​Australia have delivered a sensational performance in their first-ever Olympic Mixed Aerials Team event, finishing fourth in the final competition at the Livigno Aerials and Moguls Park at Milano Cortina 2026. 

As the only nation fielding two females and one male, the Australians put down some of their best jumps of the Games to qualify third for the four-team final, before ultimately placing fourth. 

​Article courtesy olympics.com.au / Images Copyright Chris Hocking

Abbey Willcox opened Australia’s qualification round with a strong back full-double full (81.78) before Women’s Aerials silver medallist 

Danielle Scott bettered her career-best score of 117.19 – set three days earlier in the women’s Final 1. Scott’s back full-full-full scored 120.20 as the top female jump of the competition.

​Reilly Flanagan rounded out the impressive qualifying performance with a back double full-full to score 87.06. 

The Flying Kangaroos returned to the top of the hill for the final alongside China, Switzerland and the United States. While Willcox and Scott both performed beautiful airs, they were unable to replicate their landings from qualification, scoring 64.86 and 95.30 respectively. 

Flanagan was the final Aussie to jump, embracing the pressure and delivering the best competition jump of his career, executing a back double-full-full for a personal best score of 95.88 to take Australia’s combined total to 256.04. 

​Flanagan said putting down a PB in an Olympic final was the “best feeling in my life.” 

“I was just super happy when I landed that and just so proud of this team, too. 

“This experience has been incredible for me, a lot of learnings… but with these experiences I’ll be able to hopefully grow a lot more and carry on through the next four years,” he said. 

Scott also said she was thrilled to build on her individual silver medal performance and put down an even better jump in the Teams event. 

“That was pretty special. I think it's a little bit of redemption for dragging my hands on that individual jump [in the women’s super final],” she said. 

“I just wanted to put everything out there again. I was way more nervous today, I just wanted to do the best for this team. 

“To be in a final at the Olympics is huge for us, we really put everything on the line… I'm just proud of these guys. We did a good job.” 

Team USA claimed gold, landing three exceptional jumps for a combined score of 325.35. Switzerland took silver with 296.91, highlighted by male skiers Noe Roth and Pirmin Werner landing two of the most difficult jumps in the sport. China finished in third, and while their two male skiers were unable to cleanly land their back double full-double full-full jumps, with a 5.1 degree of difficulty (DD), their scores remained very competitive and the combined total was enough to edge in front of Australia. 

Scott explained that the DD of both male skiers is what gave China their advantage in the final, despite Australia executing cleaner landings. 

“We don't have the degree of difficulty that all the other nations do, we are still a young team, you know, Reilly just started this sport a few years ago,” she said. 

“A landing is obviously important, it's 30% of the score, but with that higher degree of difficulty, it just factors in that way. 

“This is setting the pathway for the future and I'm pretty excited to see where we can go with this team now.” 

Knowing the Aussies are at a competitive disadvantage as the only team with two female skiers, Scott put the call out there to encourage more men to take up the sport. 

“I'm so proud of these guys, because we literally put it all out there, and we'll come back stronger, we'll have more DD and hopefully some more guys on the team if anyone's interested!”

Australia will compete in the Aerials Mixed Teams event for the first time at Milano Cortina 2026.

The Teams event debuted at Beijing 2022, with six nations taking part in the unique format. However, without a male aerial skier in Beijing, Australia was unable to compete, as teams cannot field three athletes of the same gender.

Article courtesy olympics.com.au / Images Copyright Chris Hocking
​
With Reilly Flanagan making his Olympic debut in the Men’s Aerials event on Friday 20 February, Australia will contest the Team event for the first time. Silver medallist Danielle Scott and finalist Abbey Willcox have been named alongside Flanagan in the Team.

Coming into the Team event just three days after winning her first Olympic medal, Scott said she’s excited to carry her career best form in the Team event.

“I wouldn’t be here without my Team around me and to now go into the next event I hope to put down another great performance,” Scott said.

“Anything can happen in a Team event, and we’ve got [mixed teams] medals before, so I’m pretty excited and we’ll bring our best.”

While Flanagan still has his individual event before he can focus on the Team event, he said he’s taking inspiration from his Flying Kangaroos teammates.

“The girls did an amazing job yesterday,” he said. “They literally just showcased how good and dominant we are in this sport.

“With Aerials typically being an individual sport, I feel very grateful to have my two teammates here and to be able to make history being part of Australia’s first Mixed Aerials Team at the Olympics.”

After finishing 10th at her debut Games, Willcox said she’s excited to get another chance to perform on the world’s biggest stage alongside her teammates.

“I love the Team event because it feels like we’re competing as one and we’re all in it together,” Willcox said.

“Before every comp jump, we always hype each other up and show our support and belief in each other.”

The Mixed Teams competition sees three athletes – with at least one male and one female – perform one jump each. Scores are combined to determine standings, with the top four teams from qualification advancing to the final under the same format.

While men often compete with a higher Degree of Difficulty (DD), offering greater scoring potential, the increased complexity also comes with greater risk on landing.

“Most countries will have two males and one female, but our Team will have one male and two females,” Willcox explained.

“Reilly and I will be going off the double kicker and Dani will go off the triple kicker.

“With a higher degree of difficulty comes more challenging jumps and that makes the Teams competition so interesting. Some nations will go big and they might crash out, and that’s when we sneak in with our tricks and cleanly landed jumps.”

The Aerials Mixed Team event will held on the final day of competition at Milano Cortina, Saturday 21 February, with the action underway from 8.45pm AEDT.

Danielle Scott has won silver in Aerial Skiing, Australia’s sixth medal at an already historic Games for Australia. 

The 35-year-old brought her best form to Milano Cortina 2026. From qualifications through to finals, the flying Aussie looked the one to beat.  

​Article courtesy olympics.com.au / Images Copyright Chris Hocking

Scott executed an immaculate full-full-full in Final 1 to shoot straight into the Super Final with a score of 117.19 – the highest score of the day and a personal best result for Scott. 

In the one-jump Super Final, Scott’s full-full-full was beautiful in the air, but a deep landing saw her draw a score of 102.17 to take home silver.  

“To finally have this around my neck, I mean, it's taken four Olympics and it's been an incredible ride – a lot of highs, a lot of lows – but today I just put my heart out there, I left everything out there,” an emotional Scott said. 

