Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of Sport aerial skier David Morris qualified for a place in the top 12 finalists in the World Cup event in Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium last night but a misjudged landing prevented him for making a bigger impression on the event.

In front of a large crowd in the stunning stadium that was used for ceremonies and track and field events in the 2008 summer Olympic Games, Morris was rewarded with 115.05 for a full double full full in his first qualification jump.

He followed up with a double full full full in his second qualification jump, which attracted 121.27 points and a place in the final 12.

Attempting a full double full full in the first final, a missed landing limited Morris’ score from the five judges to 83.19 points, leaving the Australian in 11th place overall, short of gaining a place in the next final.

Morris added 24 points to his season tally meaning that the AIS / VIS skier still comfortably retains a top 10 world ranking.

The World Cup was won by Canadian Travis Gerrits, with China’s Wu Chao and Zongyang Jia taking second and third places.

Twenty-four hours earlier, AIS / VIS athletes Lydia Lassila finished in second place while Danielle Scott and Laura Peel added to the squad’s success with a sixth and seventh place.

Morris will join his five female squad members in Deer Valley in the United States for the next stop on the World Cup tour on January 10.

Reigning Olympic aerial skiing champion Lydia Lassila believes she is now close to career best form following a World Cup second place in Beijing, China last night.

Lassila, competing in a transformed Bird’s Nest stadium, the centrepiece of the 2008 summer Olympic Games, spearheaded an impressive day for Australia’s women’s squad.

Three Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of Sport athletes filled three of the top seven places, the squad’s best performance of the season.

Danielle Scott’s and Laura Peel’s sixth and seventh places added to the inspiring day for the Aussie team in front of about 27,000 spectators at the Bird’s Nest and a TV audience estimated to be more than 100 million people.

Both Scott and Peel added triple twisting double somersaults into their competition plans in Beijing. Sam Wells finished in 23rd place while Renee Mcelduff was 26th.

The event was won by Chinese athlete Zhang Xin, with her team mate Mengtao Xu taking the other podium place.

But for the Australians, the day belonged to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games gold medallist who prevailed in a format that will mirror the way the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games will be staged.

After competing in just her seventh World Cup event since the Vancouver Games and the birth of her son, Lassila described the day, the third stop of this season’s tour, as “it’s brutal, it’s tough, it’s hard”.

Lassila and the other 21 athletes started jumping at about 3pm, with the super final between the day’s top four skiers, finishing at about 8.30pm.

Lassila executed 10 triples for the day, the highest number of triples she has executed in competition throughout her World Cup career which started in 2001.

Lassila said that until today, seven or eight triples were a demanding day.

“It was a long day with a lot of jumps. That’s what the Olympics are going to be and I’m really happy I made it through all of the rounds, made the distance, which was a concern for me. But I handled it really well,” she said.

Lassila said that her pre-event plan was to introduce a new trick, a full full full –three flips with three twists – if she qualified for the four woman super final. This is a jump she has not attempted in four years.

Although Lassila did not land the full full full cleanly, she said she was “really happy with the jump.”

“I was a little nervous about the new trick but I was super close on the landing,” she said.

“It was nicely controlled and the landing was right there, not that far away.

“That gave me a ton of confidence to take into the Christmas break.”

“Today was a great opportunity to experience the format."

Australian aerial skier David Morris opened the season with a fifth place in the Beida Lake World Cup in China today, to be the event’s highest finishing Aussie.

With a well-executed full double full full in the qualification round, the Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of Sport athlete advanced to the final 12.

In the next round Morris elected to repeat the same jump from the qualification session, however, he was unable to advance any further, falling short by just a handful of points from making the event’s second final, which decides medal places among the top four athletes.

The event was won by won by China’s Liu Zhongqing, Anton Kushnir from Belarus was second and third place went to China’s Jia Zonbgyang.

In analysing his performance, Morris, who finished last season as the World number two, said that fifth place was a reasonable result at this stage of the season.
Morris said he experienced an indifferent preparation to this event.

“This was a fair spot for me to end in with the way that I jumped. It would have been nice to have a shot at the medals though,” he said.

“As it’s the start of the season, I’m still building the confidence. I put a lot of pressure on myself to do really well like last season but I now realise that I need to work at it and start from the start and do nice jumps.

“As long as my confidence is high, I don’t worry about the season. The results play out on their own. I just do the jumps that I do and the rest is up to the judges.”

Morris and the rest of the Australian squad have less than a week to prepare for the next round, which is being staged in Beijing’s famous Bird Nest arena, which was the centrepiece to the 2008 summer Olympic Games.

Fellow AIS / VIS scholarship holder Laura Peel was also pleased with her start to the season.

Peel used a full full jump in the qualification round, which saw her advance to the final eight, but her day ended in that round, leaving her in sixth place overall.

China’s Li Nina recorded a victory, followed by American Ashley Caldwell in second, while China Xu Sicun took the other podium place.

Peel was also satisfied with her performance and believes her results will improve as the season progresses.

“I was happy with my jumps. It’s the start of the season and I’m only getting going. I don’t want to peak too early,” Peel said.

Peel expects to introduce more difficult jumps to her repertoire after the Beijing event next weekend.

AIS / VIS athlete Danielle Scott used a more difficult jump than last season, a double full full, which earned her 11th place.

Scott was pleased with the outcome given that today was the first time she had used the jump in competition and has only performed it on four previous occasions.

The new jump is part of Scott’s strategy to implement more difficult jumps to give herself a better opportunity of elevating her ranking.

Reigning Olympic Champion Lydia Lassila had a day she wants to forget. She finished in 19th place, due to breaking a ski on landing, preventing her from earning enough points from the qualification round.

AIS / VIS athletes Samantha Wells and Renee McElduff finished 17th and 24th respectively.

Australian aerial skiers have opened their North Hemisphere season with three podium finishes at a Europa Cup event in Ruka, Finland.

Twenty-three-year old Australian Institute of Sport athlete Danielle Scott was Australia’s best performer by winning the title, ahead of Ukrainian Nadiya Didenko, with fellow AIS/VIS skier Laura Peel in third place.

Another AIS/VIS scholarship holder Samantha Wells was fourth.

World number two David Morris was also among the medals with a second place, behind Swiss Thomas Lambert and ahead of Christopher Lambert, also from Switzerland.

Fellow Aussies Renee McElduff finished in 13th, while Olympic gold medallist Lydia Lassila opted out of the event.

An additional Europa Cup event also took place the following day, with David Morris the only Australian in action. David narrowly missed the podium finishing in fourth place.

The squad will next compete in Beida Lake, China, their first World Cup competition for the season.