OWIA/VIS athlete David Morris is on top of the world after the opening round of the 2015/16 FIS Men’s Aerials World Cup.

Morris is the world number one ranked athlete after another magnificent performance on Day two in Beijing.

After taking out third place on Saturday in the opening Men’s individual event of the season, Morris was back in action on Sunday night (Australian time) competing in the Team’s event, finishing second overall in the Men’s section.

This was enough for Morris to secure the overall lead in the World Cup standings, and therefore complete a remarkable return to competition, after sitting out the 2014/15 season.

The 2014 Sochi Olympic Silver Medallist was naturally ecstatic at the conclusion of the official presentations.

“I couldn’t have asked for a much better start to the season,” Morris said. “I felt that I had to prove something upon returning and make sure everyone knew I still meant business, and everything went perfectly to plan with another podium today.”

“It’s my first gold bib and I’m just very thankful to my coaches and support staff for getting me through a tough two days of competition,” Morris added.
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Morris was also full of praise for his new coach Jeff Bean.

“A lot of hard work with Jeff has paid off and the results speak for themselves,” a proud Morris stated.

It was also a positive start to the World Cup campaign for our Ladies’ with Danielle Scott in fourth place after the opening weekend.

After missing last season due to injury, Samantha Wells has made a solid return to competition also, and lies in 13th position overall, with Renee McElduff finishing in 19th place.
 
Jeff Bean was full of praise for the trio.

“Renee had been battling a few injuries and struggled to land, but is healthier now and was able to gain confidence from her training,” Bean said. “Sam has been making great progress and Danielle had a good weekend of jumping.”

The final day of competition was an historic occasion for Australia, as it marked the first time the nation has participated in the team aerials competition. Team Australia also created history in the event, becoming the first team to be represented by two women in the three person team.

Remarkably the team qualified through to the finals ahead of traditional powers with two male athletes, USA and Canada.  In the first round of the finals, David Morris again led the way with an excellent 122 point quad twist, triple somersault jump, while Danielle Scott saved her best for last, with a very good 92 point triple twist double. Unfortunately Sam Wells just missed the final landing on a double twist double and Australia narrowly missed a spot in the three team super final, just behind eventual winner, China 1.  

The next Aerials World Cup event will be held at Lake Placid (USA) beginning on 15th January.

IMAGE: David Morris celebrates his world number #1 ranking in Beijing © Jessie Mayo

OWIA/VIS athletes David Morris and Danielle Scott have both made a great start to their 2015/16 World Cup campaign at the season opening event in Beijing, China, claiming third and fourth place performances.

After finishing ninth in the qualifying round earlier in the afternoon, Morris progressed to the Super Final by finishing fourth in the 1st Final.

Morris and Russia’s Petr Medulich fought it out for the minor placings, with the Russian scraping through to finish second, just 1.17 points clear of Morris in third.

For the second year running, the home nation’s Guangpu Qi took out the men’s event, with a fabulous performance, to finish well clear of Medulich and Morris.

Following the official presentations, Morris reflected on his terrific opening round performance.

“I’m really happy with the result of my return to aerials. I felt a lot of pressure to perform well as a returning Olympic medallist, but just concentrated on the same things as always,” Morris said. “I jumped with confidence and with purpose.”

It was a tough competition which Morris noted.

“Everyone jumped well; it was a fantastic competition, and I was fortunate enough to come out with a medal,” Morris said.

In the Ladies’ competition, fellow OWIA/VIS athlete Danielle Scott came through qualifying in second place, after a solid opening performance.

Scott was the only Australian to progress to the finals, after Samantha Wells and Renee McElduff were unable to progress from the qualifying round, finishing 15th and 18th respectively.

After qualifying for the Super Final in fourth place, it was a great battle between the finalists, with Scott eventually settling for fourth place.

Scott was satisfied with her opening performance and was also full of praise for the venue.

“Today went pretty well and it was a great event on a fantastic site,” Scott said.