“I jumped the way I wanted to, and I'm so grateful for my team around me for getting me to this point. This just means everything.” 

In a final where the top nine skiers were all performing triple jumps, it was the highest scoring women’s aerials final in history. 

Having not competed triples since 2023, Scott said she was thrilled to deliver a career-best performance on the world’s biggest stage. 

“Yeah, to see 117 on the scoreboard was pretty magic. I would like to have done that in the Super Final, but I can't get too greedy. I think today's been an awesome day.

“I hadn’t competed triples until now. You know, it’s been a rough ride, and I just kept believing the process was going to work. 

“It’s strategy as well — you’ve got to play the game sometimes, and my body has been through a lot. So I left [competing triples] to the right time and just believed that I've got the experience, I've done triples before and today was the day.” 

​Already a multiple World Cup winner, the Victorian Institute of Sport athlete’s previous best Olympic finish was 9th.  

Scott becomes Australia’s fourth Aerial Skiing medallist, exactly 24 years to the day after Alisa Camplin won Australia’s first gold medal in the sport.  

That moment sparked Scott’s Olympic dream and Camplin, Australia’s Winter Olympic Chef de Mission, was the first to congratulate Scott in Livigno.  

“It's been 12 years of coming in with the Olympic dream and now finally she just does the most beautiful jumps of her life, so I couldn't have been more happy for her,” Camplin said. 

“She's worked really hard for this, mentally and emotionally. Everyone could see that she has the most floaty, tightest, straightest, biggest, most gorgeous jumps. 

“I can’t tell you how much pressure is it is to be last in the start gate and to put that beautiful jump out there. She well and truly, over 12 years, over 12 months, over 12 hours, did everything possible to secure that performance and I couldn’t be more proud of her and the entire team behind her. 

“That was a next level female aerial final. The number of women doing full-full-fulls and landing them… it was one of the greatest competitions of all time, for her to be silver there was outstanding.” 

Abbey Willcox also qualified for final 1, finishing 10th overall with a textbook back full-double full in the 12-skier final, scoring 88.83. 

“It felt so good to be out there [in an Olympic final] and land my jumps as well. It’s a dream come true,” Willcox said. 

“As soon as I made the Olympic Team, it was like a weight off my shoulders, and then to go out and do this, it’s everything I really wanted to do so I feel really happy and proud of myself.” 

Fellow Aussie Olympic debutants Sidney Stephens and Airleigh Frigo placed 15th and 22nd respectively in the qualification round.  

Scott will have another shot at a medal in the Mixed Aerials Team event on Saturday 21 February. 

Danielle Scott has wrapped up the Olympic qualification period in style, delivering back-to-back podium finishes at the final Aerial Skiing World Cup events in Lake Placid, USA. After claiming gold yesterday, Scott added a bronze medal today, bringing her career tally to 27 World Cup podiums.
 
Despite challenging conditions with strong winds and falling snow, three VIS skiers advanced to the top-12 finals after performing the same full-full double twisting double back somersaults. Scott qualified second with 88.51 points, Laura Peel was close behind in third on 87.57, and Abbey Willcox secured sixth with 84.42.
 
In the opening round of finals, two Australians progressed to the six-athlete super-final. Peel impressed with 104.72 points for her lay-full-full double twisting triple back somersault to qualify second, while Scott advanced in sixth with 84.42 points for her full-full jump. Willcox narrowly missed the cut, finishing eighth on 75.60 points.
 
In the medal round, Scott claimed bronze with 85.65 points for her double full-full triple twisting double back somersault. Victory went to Kaila Kuhn of the USA on 105.60 points, with Mengtao Xu of China second on 105.17 points. Peel finished fourth after struggling to land her signature full-full-full triple twisting triple back somersault in the tough conditions, scoring 63.96.
 
“It’s been a slow start to the season for me, but these back-to-back podiums over the past few days are what I am looking for,” said the 35-year-old Scott from NSW, who trains in Brisbane at the Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre water jump facility.
 
“We’ve had tricky conditions, but I have done some nice jumps and I am looking forward to the next month’s training.
 
“The girls right now are doing some really big jumps, its super exciting. For the conditions out here today, I just played the game and put my jumps down, but I am super inspired by what the girls are doing and can’t wait to get out there and do it too.
 
“We’ll stay in Lake Placid for a few more days of training before heading to Switzerland to knuckle down and get everything we need in place ahead of the Olympics in Italy.“
 
Other VIS athletes in action missing finals included Sidney Stephens in 24th and Airleigh Frigo in 25th. In the men’s event, Reilly Flanagan finished 30th.
 
In the final World Cup standings for the season, three Australians finished inside the top 10, Laura Peel in fifth, Danielle Scott seventh, and Abbey Willcox tenth, with Airleigh Frigo just outside in eleventh place.

Danielle Scott in Lake Placid
© Chris Hocking

VIS aerial skier Danielle Scott has returned to the top of the podium, claiming her first World Cup victory since March 2023 in Lake Placid, USA. The win marks her first podium finish of the season and the seventh World Cup victory of her career.
 
In qualifying, three VIS skiers advanced to the top-12 finals, with all three performing the full-full double twisting double back somersault. Laura Peel qualified in first place, Danielle Scott was close behind in second on 86.62, and Airleigh Frigo was ninth with 80.01.
 
In the opening round of finals, two Australians made it through to the six-athlete super-final. Scott was second after scoring 87.25 points for her full-full jump, while Laura Peel squeezed into sixth place with 82.97 points for her lay-full-full double twisting double back somersault. Airleigh Frigo narrowly missed the cut, finishing seventh with 81.90 points.
 
Scott was impressive in difficult wind conditions in the super-final, scoring 95.88 points for her double full-full triple twisting double back somersault to take the victory. Mengtao Xu of China was runner up on 94.01 points, and Kaila Kuhn of the USA finished third on 92.29 points. Peel was sixth after struggling to land her signature full-full-full triple twisting triple back somersault.
 
Scott has been planning for triple back somersaults this northern hemisphere season and was aiming to compete them for the first time this season in Lake Placid, but windy conditions put that plan on hold.
 
