early days in Peel’s career and she will aim to add further jumps with higher difficulty in 2013.

Peel said she is pleasantly surprised by the way the season has unfolded.

“I’m super happy to have a top four ranking for the season. I did not expect it,” Peel said.

“Now we will get going on summer training and increase my level of difficulty so hopefully I can get on the podium a bit more next year.”

Another aspect of the fourth place in Norway, is that Peel is now confident she is better prepared for next year’s World Championships, to be staged at Myrkdalen-Voss.

“It definitely helps to get used to surroundings before a big event like the World Championships,” she said.

Fellow AIS/VIS scholarship holder Danielle Scott was another squad member who has strong reason to celebrate.

Scott, 22, was named the World Cup Rookie of the Year, a recognition voted on at the World Cup final by representatives of the competing nations, despite a comparatively disappointing result in the final competition for the season.

Another strong result by Australian Laura Peel has pushed the 22-year-old aerial skier to within a few points of finishing the season with a world ranking of four.

Peel finished in sixth place in the season’s penultimate World Cup aerial skiing event in front of about 7000 people in Moscow today, adding a further 40 points to her tally.

The ninth round World Cup event was dominated by Chinese athletes who filled the top four places.

Fanyu Kong picked up the gold medal, followed by series leader Mengtao Xu and reigning World Champion Shuang Cheng in third.

In only her second year on the World Cup tour, Peel’s impressive season has netted her six top ten finishes from the eight events contested by the Australians, including a win and a third place.

Peel, who qualified in seventh place in Moscow, impressed the judges with a double twisting double somersault jump, scoring 85.52 points, recording the day’s equal top mark for her impeccable landing.

Her consistent success means that her current ranking of six is just one point behind fifth and five points from fourth.

With the season’s ending event in Myrkdalen-Voss, Norway, on March 17, Peel is looking towards another strong performance to finish four months on the road.

Even if she is unable to lift her current ranking higher in Norway, the Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of Sport scholarship holder will see her ranking skyrocket from 17 in 2010 / 2011.

She went into this season without any expectations of world rankings, however, she is thrilled with the way her World Cup year has panned out.

“I hadn’t really thought about rankings at the start of the season but I suppose I would have been happy with anything in the top 10,” Peel said.

And the Australian aerial squad’s fortunes this season have been further bolstered by the solid performance of World Cup rookie Danielle Scott, who celebrated her 22nd birthday four days ago.

The fellow AIS / VIS scholarship holder recorded her sixth top 10 finish for the season by placing ninth today after qualifying in fifth place.

The AIS Aerial Skiing team has gained valuable experience competing on the 2014 Olympic Winter Games site in Sochi, Russia.

A Europa Cup event took place with many of the world's best aerial skiers in attendance to test out the 2014 Olympic venue.

Leading the way for Australia was AIS skier Laura Peel, who finished in sixth, with team-mate Danielle Scott in eighth.

AIS Aerial Skiing Program Manager Ashley Merkur found the event very beneficial, "The Europa Cup was the first event on the Olympic site, and it was great for our team to get experience with the site specifications, weather and security procedures."

The team now heads to Moscow for a World Cup event on March 10.