“I’m happy with my jumps leading into the Super Final, but unfortunately got a little caught up on the landing.”
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Ashley Caldwell from the United States took out first place, from Zhang Xin of China in second, with American Kiley McKinnon third.

IMAGE: The OWIA/VIS Aerial Team in Beijing © Danielle Scott

Seven superb athletes have been nominated for “The Don” Award, for Australia's most inspiring athlete, and Olympians dominate the list. Hurdler Sally Pearson, aerial skier Lydia Lassila, basketballer Patty Mills, marathon runner Michael Shelley and tennis young gun and Rio 2016 hopeful Nick Kyrgios made the cut.

They are joined by formula one ace Daniel Ricciardo and cricketer Mitchell Johnson, as the odd ones out.

Named after famed batsman Don Bradman, "The Don" Award is presented by the Sport Australia Hall of Fame to a sportsperson who has most inspired the nation during the past year.

Pearson, who picked up her first Don following her successful London Games campaign in 2012, said the award marked a "pinnacle in an athlete's career".

"Don Bradman symbolised everything that was wonderful in sport," the hurdler, who defended her Commonwealth crown after a tough preparation, said.

Lassila is also a second-time nominee, having won the Don Award in 2010 after her Vancouver Winter Olympics victory.

"What was more important than any 'hardware' I've ever received was reaching my personal quest of becoming the first woman to ever perform a quad twisting triple somersault," she said.

"I am really humbled to be nominated for the Don Award for a second time."

Kygrios' giant-killing Wimbledon run - where he pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Wimbledon history by beating world No.1 Rafael Nadal to reach the quarter-finals - scored him a nod.

Mills was recognised for becoming the first player of Australian indigenous heritage to win an NBA championship ring, playing a key role in the San Antonio Spurs' victory.

Shelley defeated the mighty Kenyans to win the Commonwealth marathon race in Glasgow, while Ricciardo's Grand Prix wins in Canada, Hungary and Belgium got him a spot on the shortlist. Johnson's Ashes endeavours secured his nomination.

"At the core of this award is the values set (by) Donald Bradman, which include dignity, integrity, courage and modesty in compatibility with pride, ambition and competitiveness," Sport Australia Hall of Fame Chairman John Bertrand AM said.

"All seven have demonstrated those values."

The winner will be announced at a gala dinner in Melbourne on October 9.

They will succeed golfer Adam Scott, who won in 2013 after his historic US Masters triumph.

AAP and AOC

Lydia Lassila has attempted a jump only men perform, in a brave bid to defend her Olympic aerial skiing title at the Sochi Olympic Winter Games. The courageous 32-year-old went for a quad twisting triple somersault with a degree of difficulty (DD) of 4.425 in Final 3, when only four women were jumping for three medals.

Lassila, who had landed the jump only once here in training, executed brilliantly in the air but slapped the landing and fell to the side for a score of 72.12 points to secure the bronze.

Alla Tsuper of Belarus won the gold with a score of 98.01 for a fantastic triple somersault. World champion Xu Mengtao of China won the silver with a score of 83.50.

Lassila who hyper-extended her knee during warm-up tonight was understandably very proud of what she had achieved.

“I really went for it. I’m really happy. I’m sorry I’m crying – it’s joy, it’s happiness,” the four-time Olympian said.

“It was my maximum effort and to be able to do that trick in the super-final was something and I’ve left my mark forever and made history with that trick. It would have been great to land it, but I was stretching for my life and I was really trying, believe me.

“It was really an all-or-nothing approach. I had nothing to lose. It was just an amazing opportunity for me to be able to do that and to do it my way.

“The thing is with these super-finals, it’s a really long day, it’s a really hard format and we’re all exhausted by the end and if you can just make it through to that super-final it’s a massive achievement.”

At Tsuper’s fifth Olympic Games, the 34-year-old was the only competitor in the medal round to have landed clean meaning her back-Full-Full-Full, with a DD of 4.050, could not be beaten.

She started the medal round and increased the pressure on the other ladies as the crowd erupted with her excellent jump. In her first jump of the day she had a big crash but then her day improved and she kept the pressure on her competitors with huge consistent jumps.