“I’m just letting this sink in. I’ve had a rough run this season,” said the 35-year-old Scott from NSW, who trains in Brisbane at the Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre water jump facility.
 
“A lot of highs and lows, coming back to triples has been tricky. Today I just needed to go prove myself, and I did that, so I’m stoked.
 
“I was hoping to do triples, and we made some hard decisions and decided to keep it on the double. I think it paid off. I want to do them, so let’s get Mother Nature on our side.”
 
Other Australians in action missing finals included Abbey Willcox (15th) and Sidney Stephens (23rd). In the men’s event, Reilly Flanagan finished 28th.

IMAGE
The Australian team celebrate Danielle Scott's gold medal in Lake Placid © FIS

VIS aerial skiing double World Champion Laura Peel stormed back to form, securing her first World Cup victory of the season with an impressive performance at Lac-Beauport, Canada.
 
Peel bounced back from a 23rd-place finish on day one in Canada, delivering an excellent series of trademark triple back somersault to capture the 15th World Cup win of her career and her fourth victory at Lac-Beauport.
 
Peel qualified for the finals in eighth place with a double full-full double somersault scoring 81.78 points, joining VIS teammate Airleigh Frigo, who impressed with a career best score of 87.25 to advance in fourth. Making her first World Cup final was VIS second year World Cup competitor Sidney Stephens, in 12th scoring 76.85 points for her lay-full jump.
 
In the opening round of finals, Peel soared to the top-six super-final with a lay-full-full triple back somersault, earning 106.74 points. Frigo narrowly missed advancing in seventh place with 84.73 points, while Stephens achieved a personal best, finishing 11th on 72.29 points.
 
In the super-final, all three podium finishers performed the challenging full-full-full triple twisting back somersault. Peel led the way with a big score of 113.76 points, followed by American Winter Vinecki in second on 109.90, with China’s Xu Mengtao third on 97.02.
 
“I don’t know if we’ve had three full-full-fulls on the podium before,” said the 36-year-old Peel from Canberra.
 
“It’s epic to see women out there doing the big tricks, because we can. It’s great fun.
 
Also in action for Australia in Lac-Beauport was Abbey Willcox, who narrowly missed finals by one place in 13th and Danielle Scott was 20th, while in the men’s event, Reilly Flanagan also finished 20th.

The second Aerial Skiing FIS World Cup of the season was held at the 2022 Olympic venue in Secret Garden, China, where Australia narrowly missed out on a medal despite an outstanding performance, with three VIS athletes reaching the top-six super final and an impressive fourth-place finish in the mixed team event.
 
In Saturday’s individual event qualification, Laura Peel (5th), Abbey Willcox (8th), and Danielle Scott (11th) all advanced to the finals.
 
During the first round of finals, all three Australian women progressed to the top-six medal round, led by Peel in third with a score of 86.19 for her lay-full-full triple back somersault. Scott followed in fourth with 85.05 for her full-full double back somersault, while Willcox secured sixth place with 83.16 performing the same jump.
 
In the medal round, Peel and Scott both raised their degree of difficulty. Peel executed a full-full-full triple twisting triple back somersault to finish fourth with a score of 90.58. Willcox performed a lay-full to place fifth on 73.08, while Scott attempted a double full-full but was unable to land cleanly, finishing sixth with 55.34.
 
China took the top three spots on the women’s podium with Fanyu Kong taking gold on 102.17 points, Meiting Chen earning silver with 97.45, and Mengtao Xu claiming bronze on 87.02.
 
Missing finals for Australis were Sidney Stephens in 15th place, Airleigh Frigo in 21st and Reilly Flanagan was 30th in the men’s event
 
Australia Fourth in Mixed Team Event
On Sunday the mixed team event took place, which combines the scores of three athletes, Australia was the only nation to field a team with two females, as male jumpers on average perform higher degree of difficulty with bigger scores, it makes the Australian performance even more impressive.
 
In the opening round, Australia advanced to the top four final in third place, with a combined score 273.60 points, lead by Peel with a huge score of 117.62 points for her full-full-full, with Scott scoring 94.11 for her double full-full, and Flanagan 79.06 for his full-full.
 
In the medal round, Australia finished fourth on 239.56, led by Peel again with a score of 83.71 for her full-full-full, Flanagan 82.53 for his full-full, and Scott 73.32 for her double full-full.
 
The top two places went to China, with China 1 scoring 315.35, China 2 308.49 and the Usa rounding out the podium in third with 267.41.
 
The World cup tour will move to North America in the New Year, with a double event in Lac-Beauport, Canada, on January 6 and 7.

The Aerial Skiing World Cup season commenced in Ruka, Finland, with VIS skier Airleigh Frigo the highest placed finisher of the Flying Kangaroos, advancing to the super-final and securing a sixth-place finish overall.
 
2025 VIS World Cup Champion Laura Peel made a strong start, winning the qualifying round with 89.46 points for her full-full double twisting back somersault. Frigo secured the final spot in the 12-woman final, scoring 74.97 with the same jump.
 
Just missing the cut were VIS teammates Danielle Scott and Abbey Willcox, finishing 13th and 14th respectively, both scoring 73.71, with Scott ranked higher on a tiebreak. Sidney Stephens placed 21st (60.90), while in the men’s event Reilly Flannegan finished 19th (120 points).

Unfortunately, Elise Coleiro sustained a knee injury during training and has returned to Australia for further assessment.
 
In the first round of finals, Frigo scored 76.54 for her full-full jump, advancing in sixth place to the super-final medal round. Peel increased her degree of difficulty with a triple back somersault but struggled on landing, scoring 60.42 for 10th place.

In her third career super-final, Frigo performed a lay-full single twisting double back somersault, scoring 51.62 points to secure sixth place overall.
 
China’s Mengtao Xu claimed victory with a score of 89.29 points, ahead of Canada’s Marion Thenault in second place with 82.48 points. Third place went to Meiting Chen of China, who finished with 75.31 points.
 
The next Aerial Skiing World Cup stop will be at Secret Garden, China, featuring an individual event on December 20 and a team competition on December 21.

IMAGE COPYRIGHT CHRIS HOCKING

Australia has finished with four medals at the 2025 FIS World Championships in St Mortiz, Switzerland, after Danielle Scott claimed a bronze medal in the aerial skiing event on the last day of competition. The medal performance is Scott’s fourth World Championship podium over her decorated career.
 
