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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gymnastics Australia's 'Spin to Win' program is assisting Australia's Aerial Skiing program in their recruitment of female athletes for their 2016 Development Squad.  The Aerial Skiing program is a talent transfer program, recruiting female athletes aged 15-17 from gymnastics, trampoline and acrobatic backgrounds and teaching them to ski and jump on snow with the aim of creating World Cup and Olympic aerial skiers.

Applications for the 2016 Aerial Skiing Development Squad close on the 1st of May.

If you would like a copy of the Aerial Skiing Handbook and Application form or have any questions about the Aerial Skiing Development Squad, contact Bree at bbryant@gymnastics.org.au.

The Aerial Skiing program is supported by the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS), Ski and Snowboard Australia (SSA) and the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA).
 
Gymnastics Australia is supported by the Federal Government's Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) Competitive Innovation Fund. ‘Spin to Win’ is a collaborative project led by GA in partnership with Diving Australia (DA), Ski & Snowboard Australia (SSA) and the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA) that aims to build a successful and sustainable national system of talent identification, development and transfer to maximise podium performances at World Championships and Olympic Games in each sport in the future.

For more information regarding talent identification or talent transfer please contact GA's National Pathways Coordinator – Spin to Win, Bree Bryant at bbryant@gymnastics.org.au.

Following the Beijing World Cup before Christmas, the OWIA/VIS Aerial Skiing Program enjoyed a much deserved break.

The team is now back together in Val St Come, Quebec, Canada, and began training on the 8th of January.

Due to unseasonably warm weather conditions on the east coast of North America the program has had to make adjustments with training camp dates and competition schedules. 

The program started training slightly later than planned due to snow conditions and the Lake Placid World Cup has unfortunately been cancelled for the first time in almost twenty years.

This will be used as an opportunity to train and make the most of the extra time now available in the lead up to the next event in Deer Valley, Utah, USA.

Deer Valley will now run an additional Aerial event to make up for the Lake Placid cancellation, on Thursday February 4.

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.”
​
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

The “Flying Kangaroos” – Australia’s Aerial Skiing Team is very proud and pleased to announce EltaMD® as a Team sponsor in the category of Sunscreen and Skincare.
 
All of the Australian team which includes Sochi Silver Medalist, David Morris, Current World Champion Laura Peel & 2013 World Championship Medalist Danielle Scott, World Cup Winner Renee McElduff and Olympian Samantha Wells are appreciative of the support being provided by EltaMD, a highly trusted sun and skin care brand produced in the USA and sold internationally.
 
This relationship will provide EltaMD an opportunity to continue to spread the word about the importance of sun protection, while at the same time providing very protective products to a group of young high achieving athletes who are putting their lives on hold while representing their country in an exceptional way.  
 
EltaMD in the USA is only sold to physicians for them to then sell to their patients, and is the largest Sun Screen brand sold by Doctors.  Parent company, Swiss-American Products began over 25 years ago as a producer of skin and wound care products sold to hospitals and other acute care facilities. This acute knowledge of the treatment and protection of the skin, was applied to the design and launch EltaMD in 2007.

The “Flying Kangaroos” are presently in Utah for Summer Water Jump training, which concludes in early October. A winter preparation camp is scheduled for Finland in November, leading into the opening World Cup competition of the new season which kicks off in China during mid-December. During January and February the squad will head back to the USA for World Cup stops in Lake Placid, NY, and Deer Valley, UT, followed by more competitions in Russia and Europe.
 
Sun protection has been at the core of the EltaMD line including thirteen different products to protect the skin from UVA and UVB rays. EltaMD broad-spectrum sunscreens contain zinc oxide, a mineral compound, to protect skin against UVA and UVB rays. Physicians and skin care professionals recommend EltaMD sunscreens formulated for every skin type and lifestyle. Cosmetically elegant and photostable, EltaMD sunscreens are fragrance-free, sensitivity-free, paraben-free and noncomedogenic.
 
EltaMD skin care products include deep yet gentle cleansers and innovative moisturizers for normal, sensitive, and troubled skin. EltaMD specialty formulations help correct problems and maintain skin health over time. EltaMD post-procedure products promote skin healing and comfort after skin rejuvenation treatments that help reverse the appearance of aging and sun damage.
 
Michael Kennedy, Chief Executive Officer of the responsible National Federation, Ski and Snowboard Australia was excited to hear the news of the partnership with EltaMD. “It’s great that our Aerial Skiing athletes have the support of an excellent company who produce the highest quality products. The direct support to the athlete program will help make our athletes both, more competitive in the future and safer with great skincare.”
 
EltaMD products are tested according to both US and International standards, with twelve sun screens recording a PA++++ rating. 

The Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA) is seeking a suitable Aerial Skiing Technical Coach with a passion for winter sports and organisational excellence. Travelling with the OWIA’s Aerial Skiing Team, the appointed candidate will build on the success of the current program to produce high performance results through world class technical coaching.

Working with the OWIA’s Aerial Skiing Program Management Team the Technical Coach will join the current coaching staff and will be responsible for:

•     Technical coaching
•     Top coaching during competition
•     Athlete Management as required
•     Equipment Management

The successful applicant will have:

• Strong coaching background in aerial skiing including suitable athlete or coaching experience at an international level; preferably at a World Championships, World Cup and/or Olympic Winter Games.

This is a full time position commencing from the 1st November 2015 or possibly earlier by mutual agreement. For further information please contact hannah.kennedy@owia.org or +613 9686 2977.