Li Nina, who has won silver at the past two Olympics, went next in the super-final and fell heavily attempting a triple somersault with a DD of 3.9, for a low score of 46.02.

Lassila followed as the chants of Aussie, Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi filled the stands. She was so focussed on her quad she didn’t know that Li had fallen and she never considered downgrading her jump.

The mother from Melbourne had an ‘all or nothing’ approach to defending her Olympic title. Either way she was creating history. No woman has ever attempted a quad trick before in competition and no woman has ever defended their Olympic crown. Unfortunately the fairytale ending didn’t eventuate at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park. As soon as Lassila missed the landing she knew her Olympic title defence was over.

World Champion Xu Mengtao was the last to jump for gold. She had landed perfectly all competition but put her hands down on her triple somersault (DD 4.175) and registered 83.50 points. 

The 23-year-old also fell on her final jump in Vancouver four years ago. She then went on to dominate the World Cup circuit for three years but had to settle for silver at Sochi.

China has won more Aerials medals at the Games than any other nation with five but never gold.

Australia’s aerial skiing medal run started with Alisa Camplin’s gold in 2002, then bronze to Camplin in 2006, then Lassila repeated the same podium finishes in 2010 and 2014.  

Lassila is now also credited with taking the sport to the next level.

“I hope to be remembered more for the trick that I did today rather than my gold,” Lassila said at the post-event press conference.

“It means a lot to me and I hope people remember it for a long time to come.

“I stuck to the plan and did difficult jumps right through to the super-final. It was an extremely strong final 4.

Lassila showed why she is so popular with teammates and competitors. 

“I’m so happy for Alla. I love this girl. She's a great competitor and she has continued to push herself as well. We are both mums. She is so deserving of this medal.”

Tsuper did not reach the podium in her four previous participations in this event, in 1998 (5th), 2002 (9th), 2006 (10th) and 2010 (8th). At the age of 34 years and 304 days, she is the oldest medallist in any freestyle skiing event. And she is the second gold medallist from Belarus in freestyle skiing after Alexei Grishin won gold in men's aerials in 2010.

Laura Peel, Danielle Scott and Samantha Wells all jumped really well at various times in the tactical competition but did not have the same difficulty in tricks of some of their competitors.

Peel ended the day was a fantastic seventh place. She fell on her first jump to be 13th (67.68) after qualification 1, then finished third in qualification 2 (85.99). In final 1 she was fifth (83.79) and then seventh in final 2 when she back slapped on landing (64.50).

“I missed that one, but I’m psyched to watch Lydia in the final,” Peel said.

“We go out there and try to do the same thing every time. The crowd and the atmosphere are different,” Peel said of the Olympic Games.

Scott was very unlucky to not progress to the top 8. She was ranked third after qualification 1 and in Final 1 she had the same score as eighth but was relegated on a count-back to ninth (76.23). She bent her knees slightly to land her jump and that cost her. 

The World Championship bronze medallist was disappointed to not execute a better final jump to progress.

“I just needed a little bit more speed and I could have stayed straight, could have gone higher, but that’s the game, you can’t do much when that happens. I’m happy I landed.”

Samantha Wells on Olympic debut finished in 18th. She just missed progressing straight to final 1, when ranked seventh in her first jump but in qualification 2 she missed her landing and was ranked 12th.

The bronze medal joins Lassila’s gold from Vancouver 2010 and follows silver to Torah Bright in Sochi two days ago. Lassila, Bright Dale Begg-Smith and Steven Bradbury are the multiple medallists for Australia at the Winter Olympics.

Australia has now won six medals in all freestyle skiing events, one more medal than it has won in all other winter sports combined.

Andrew Reid | sochi2014.olympics.com.au

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.

The AIS/VIS Aerial Skiing program has completed a number of successful water ramp training camps in Park City, UT, USA, and Mettmenstetten, Switzerland over the northern hemisphere summer.

A number of athletes qualified new jumps on the water, which are ready to be performed on snow.