Competing in warm conditions at the iconic Swiss resort, three Australian women competed in the best of two jump opening round of finals and Danielle Scott landed two great jumps to advance to the top-six super final in second place from her best score of 98.34 for her double full-full triple twisting double somersault.
 
Current World Cup Champion and two-time World Champion Laura Peel was very unlucky to miss out on the super final in seventh place, after touching a hand on landing on both her triple somersault jumps. Peel’s highest score was on her full-full-full jump with 85.86 points putting her in sixth place on the bubble for the super final but was relegated to seventh on the last jump of the round by Chinese skier Xuezheng Chen. Airliegh Frigo, was behind Peel in eighth landing both jumps with a best score of 79.06 on her full-full.
 
In the super final, Scott again put down another great score on her double full-full triple twisting double somersault, scoring 96.93 points to finish in third place and fourth career World Championship medal.
 
Finish ahead of Scott was American Kaila Kuhn who claimed the first victory of her career scoring 105.13 with Mengtao Xu of China in second on 99.16.
 
“So happy, I literally did everything I could, every jump today was on the money” said the 35-year-old Scott from NSW, who trains in Brisbane at the Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre water jump facility.”
 
“Not doing triple somersaults, I was really focused on myself and maximising those points and it did pay off, so I am really excited for what’s ahead now.”
 
“It’s been a bit funny here with the weather, we have had everything, flat light, snow, head and tail winds, and then the wind came in right on our last training jump, but the coaching team handled it well. This season has been a special one, the team around us has really bonded and that strength is showing, there is a lot of confidence in that and for me it’s about getting the speeds right, so thanks to the team.”
 
“Bring it on, I am so excited for the next 12 months, it’s been a bit of a rough run for me, I did barely any training heading into this season, due to a couple of personal reasons, but my Dad’s fighting, he’s doing well now, I dedicate this medal to him.”
 
Australia’s World Championship campaign has finished with four medals in St Moritz, snowboard halfpipe gold to James, silver in snowboard cross mixed teams to Mia Clift and Cam Bolton, bronze to Matt Graham in the dual moguls and Scott in the aerials.

VIS aerial skier Laura Peel won the final World Cup event of the season with a stunning performance on the 2026 Olympic course in Livigno, Italy, her fifth victory of the season and the 14th of her impressive career. In doing so, Peel claimed her third FIS World Cup Crystal Globe as the number one ranked athlete at the end of World Cup circuit.

Australian female aerial skiers have amassed a total of 14 Crystal Globes over the past 33 years. Peel now has the second-highest total among Australians with three, trailing only the legendary Jacqui Cooper, who has five. Other winners include Kirstie Marshall, Alisa Camplin, Lydia Lassila, and Danielle Scott.

Heading into to the final event, Peel had a near unbeatable lead in the standings and only needed to finish 12th or better to secure the title, leading Chinese skier Mengtao Xu by 78 points. Peel made sure of that by qualifying for the 12-woman final in second place. Joining Peel in finals were VIS teammates Airleigh Frigo in fifth, Abbey Willcox seventh and Danielle Scott 10th. Just missing finals action by one place was Elise Coleiro in 13th and in the men’s event Reilly Flanagan was 17th.

Peel performed a lay-full-full double twisting triple back somersault in the first round of finals, to advance to the top six super-final in second place on 91.83 points. Just missing out on the medal round were Abbey Willcox in seventh, Airleigh Frigo ninth and Danielle Scott 11th.

In the super-final Peel upped her degree of difficulty scoring what was an unbeatable 112.90 points for her spectacular full-full-full triple twisting triple back somersault in one of her best jumps of the season. Second place went to Xu of China on 105.17 and her teammate Meiting Chen was third on 91.44.

“I am so stoked, honestly I couldn’t be happier, it’s globe number three, I don’t think it gets any easier,” said the 35-year-old Peel from Canberra.

“That’s day four on this site now. I’ve got to say I really like it. It’s been working well for me, I’ve been jumping well. That’s a relief and I’m so excited to come back here for the Olympics.”

Peel finished the season number one on 542 points, 98 clear of Xu on 444 and Scott was third on 368, it is the sixth time in her career Scott has placed in the top three on final season rankings. Willcox and Frigo both had the highest rankings of their careers in fifth and 10th places respectively.

The season will conclude at the FIS World Championships in St Moritz, Switzerland. First up will be the aerial teams event on March 27, to be followed by individual qualifications on March 29 and finals March 30.

Peel, Scott, Willcox and Frigo will represent Australia in the women’s event and Flanagan will be the lone Aussie in the men’s competition.

Peel is aiming for her third World Championship gold in Switzerland. She commented, “pretty much keep the same plan, what I have been doing I just want to repeat the same at the World Champs, it’s a long season, everyone is getting a bit tired, but we are super exited to head to St Moritz and it’s the peak of our season.”

VIS aerial skiers Laura Peel and Danielle Scott made it a double World Cup podium celebration in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where Peel claimed gold and Scott bronze.
 
The victory completed a terrific turnaround for Peel, after qualifying in last place in the 12-woman final, but then landed both triple back somersaults in the first final and then the medal round to record the 13th World Cup victory of her career.
 
Four VIS women qualified for finals with Scott in first, Airleigh Frigo seventh, Abbey Willcox eighth and Peel in 12th. First year World Cup athlete, Elise Coleiro was 13th to just miss the final and matching her career best finish.
 
In the first round of finals, Peel performed a lay-full-full triple somersault scoring 93.85 placing her third, Scott scored 91.66 for her full-full double somersault putting her in fourth and Willcox made it three Aussies in the super-final in sixth place, scoring 84.96 for her full-full jump. Missing out on the super-final was Frigo in 12th on 60.79 for her full-full.
 
In the medal round, Peel increased her difficult adding an extra twist jumping full-full-full to score a massive 115.91 points in first place and her fourth victory of the season. Mengtao Xu of China was second on 101.74, Scott was third and after increasing her difficulty performing a double full-full (triple twisting double somersault) which scored 87.06. Willcox finished sixth jumping a different triple twist variation but missing the landing to score 65.56.
 
“I feel great, really relieved. I think I got a little lucky, I snuck into the final, so I’m just happy to be jumping,” said Peel, the 35-year-old double World Champion from Canberra.
 
In the men’s competition Reilly Flanagan performed a lay full single twisting double somersault to finish 31st.
 
With one event remaining, Peel is on 442 points on top of the World Cup standings, increasing her lead to 78 points ahead of Xu, Scott is third 98 points behind Peel. Also in the top-10 for Australia are Willcox sixth and Frigo ninth.
 
The final World Cup of the season will take place at the 2026 Olympic venue in Livigno, Italy, on March 13.
 
Peel is in prime position to secure her third career World Cup crystal globe if she can finish 12th or better in Italy.
 
Peel said: “I’m in a good spot, but I don’t want to get too ahead of myself. One jump at a time, but I’m really happy.”

VIS aerial skier Danielle Scott has finished third at the World Cup event in Beidahu, China, her third podium of the season and 23rd of her career.
 
The back-to-back defending World Cup Champion qualified for finals in fourth place after scoring 831.6 points for her full-full double twisting double back somersault. Joining Scott in finals jumping the same jump were Flying Kangaroos teammates Abbey Willcox in sixth on 79.38, Laura Peel seventh with 78.75 and Airleigh Frigo in 11th on 74.97.
 
In the first round of finals, Scott performed the same jump again, this time improving to the second highest score of the round on 90.40 to secure a place in the top-six super-final medal round. Joining Scott in the super-final was Willcox on 83.79, but missing out was Frigo in seventh on 80.95 for her full-full, and Peel in eighth who had trouble with landing the difficult lay-full-full triple back somersault with two twists, scoring 79.35.
 
In the super-final medal round, Scott increased her difficulty adding an extra twist from her previous jumps, performing a double full-full triple twisting double back somersault, scoring 89.18 from the judges to finish in third.
 
Willcox finished in fifth place scoring 78.88 points for her lay-full single twisting double back somersault.
 
Mengtao Xu of China was the winner, the 2022 Olympic champion scored 114.19, with her teammate Meiting Chen in second on 109.04, both Chinese jumpers performed a very difficult full-full-full, triple back somersault with three twists.
 
“It was a tricky day with the wind changing a lot, so I am happy to put my jumps down the way I did, and use that experience out there” said the 34-year-old Scott from NSW, who trains in Brisbane at the Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre water jump facility.
 
“This year I am not jumping triples, so it’s all about maximising those points with my doubles.”
 
Narrowly missing the 12-woman final in a career best finish was rookie Elise Coleiro in 13th and in the men’s event Reilly Flanagan was 30th.
 
After five events Peel is ranked first on the World standings on 342 points, with Scott and Xu of China tied for second on 284. Also in the top-10 are Australians Willcox in seventh and Frigo in eighth.
 
Australia seventh in mixed team event
In the mixed team event Australia was represented by Danielle Scott, Laura Peel and Reilly Flanagan, finishing in seventh place with a total score of 238.91.
 
Scott opened for Australia scoring 80.01 for her double full-full, Peel jumped full-full-full receiving 77.70, and Flanagan scored 81.20 for his lay-full.
 
The next World Cup event will take place in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on March 2, with the World Cup final on the future 2026 Olympic venue in Livigno, Italy, on March 13.

VIS aerial skiers have swept the first four places at the iconic World Cup event in Deer Valley, USA, the first time Australia has filled the FIS World Cup podium in any winter sport.
 
Leading the way was two-time World Champion Laua Peel who claimed her third straight victory and 12th win of her impressive career, ahead of two-time defending World Cup champion Danielle Scott in second, Abbey Willcox was third and Airleigh Frigo fourth.
 
Competing on the historic 2002 Olympic Course, athletes encountered challenging weather throughout the week. Warm conditions led to the cancellation of two training days, and heavy snowfall on the event day forced the qualification round to be rescheduled to the night final session.
 
In difficult conditions, Peel reduced her degree of difficulty to double somersaults, scoring 87.88 points for her full-full double twisting double somersault jump and advancing to the top-six super final in first place. Willcox, Scott, and Frigo also performed the same full-full jump, securing second, third, and fourth places with scores of 82.53, 79.38, and 78.12, respectively.
 
In the super-final, athletes were able to perform the same jump from the qualification round. All Australian athletes chose to compete with the full-full jump. Peel narrowly clinched the win with a score of 87.57, followed closely by Scott, on 86.31. Willcox earned the bronze medal on 81.58, and Frigo was fourth place on 69.30.

“I am really happy to have the yellow leads bib, we are halfway through the season now, and three back-to-back-wins is super exciting, and tonight was so special having an Aussie sweep of the podium and Airleigh as well in fourth place” said Peel, the 35-year-old from Canberra.
 
“It’s incredible, I am so happy, Deer Valley really is a special place for me, it’s my second home, and to take out the sweep with Laura an Abbey and Airleigh in fourth, we are making history, it’s really cool for Australia” said Scott, the 34-year-old Scott from NSW.

“Every World Cup podium I have had has been in Deer Valley, so it’s cool to continue that streak, and to share it with two other Aussies and make history with a clean sweep” said Willcox, the 28-year-old Willcox from Brisbane.
 
Missing out on finals were rookie VIS Flying Kangaroos Sidney Stephens in 14th place, Elise Coleiro 15th, and Reilly Flanagan 24th.
 
After four events, Peel has extended her position at the top of the World Cup standings with an impressive 310 points. Scott has moved into second place with 224 points, while Willcox and Frigo are in eighth and ninth places with 138 and 133 points, respectively.
 
The next World Cup aerial skiing event is in China on February 23 & 24 at Beidahu ski resort.

Laura Peel has capped an extraordinary weekend by securing back-to-back gold medals at the World Cup event in Lac-Beauport, Canada. The VIS aerial skier again successfully jumped her spectacular triple back somersaults to lead a double Aussie podium celebration on the second day of competition, when VIS teammate Airleigh Frigo achieved her first career podium finish in third place.
 
In difficult conditions, four Australian women qualified for top 12 finals, Danielle Scott in second, Peel fourth, Abbey Willcox tenth and Frigo 12th, the most of any nation in the women’s event.
 