All of the USA based athletes attended water ramp competitions over the summer period. Samantha Wells and David Morris went to the World Masters in Mettmenstetten, Switzerland, finishing third and ninth respectively. They continued to Quebec, Canada, and were joined by Danielle Scott, Laura Peel and Renee McElduff at Lac Beauport. Results in the women’s event were Scott third, Peel fifth, Wells eighth, McElduff ninth and David Morris fifth in the men’s event.

Reigning Olympic Champion, Lydia Lassila was based at the water jump in Mettmenstetten, Switzerland, for the northern hemisphere summer where she trained under the guidance of Swiss Head Coach, Michel Roth. Lydia had a productive camp and was able to progress to her full degree of difficulty.

An AIS/VIS Aerial Skiing water ramp/strength and conditioning camp is scheduled for October in Melbourne. Focus will be on basic singles, bungee and trampoline training which will take place at the Lilydale water jump facility. Danielle Scott, Renee McElduff, Laura Peel and Samantha Wells will attend this camp.

Aerial skier Samantha Wells may have departed the World Freestyle Ski Championships in Voss, Norway, without a medal but the Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of Sport athlete left with a prized item of another kind.

After finishing sixth overall, the best result of her career, the 23-year-old from Mt Buller plucked up the courage to ask the Crown Prince of Norway, Haakon, to exchange beanies after the event.

Sam told the Crown Prince that it was a time-honoured tradition in Australia and with many international sporting events for an item of uniform to be exchanged between rivals.

“Sam went over and introduced herself to the Crown Prince of Norway and swapped her Australian beanie and an Australian flag for his Norwegian beanie,” AIS aerial skiing program manager and physiotherapist Ashley Merkur said.

“He complimented her on her jumping and she thanked him for taking an interest.”

Danielle Scott has become the latest athlete to contribute to Australia’s rich history in aerial skiing by winning the bronze medal at the World Freestyle Ski Championships in Voss, Norway.

The third place in the season’s biggest event means that Scott, who turned 23 on the day of the event, has two big reasons to celebrate.

Scott’s first podium finish of her career headlined an outstanding day for all five Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of Sport athletes competing in the World Championships.

Four Aussie women were among the top eight places while Australia’s only male aerial athlete finished fifth, meaning that all five athletes competing at the biennial World Championships qualified for the final eight.

Scott’s third place in the event, which is only surpassed by the Winter Olympic Games, ends a highly successful northern hemisphere aerial season that saw an Australian athlete on the podium in every event of the season.

Four different AIS/VIS aerial skiers achieved a podium during the season, indicating that the current depth of talent will only boost Australia’s chances of an aerial skiing medal at next year’s Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

Among the contenders will be current Olympic champion Lydia Lassila, fifth place, Samantha Wells, who was sixth and Laura Peel, eighth.

David Morris, who recorded his debut World Cup win in the Ukraine two weeks ago, was fifth in the World Championship event after qualifying for the final in second place.

But the day belonged to the birthday girl who is predictably ecstatic about her biggest achievement to date and a performance that caps off a season which has progressively grown in strength.

“What an awesome birthday present. This morning when I woke up I said to myself ‘this is the day to do it, bring it on’,” Scott said.

“I definitely considered a medal today was within reach. I have been so close the entire season and I have been wanting it so bad.

“I’m now really looking forward to what is ahead. At the risk of sounding cliché, this means the world to me.”

While China’s Mengtao Xu may have won the women’s title and Russia’s Veronika Korsunova was second, Scott, who was presented with the Federation of International Skiing rookie of the year award last season, was arguably the athlete who received the most attention during the medal ceremony.

“When they were announcing the final podium, a lot of the teams and the crowd started to sing happy birthday, which was something very special.

“One of the Swiss girls started, and the Canadians and the Chinese joined in.

“Mengtao gave me a birthday present. I felt really loved out there.”

Scott said she is particularly proud to have won Australia’s seventh World Championships aerial skiing medal and to now be part of a success story that includes greats such as Kirstie Marshall, Jacqui Cooper, Alisa Camplin and Lydia Lassila.

Cooper, Australia’s most successful aerial skier in World Championships, was instrumental in recruiting Scott into the aerial skiing program and has continued to contribute to her development.

Scott continues to regard Cooper as her role model and in fact the two exchanged emails before the World Championships.

“Jacqui has been alongside of me the whole time,” Scott said.

“I haven’t spoken to her yet but I sent her an email this morning. She sent me a couple of emails before the event and wished me luck.

“The main advice she gave me was before Sochi (last month’s Olympic test event) and she gave me a few pointers that really helped me.”

Australian aerial skier Laura Peel moved into third on the world rankings with the fourth podium finish of her career in the World Cup and test event of next year’s Sochi Winter Olympic Games in Russia tonight.

Peel won the silver medal and lifted her ranking from six in the world before this event.

Australia now has three places in the world’s top five rankings.

Peel sits one place below fellow Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of Sport athlete Lydia Lassila, the current Olympic champion and world number two, with another AIS / VIS skier Danielle Scott, who finished in fifth place tonight, ranked at five.

The event was won by China’s Mengtao Xu with Switzerland’s Tanja Schaerer in third.

Peel said she was thrilled by the result and is now looking forward even more than before to the World Championship in Voss, Norway, early next month.

“We didn’t have great training,” Peel said. “It’s been tough all week.

“The conditions were tough, especially in qualification earlier. It was a little easier tonight.”

Peel said that she is now looking towards a strong finish to her northern hemisphere commitments after a delayed start to the season as a result of off-season surgery to her shoulder.

“I didn’t have as much training as I would have liked so I’m just now starting to get my tricks right.”

Scott can also be pleased with her performance of qualifying in fifth place but she was unable to keep the momentum going in the first final, finishing in 6th place.

Teammates Sam Wells qualified for the final and finished 9th while Renee McElduff finished 21st, after missing the cut.

Lassila decided not to compete tonight, due to back soreness from training yesterday.

In the men’s draw, AIS / VIS athlete and world number four David Morris started the night brilliantly by qualifying as the second top athlete with a score of 123.90, just 0.44 of a point short of top place.

But unfortunately for the Australian, he was unable to equal the standard in the first final, missing the super final and finishing in 8th overall.

Chinese athletes, Qi Guangpu and Lui Zhongqing took the first two places with Denis Osipau from Belarus in third place.

Snowbasin ski resort, the North American home of the OWIA and the Australian Aerial Skiing program “The Flying Kangaroos”, recently honoured the team with a special poster signing day at the Utah resort.

“The Flying Kangaroos” team took signed posters all afternoon for the skiers and boarders at the popular resort, with great interest in the team.

Snowbasin has supported the Aerial Skiing athletes at their home resort in North America since 2003.

The resort’s main gondola features cabins named after legendy Olympic medallists in skiing, and includes a dedicated gondola to “Fling Kangaroo” Olympic Champions Alisa Camplin and Lydia Lassila.

The training available at Snowbasin is very important in the development of World Class athletes and their skills in preparation for competition at World Cups, World Championships and ultimately the Olympic Winter Games.

Aerial skiing Olympic Champion Lydia Lassila’s much-anticipated comeback continued impressively at Lake Placid in the United States today when she pocketed her third World Cup podium finish from four starts.

The Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of sport athlete ended night two of the Lake Placid double-header in the silver medal position, adding to second places in China and Canada in the opening two events of the season.

Fellow AIS / VIS scholarship holder David Morris, who captured a career-first podium finish yesterday, also continued his successful season.

Morris backed up his third place yesterday by qualifying for his third super final in the four rounds of World Cup so far.

Morris leaves Lake Placid with a third and a fourth added to his record, clearly the best two days of his career.

As well as picking up her 32nd World Cup podium, Lassila can be pleased with several important steps forward in her quest for a tilt at another medal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

This weekend saw Lassila jump triple somersaults in competition for the first time since the Olympic final in 2010.