In the first round of finals, Peel advanced to the super-final medal round in first place after scoring 94.65 points for her lay-full-full triple somersault jump. Joining Peel in her first super-final was 25-year-old Frigo from Brisbane in fifth after scoring 83.47 with a full-full double somersault. Unlucky to miss the super-final were both Abbey WIllcox in seventh on 80.95 and Danielle Scott, eighth on 80.50.
 
In the super-final, Peel increased her degree of difficult adding an extra twist in her triple, scoring 102.17 for her full-full-full jump to record her 11th career World Cup victory. American Karenna Elliott was a distant second on 87.42, and Frigo celebrated her first podium in third, scoring 76.85 for her lay-full double back somersault and smashing her previous best World Cup finish of 12th.
 
“I feel relieved. It’s been all kinds of weather and it’s hard to stay calm up there and trust yourself” said Peel, the 35-year-old double World Champion from Canberra.
 
“I had my plan from the beginning. I didn’t want to change it. I wanted to be able to execute those jumps in all conditions. The difficulty will ramp up going into the (Milan-Cortina 2026) Games, and I want to be ready.
 
“It’s been some really early mornings and long days. I’ll relax for a couple of days, get some good sleep, and get back to work.”
 
Missing out on finals were other VIS Flying Kangaroos Elise Coleiro in 21st place, Sidney Stephens 29th and Reilly Flanagan 31st.
 
After three events, Peel has surged into first place on the World Cup standings on 210 points. Mengtao Xu of China follows in second on 184 and Elliott of the USA is third with 160 Australia has two more athletes in the top-10, Scott in fifth place on 144 points and Frigo in tenth with 83 points.
 
The next aerial skiing World Cup event is on February 7 in Deer Valley, USA, on the iconic “White Owl” 2002 Olympic Winter Games jump site, where Alisa Camplin made history by winning Australia’s first-ever skiing gold medal.

VIS double World Champion Laura Peel claimed her first victory of the season and tenth of her career in the first of two World Cup events in Lac Beauport, Canada.
 
Peel carried on her outstanding form from the team event in Lake Placid the previous  weekend to land both her spectacular triple back somersaults in the final rounds in freezing -20 temperatures.
 
In the first round of finals Peel performed a lay-full-full, double twisting triple back somersault to advance to the six-woman super-final with a score of 104.32 points in first place.
 
For the final jump of the event, Peel increased her degree of difficulty adding an extra twist, with her full-full-full, triple twisting triple back somersault, scoring a huge 117.19, finishing ahead of Chinese skiers Meiting Chen on 102.31 in second and Mengtao Xu in third with 92.72.
 
“Today was a good day, I am really happy with my jumping, I have been working to build consistency, and today it was three-from-three, and I hope it will be the same tomorrow” said the 35-year-old from Canberra.
 
“I have been at this a long time, this is maybe my twelfth of thirteenth year on tour, so I am used to being cold, but when you have a job to do you just put it to the back of your mind. I have a few cues that I tell myself before every jump, I am just trying to stay calm and focus on the process.”
 
Also in action were VIS teammates, Danielle Scott made first round of finals in eighth place and in the qualifications Sidney Stephens was 15th, Airleigh Frigo 19th, Abbey Willcox 21st, Elsie Coleiro 25th and Reilly Flanagan 36th.

VIS aerial skier Danielle Scott has made a great start to the World Cup season with a silver medal performance at the first event of the year in Lake Placid, USA, claiming the 22nd World Cup medal of her career.
 
The back-to-back defending World Cup Champion performed well in all three stages of the competition, placing second in the opening qualifications, and then secured her spot in the medal round by leading the first round of finals with an impressive full-full double twisting double back somersault that scored 92.29 points.
 
In the super-final medal round, Scott increased her degree of difficult to perform a triple twisting double back somersault, scoring 95.17 points and agonisingly close to victory by the small margin of 0.35 points.

2022 Olympic Champion Mengtao Xu of China won the gold medal scoring 95.52. Rounding out the podium in third with a score of 90.94 was Canadian Marion Thenault.
 
“Pretty stoked, it was awesome to get back in the start gate again, this year has been a pretty big ride on a rollercoaster, so grateful to just be here,” said the 34-year-old Scott from NSW, who trains in Brisbane at the Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre water jump facility.
 
“Today had everything weather wise, head winds to tail winds to falling snow, to everything changing on us in such small windows, very grateful and happy for my coaches for getting all the attention to detail right and trusting everything out there.
 
“Experience definitely played a big role, it wasn’t my first time dealing with tricky weather, sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don’t with wind gusts, so you have to take it as it comes, and I am grateful for that experience.
 
VIS teammate Abbey Willcox also qualified for the final in fifth place and went on to finish in eighth in the first round of finals.
 
Missing out on the final was Airliegh Frigo in 20th and double World Champion Laura Peel in 21st
 
Also competing for Australia in their World Cup debuts were VIS development skiers Sidney Stephens in 28th, Elise Coleiro 29th and Reilly Flanagan 29th.

VIS double aerial skiing World Champion Laura Peel has commenced the Northern Hemisphere winter with a double gold medal performance in the European Cup events in Ruka, Finland, with teammates Abbey Willcox also claiming medals on both days and Danielle Scott finishing third in her one start at the event.
 
The VIS program has been training in Finland for the past month, with Continental Cup team skiers Miriana Perkins and Elise Coleiro performing their first ever double back somersaults on snow.
 
Over the weekend, two European Cup events took place in Ruka, the first aerial skiing competitions of the norther winter.
 
On day one, Peel led an Australian clean sweep of the podium with 94.82 points for her triple twisting double back somersault, with Abbey Willcox in second after scoring 78.12 for her full-full jump, with Danielle Scott in third on 76.49 for her triple twisting double back somersault. VIS aerial skier Miriana Perkins also qualified for the final, finishing in sixth place.
 
On day two, Peel made it back-to-back victories, performing the same triple twisting double back somersault in the final scoring 90.24 points, to finish ahead of Canada Marion Thenault on 87.42, and Willcox in third with 77.12 points. Scott chose not to compete in the second event.
 
The first World Cup of the season will take place in Lake Placid, USA, on January 18-19,
 
Day One

Women
1st Laura Peel
2nd Abbey Willcox
3rd Danielle Scott
6th Miriana Perkins
10th Airleigh Frigo
11th Sidney Stephens
12th Elise Coleiro

Men
26th Reilly Flanagan
 
Day Two

Women
1st Laura Peel
3rd Abbey Willcox
7th Elise Coleiro
10th Airleigh Frigo
12th Miriana Perkins
13th Sidney Stephens
 
Men
25th Reilly Flanagan

VIS aerial skier Danielle Scott has won her second straight World Cup season Crystal Globe after a silver medal performance in the final event of the season in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Scott now has 21 World Cup medals, and joins Australian aerial skiing legends Jacqui Cooper, Alisa Camplin, and Laura Peel as back-to-back World Cup Crystal Globe Champions.

Heading into the final event, Scott trailed Winter Vinecki of the USA by 12 points on the standings and needed to beat the American by a minimum of one place to move into first on the rankings.

The qualification round took place early in the morning under foggy conditions, but finals were cancelled in the afternoon due to the visibility further deteriorating making conditions unsafe. Results from the qualification round were subsequently used to determine the final results.

In the qualifying round, Scott scored 87.25 points for her full-full double twisting double back somersault jump, which put her in second place. Vinecki struggled with her full-full jump scoring only 71.50 points which put her in tenth place, allowing Scott to unexpectedly clinch the Crystal Globe by a comfortable margin.

Canadian Marion Thenault claimed the victory after scoring 94.11 points jumping a double full-full triple twisting double back somersault, with Fanyu Kong of China rounding out the podium in third with 82.21 points for her full-full.

The final standings saw Scott in first place on 420 points, with Vinecki in second with 378 and Thenault in third on 311.

“I am just so incredibly happy, this is a dream come true to go back-to-back and win the globe twice” said the 33-year-old Scott from NSW, who trains in Brisbane at the Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre water jump facility.

“Every jump counts is I all I can think about right now, as in the qualification round the weather was much better and I did a nice jump and its paid off.”

Danielle Scott made it a double podium weekend for the VIS aerial skier on day two in Lac Beauport, with a bronze medal performance to add to silver medal from the previous day. Abbey Willcox also continued her strong recent form with her third straight super-final performance with another fifth place finish.

In the qualification round, Scott advanced in fifth place and Willcox in ninth to the 12-woman final. In the first round of finals both athletes performed full-full double twisting double backflips to make it through to the top six super-final in first and second place with 84.73 and 80.32 points respectively.

In the super-final medal round, Scott performed the more difficult double full-full triple twisting double back somersault jump, scoring 81.42 points to take the bronze medal, her 20th career podium.

“It was frustrating, I really wanted to put down a better jump today, but the speed was all over the place," said the 33-year-old Scott.

“It’s been really tricky with these conditions, so frustrated with that unfortunately, but very grateful to still be on the podium.”

Willcox jumped a lay-full single twisting double back somersault to score 66.41 points in the super-final, giving her a final ranking of fifth, extending her career best super-final streak to three appearances.

In first place was American Winter Vinecki who scored 97.88 points on her triple back somersault, with Meiting Chen of China in second with 88.12 points.

With one World Cup event remaining in the season, Vinecki has now moved back into first place on the rankings on 352 points, with Scott trailing by 12 points.

Brisbane based Willcox moved up one place to be ranked a career best seventh.

The final event will take place on March 10 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where Scott can secure back-to-back Crystal Globes with a good performance in the super-final, and if she finishes ahead of Vinecki.

VIS aerial skiers Danielle Scott and Abbey Willcox have made it a double podium celebration under lights at the prestigious World Cup event in Deer Valley, USA.

Competing on the Olympic course where Alisa Camplin famously won gold in 2002 and in front of the biggest crowd of the season, Scott was extremely unlucky not to claim victory, finishing with the same score in first place with Winter Vinecki of the USA on 77.90 points, but losing a tiebreak from their form scores 10.3 points to 10.2, giving Scott silver and the 18th podium performance of the three time Olympians career.

Rounding out the podium with her second career podium, which was also in Deer Valley four years ago, was Abbey Willcox who scored 76.85 points.

“Pretty happy, it has been an absolutely crazy day with extreme weather, a bit of rain and super soft snow falling, it’s really hard conditions so to walk away with a podium very happy” said the 33-year-old Scott from NSW, who trains in Brisbane at the Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre water jump facility.

“It’s so awesome (to have teammate Willcox on the podium), she has worked so hard and it’s well deserved.”

“It’s been four years in the making, so happy to back on the podium and such a beautiful night to be jumping in front of everyone in Deer Valley,” said the 27-year-old Willcox, from Brisbane via the NSW Central Coast.

Willcox was also thrilled to match her previous best World Cup finish.

“It’s pretty much an exact repeat of four years ago, it’s co incredible to share the podium with Dani as well, two Aussies on the podium is amazing.” With three events remaining Scott is ranked second on the World Cup standings on 200 points, trailing Vinecki by 32 points, with Canadian Marion Thenault in third on 122 points.

Triple Olympian and Dual world champion Laura Peel, did not compete in Deer Valley, electing to take a break for the remainder of the competition season to freshen up in advance of 2026 Olympic qualifying commencing next season.
Next on the schedule for the aerial skiers is a double World Cup next weekend in Lac-Beauport, Canada.

The Australian Flying Kangaroos Aerial Ski Team have been training in Snowbasin, Utah, USA this month, and over the weekend three time VIS Olympian Danielle Scott has showed she can't wait for the World Cup tour to resume with a double podium performance in FIS events at the Utah Olympic Park (UOP). 

Two FIS events took place at the UOP, with competitors from Australia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Switzerland, Ukraine and the USA all competing, with Danielle Scott in action on both days and Abbey Willcox in the first event.

On day one Scott finished in third place in the final, performing a full-full and receiving a score of 76.54 from the judges.

VIS teammate Abbey Willcox finished in tenth place after missing her landing, scoring 45.24 for her lay-full in the final.

On day two Scott upped her degree of difficulty performing a double-full full jump, scoring 97.99 to claim the gold medal, with a winning margin of 10.74 points ahead of second place.

After the event Danielle Scott reflected on a great weekend.

"It was a fun but interesting weekend of competition, really warm weather with rain and sticky jumps so a lot of it came down to experience.