Chinese athlete, Yu Yang, won today’s event, with compatriot Mengtao Xu third.

Fellow AIS / VIS skier Laura Peel is getting back to her best after a delayed pre-season start.

The 23-year-old Mount Buller-based skier finished Lake Placid in sixth and was today’s top qualifier.

AIS / VIS scholarship holder and world number five Dani Scott was ninth and was the third Australian woman to finish in today’s top 10.

The other two members of the AIS / VIS aerial squad, Renee McElduff and Samantha Wells, came 12th and 17th respectively, after very good jumps in the qualification round.

Lassila said she believes her return to competition is on track and living up to her expectations.

“Today I felt I had more fun. It’s been a while but it is coming back,” Lassila said.

“I’m very happy with how things are progressing and we could not have asked for more.

“We wanted to do the first couple of events with doubles and they were successful, then we added triples, which is what we did this week.

“It’s a really good start. The jumps are nice. I just need to get the landings a little more consistent.”

Lassila’s landing in the super final was the difference between winning and second today, with Yu Yang being the only competitor in the four woman super final to successfully complete her landing in the blustering conditions.

“It was strange because the conditions changed a lot for the final,” Lassila said.

“We were taking steps up on the in-run down. We were all over the place but we got the speeds right.

“Also through the course of the day, and I wasn’t ready for this, the landing hill was super soft and I just sank in. I couldn’t save it.

“Three girls crashed in the final as a result. We didn’t expect the landing hill to get that soft from one jump to another.”

Morris said he was really “happy and disappointed at the same time” with his fourth place and the fact that he missed his second podium in as many days by the small margin of 1.57 points.

“Today I probably set my expectation of myself a little higher than yesterday,” Morris said.

Comeback skier David Morris delivered the best performance of his career to become the first Australian men’s aerial skier to win a World Cup medal in almost 15 years at Lake Placid, in the United States.

The 28-year-old Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of Sport athlete, who came close to walking away from aerial skiing 12 months ago, achieved a life-long dream of becoming the first Aussie male to reach a World Cup podium since Jono Sweet finished third at Whistler-Blackcomb, Canada, one week short of 15 years ago.

Morris’ third place elevates his world ranking to number three and comes just six days after he achieved a then World Cup career best result of fourth at Val Saint Come, Canada.

Today’s World Cup third round saw Chinese athletes fill the first two places with Zongyang Jia and Guangpu Qi taking out first and second. Morris’ bronze medal denied the Chinese team a 1-2-3 finish.

While all eyes were on the Australian women, particularly current Olympic gold medallist Lydia Lassila, Morris stole the limelight.

Three Australian women qualified for the round of 12, however, none scored high enough to progress to the super-final for the top four athletes.

The best of the Australian women was 22-year-old AIS / VIS scholarship holder Dani Scott, who finished with a career equaling best fifth place after topping the leaders’ board in qualifying.

Fellow AIS / VIS athletes Lydia Lassila and Laura Peel finished 11th and 12th respectively, after both missing their landings in the round of 12.

Morris described the result as the “best day of his life.”

“I didn’t dream that I would ever be standing on a World Cup podium,” an elated Morris said soon after the completion of the night event.

“I did a quad triple triple (in the round of 12) and it was massive and I pinned the landing. I was celebrating that one because I had redeemed myself on the spot.

“When we looked at who was in the super final, we realised there were three Chinese guys. The only jump I had left was the full, full, full, which would have given me a fourth against those guys.

“So at that point I decided to do my first double full, full, full for the season.”

“When I landed it, I felt like hugging everyone, which is what I probably did by the end of the day.”

Ironically, Sweet, the last Australian male aerial skier to stand on a World Cup podium, was Morris’ first coach and the person who enticed him into the sport.

Morris admitted that 12 months ago he came close to quitting the sport that has been the centre of his life for so long.

He said that watching aerial events on TV prompted him to strap the skis on again this season.

“When I saw some of the results, I thought that could be me so I decided then to compete again.”

Morris has no time for celebrations as the next World Cup aerial competition will be held at Lake Placid in 24 hours.