"I only had a couple of days to get back on snow after a month off at home, so it felt good to get back in the swing of things quickly and land on the podium both days.

"Thanks to the team around me and to coaches Dima and Sasha for putting me in the right place for the tricky conditions.

"Now for some more training in preparation for the Deer Valley World Cup which is always one of the best and most exciting stops on tour!"

The Deer Valley World Cup will take place under lights on February 2.

VIS double World Champion Laura Peel has claimed the 23rd World Cup podium of her career after finishing in third place in Changchun, China.

In difficult conditions, the three-time Olympian was one of two female athletes to perform spectacular triple back somersaults in the finals, and qualified for the medal round in second place after scoring 96.08 for her lay-tuck-full-triple with VIS teammate and reigning World Cup champion Danielle Scott also advancing in sixth place with 85.05 for her full-full double twisting double jump.

In the super-final Peel stepped up her degree of difficulty to perform a lay-full-full jump, but lost points from the judges on her landing, scoring 80.96 points, to finish behind the winner Winter Vinecki of the USA on 94.25 and China’s Fanyu Kong second with 81.42.

Scott finished in sixth place after wind impacted her back double full-full jump, sending her much bigger than expected impacting her landing, scoring 71.20 points.

Airleigh Frigo finished in 15th place in qualifying, just missing out on the 12-woman final.

Peel commented after the event.

“We had a tough few days of training in China with freezing temps and quite a bit of wind.

“It always feels great to finish on the podium, but I gave away a lot of points on my landing, so I’m looking forward to bigger and better things when the competitions kick off again in the new year.”

The aerial skiers now have over a month until their next World Cup event, which will take place on February 2 at Deer Valley, USA.

Australia’s female wintersport athletes have made it a four medal weekend to open the World Cup season, with aerial skier Danielle Scott claiming a silver medal in Ruka, Finland, and snowboard cross rider Belle Brockhoff finishing with a bronze in Les Deux Alpes, France, overnight.

Earlier in the weekend mogul skier Jakara Anthony took gold in Ruka and Tess Coady silver in the snowboard big air in Beijing, China.

For aerial skier Scott, the podium performance was the 17th of her World Cup career, and a strong start to defending her World Cup title of last season.

Scott qualified for the super-final in first place, and in the medal round scored 88.47 points for her double-full full jump.

Taking the win was Canadian Marion Thenault who scored 99.05 points for her full-double full jump, with Zhanbota Aldabergenova of Kazakhstan in third with 77.43 after jumping a lay-full.

Two-time World Champion Laura Peel again jumped her spectacular triple back somersault in finals, just missing the podium in fourth place by half a point, scoring 76.93 for her super difficult lay-full-full jump.

“Very happy, would have been nice to make it three wins in a row but that ok” said the 33-year-old Scott from NSW, who trains in Brisbane at the Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre water jump facility.

“I have had a pretty tough week, my legs have been cramping like no other, so it’s been really weird, but to end up on the podium I am super happy.”

“This season is going to be pretty chill for me, just keeping the body healthy doing some nice jumps, just maximising points.”

Also in action for Australia was Abbey Willcox who made the final in 12th place in her first World Cup since January 2022, and Airleigh Frigo in 17th.

The aerial skiing World Cup circuit now heads to Changchun, China, for a competition next weekend on December 16.

The first event for the FIS Freestyle World Cup season takes place this weekend in Ruka, Finland, with the Australian Aerial and Mogul skiing teams based at the Finish resort for a number of weeks, training on the World Cup courses in the lead in to the first event.

First up will be the Mogul World Cup on Saturday December 2, and the following day on Sunday December 3 it will be aerial skiers turn to compete, with Danielle Scott looking to defend her 2023 World Cup title alongside two-time World Champion and 2023 World Cup runner up Laura Peel.

Airleigh Frigo is keen to continue building momentum after her first full World Cup season and Abbey Willcox is returning to competition after a 12 month break.

"Training in Ruka has been good although slower than normal due to some weird muscles spasms in my quads," said Scott.

"Brisbane has been vital in my winter preparations for years now and I’m super grateful to be based on home soil with our own training times. I was able to spend a lot more time at home in between training which is huge for mental recovery."

"After a pretty big year last year, I’m just looking forward to some nice clean jumps and keeping my body feeling healthy."

"Right now with the slow start I’m just focusing on a day by day mentality."

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Australian aerial skiers have finished the season with an incredible back-to-back double podium performance for the second week in a row, with Laura Peel and Danielle Scott taking home gold and silver at the World Cup competition overnight in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
 
The podium performance for Scott was her fourth for the season and gave her enough points to secure her first ever Crystal Globe title as the number one ranked aerial skier in the world, joining Australian legends Kirstie Marshall, Jacqui Cooper, Alisa Camplin, Lydia Lassila and Peel as World Cup champions.
 
This is the second consecutive event the pair have taken the first two spots on the podium, at the previous event in Engadin, Switzerland, a week ago places were reversed, the win to Scott and Peel second.
 
In sunny conditions, Peel was the only female to jump spectacular triple back somersaults in finals, putting down a big score of 110.36 with her lay-full-full jump on the last jump of the day to give her the eighth World Cup victory of her career.
 
Scott also had an impressive day, qualifying for final in first, and moving into the super-final in second with her high-quality double somersault jumps. In the super-final, Scott performed a double full-full jump scoring 97.99 points to claim the silver medal.
 
Rounding out the podium in third was Canadian Marion Thenault who scored 93.76.
 
Scott finished on top of the standings for the season with 462 points, and with the victory Peel managed to move into second place on 362, overtaking Thenault in third with 350.
 
“I had a tough start to the season, the first two events I just jumped like a potato, and when you only have six events it’s hard to make up points, so I am super stoked to finish second today,” said Peel, the 33-year-old double World Champion from Canberra.
 
“Australia 1-2 is massive and big congratulations to Dani on the Crystal Globe.”
 
Scott was thrilled after collecting her first ever Crystal Globe.
 
“There is a lot of weight to this one, for me it’s honestly – finally” said the 33-year-old from NSW, who now trains in Brisbane at the Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre water jump facility.
 
“I am so proud of the team around me, my coaches, just everyone, we have worked so well together this season and I am so grateful.”