Australia’s six member aerial skiing squad were all smiles after their World Cup performances at Val Saint Come, Canada, today when Olympic Champion Lydia Lassila made it two podiums from as many starts and AIS/ VIS team mate Laura Peel qualified for her first super-final of the season.

To add more gloss to the day, Australian aerial skiers dominated the top five places with Dani Scott achieving a personal best fifth place and narrowly missing the super final.

The results in Quebec were part of Australia’s best 24 hours in World Cup history, highlighted by two wins and three other podium finishes across three skiing and snowboarding disciplines.

Lassila described her result as “brilliant” despite the fact that she was “out jumped” by China’s Mengtao Xu.

The Australian hastens to add that she is yet to reintroduce triple somersaults into her competition regime, electing so far to stick to multiple twisting double somersaults with high executions, at this phase of her comeback.

However, she plans to reinstate triples when she competes at Lake Placid, USA, on January 20.

“Our plan is to do the triples this week which is exciting,” she said.

“I’m hoping they will go well although I’m not sure what to expect in terms of results and lasting a whole competition doing them.

“I’ve taken it one step at a time but we’re ready now.

“I have performed really well and consistently in the two events, executed the tricks exactly how I wanted so I’m pleased with that as a platform and now I can keep building.”

Peel, who finished last year with a ranking of four in the world, recaptured close to her best form with an excellent fourth place today executing both double somersaults almost perfectly.

Fifth place Scott, again had very high points on her full full, and has moved to third on the World Cup rankings behind Lassila and series leader Mengtao, while Peel has climbed up into sixth.

Renee McElduff also qualified for finals competition in 12th with a well executed lay full and Samantha Wells narrowly missed her full full landing ending up in 14th place.

The revelation of the World Cup second round in Quebec was the fourth placed 28-year-old David Morris, who had a World Cup career best of 6th going into the event.

With a podium finish well within sight after the early rounds, Morris made it through to the four man super-final with eventual winner Dmitri Dashinski from Belarus, Canadian Travis Gerrits and China’s Hang Zhou.

Performing a full-full-full, a jump he has completed almost perfectly at least 10 times in the last week, the Australian failed to hit his landing, forcing Morris forward into the snow.

The landing mishap, after the rest of the trick went perfectly, cost him a chance to stand on a World Cup podium for the first time in his career.

Australia’s current Olympic gold medallist Lydia Lassila made a strong return to the elite level of aerial skiing in Changchun, China, today when she finished second in her first World Cup competition in almost three years.

However, despite her impressive return, Lassila, who became a mother for the first time in 2011, will not yet allow herself to start thinking about the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

The Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of Sport athlete said she would have been disappointed had she not recorded her 30th World Cup podium finish today.

“I wanted to be on the podium and that’s what I thought I could do,” Lassila said.

“It’s too early to start thinking of another Olympic medal. Obviously that is what I dream of, and that is why I’m here, but there is a lot of building to do.”

Finishing second to China’s Mengtao Xu and ahead of Nina Li, also from China, clearly signaled to the skiing world that Lassila is back with the same desire that propelled her to Olympic glory in February 2010.

Right from the start of the first World Cup aerial event of the season, Lassila made it clear that her intentions would not revolve around “easing” her way back into competition.

She finished fourth in qualifying with a full-full scoring 89 points and then increased the degree of difficulty in the first final with a double full-full, earning 94 points and a place in the super-final contested by the day’s best four athletes.

Competing for the first time in the new two finals format, Lassila maintained her degree of difficulty in the final round with a full-double-full, a double somersault with three twists, but with a double twist on the second flip, picking up 97 points in the minus 18 degree conditions to snare second place.

Lassila said that she was thrilled by the result but at the same time, she expects that sort of result of herself.

“I knew that if I could get to the final four, I’d have a pretty good chance of being on the podium.

“That was the first time I have competed with that format so I didn’t know what to expect other than expecting it to be a long day.

“As it turned out, the format was less of the big deal than what I thought it would be and that was surprising.

“The girl that won did triples, so there was nothing I could do about that at this stage.

“Today gives me a lot more confidence for when I start to do triples again.”

The Australian Institute of Sport aerial skiing program has wrapped up their training camp in Ruka, Finland, with a Europa Cup event.

The event was an ideal warm up for the opening World Cup of the season on January 5 in Changchun, China, with a number of positive early season performances by the AIS athletes.

The highlight was AIS/VIS scholarship holder Lydia Lassila winning her first event back since the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games and becoming a mother. Although Lydia won with a low degree of difficulty by her standards (lay-full and full-full), the win shows she is on track in the defence of her Olympic title.

Also competing after taking a break last season, David Morris, had a successful event winning two medals, a second on day one and a bronze medal on day two.

Samantha Wells, Danielle Scott and Renee McElduff competed in the day two event, finishing in fourth, fifth and ninth place respectively.

VIS athlete Alice Cheung made her competition debut finishing in 11th place on day one.

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.

Twenty-two-year-old aerial skier, Laura Peel, has recorded a break-through victory to take a World Cup gold medal in Kreischberg, Austria, today.

The Mt Buller skier joins the elite group of Kirstie Marshall, Jacqui Cooper, Alisa Camplin and Lydia Lassila as the only Australians to have won a World Cup aerial skiing event.

It is the first major international win by an Australian aerial skier since Lassila won gold at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games two years ago.

Peel finished ahead of Ukrainian Olga Volkova, who was a medalist at last year’s World Championships, and China’s Yu Yang in third place.

The win by the Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of Sport athlete in the World Cup seventh round follows a season of remarkable progress, elevating her ranking to fourth in the world.

In just her second year on the World Cup circuit, Peel has produced a third, a fifth and fourth placing to go with today’s victory, delivering a dream season.

Given that Peel is in the early stage of her development and yet to introduce high degree of difficulty jumps into her repertoire, her achievements this season have surprised many, including herself.

“It’s going to take a while for today to sink in because it is a big shock, Peel said.

“I would not have dreamed of this at the start of the season.

“I think this is now the start of my career and I can achieve a lot more, using jumps with a higher degree of difficulty.

“I think there is potential there, with hopefully a lot more to come.”

Peel set herself a goal of making two finals this year and if a podium finished occurred, that would be a bonus.

So far this season she has smashed those expectations and Peel hopes that this is the first step towards achieving the ultimate for her – a Winter Olympic Games medal.

“Today definitely helps towards achieving my long term goal of an Olympic medal. I have a few more years before the next Olympics so I will keep going down the same track and you never know,” Peel said.

However, she knows that fulfilling her ultimate goal will hinge heavily on introducing jumps with a higher degree of difficulty than she used today.
She performed an excellent double twisting double somersault in the qualifying round scoring 87 points to place second, and had to rely on a lower scoring single twisting double somersault in the top four shoot out to snatch victory after the number one qualifier Chinese skier Yu Yang crashed on the final jump of the event to slip and slipped to third.

Although China’s top two aerial skiers, Mengtao Xu and Shuang Cheng, who are one and two on the World Cup aerial standings list, were not competing today, Peel still has good reason to celebrate.

Teammates and World Cup rookies, Danielle Scott and Samantha Wells both scored personal best scores above 80 points for the first time in competition. Scott finished 7th while Wells was 8th. in Austria.

Olympic Winter Institute of Australia CEO Geoff Lipshut said that the result was extremely encouraging for Australia’s aerial skiing and praised the work done by AIS aerial skiing program head coach Cord Spero , program/ team manager Ashley Merkur and Barbara Meyer.

Lipshut, who pointed out that the Australian team will be bolstered by the return of Olympic Champion Lydia Lassila next season, said that all of the program and support staff at the VIS and AIS had been instrumental in the development of Peel, Scott and Wells.

Wells is ninth in world after Austria and Scott is close to breaking into the top 10 rankings.

The team will have a two day break before traveling to the Belarus capital Minsk for the next competition on February 25.