Position Description

• Please click here to download

Please submit your Expression of Interest and CV to: hannah.kennedy@owia.org

Applications close COB 20th September 2015

Twenty-five year old aerial skier, Canberra’s Laura Peel, became Australia’s newest World Champion when she won the gold medal at the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships in Kreischberg, Austria, this morning.

The Olympic Winter Institute of Australia/Victoria Institute of Sport athlete becomes the fourth Australian woman to win an aerial skiing World Championships title and joins Kirstie Marshall, Jacqui Cooper and Alisa Camplin in an elite group.

Peel claimed her first major title in a nail-biting super-final ahead of American Kiley McKinnon in second with China’s Xu Mengtao in third.

Peel’s courageous victory came from a triple twisting double somersault.

As the third last competitor in the six-woman super-final, Peel landed a high quality jump and picked up 88.47 points from the judges.

The jump put Peel at the top of the leaders’ board and at that time she knew she would podium but the colour of her medal depended on the last two jumps of the competition from Flying Kangaroo teammate Danielle Scott and Mengtao.

Unfortunately for Scott, she fell slightly backwards on her landing, which was reflected in her score of 70.14 points, which pushed the Australian out of medal contention and back to fifth place overall.

The higher ranked Mengtao pinned her hopes of snatching the gold from Peel on a triple twisting triple somersault, a more difficult jump than Peel’s selection.

However, Mengtao failed to land the jump cleanly and gained 86.84 points.

A shell-shocked Peel described the win as “disbelief”.

“I just wanted to get through to the top six but to come away with the win is unbelievable,” Peel said.

“I am so happy to be the World Champion. I can’t believe it.”

Going into the Championships, Peel thought she “had a shot of being on the podium” but did not expect to be standing on the top step.

“I was a little nervous about the jump selection but I knew that if I wanted to stand on the podium, I knew that was what I had to do,” Peel said.

One of the first people to congratulate Peel on her outstanding performance was former World Champion Jacqui Cooper, who originally identified Peel’s exception talent as a gymnast and encouraged her to become involved with aerial skiing.

“Jacqui said she was so proud of me, which meant so much to me,” Peel said.

“She has always encouraged me and helped me with so many things.”

She added that training alongside Olympic gold medallist Lydia Lassila for a number of years as well as a year with Cooper, set Peel on a course to becoming World Champion.

“Training with Lydia I saw how tough a competitor she is and my first year, which was Jacqui’s last year, was amazing plus working with my coaches and teammates, has been so great.”

Scott can also be proud of her achievements at this event after securing the highest score in the qualification session, seventh in the first final, second in the second final before making a minor error in the super-final.

The third Flying Kangaroo member, Renee McElduff, finished in 13th place overall.

In other results from Kreischberg, Australian snowboard cross athlete Alex “Chumpy” Pullin finished his qualification session in top place.

The defending champion goes into tomorrow’s finals as one of the top contenders and is aiming on becoming the first snowboard cross athlete to win three World Championship in a row.

Other Australians, Cam Bolton and Jarryd Hughes finished the session in 11th and 29th respectively while Belle Brockhoff was seventh fastest. All OWIA/NSWIS athletes qualified for the finals.

Results

Women’s aerial skiing, FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships, Kreischberg, Austria

1.       Larau Peel (AUS), 2.Kiley McKinnon (USA), 3. Xu Mengtao (CHN), 4.Ashley Caldwell (USA), 5. Danielle Scott (AUS), 6. Hanna Huskova (BLR), 13. Renee McElduff (AUS)

Olympic Winter Institute of Australia/Victorian Institute of Sport skiers Danielle Scott and Laura Peel have qualified for the finals of the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships in Kreischberg, Austria, in first and second place.

The Australian pair go into tomorrow’s finals ahead of Olympic silver medallist Xu Mengtao from China.

Scott finished today’s qualification session in top place with a score of 96.23 for her double full full jump, edging out her teammate on 92.70 with a full double full. Xu scored 91.29 points.

The third member of the Australian squad, Renee McElduff, narrowly missed the 12-woman cut to advance to the finals, ending the first session of the World Championships in 13th place.

The top 12 athletes from the qualification session battle out the finals from 4am Friday Australian Eastern Summer Time.

 

OWIA/VIS aerial skier Danielle Scott’s strong start to the season has left the 24-year-old with a World Cup ranking of number three.

Scott’s impressive position has resulted from the weekend’s double header in Beijing, China, where she picked up 80 points in the season opener with a second place in a nail biting super final and a further 50 points as a result of a fourth best score in the qualification session of the team event overnight (Australian time).

China’s Mengtao Xu leads the standings with 200 points, ahead of American Kiley McKinnon, who has 10 points more than the Australian.

Along with fellow OWIA/VIS athletes Laura Peel, currently ninth on the standing, and Renee McElduff, who is in 11th position, Scott is moving towards the elite ranks after just three years on the World Cup circuit.

While the three Australians were unable to progress to the finals in the team event, coach Jeff Bean said that the event still provided a numbers of positive aspects for the season ahead.

“We learn a lot from every competition day and this was no exception,” he said.

“All three girls were able to compete performing their highest degree of difficulty jumps, which is great training for the rest of the season and World Championships in January.

“Dani had a great two days of competition.  

“In the sport of aerials everything we do is magnified so a small mistake can drastically change your result.

“Dani was very focused on staying calm and she did that in both competitions. In the end it all comes down to good hard training which all the girls have done.”

Bean said that another of the pleasing things to come from the Beijing double header was McElduff’s performances in the two events.

“Renee had never scored over 80 points on her full full before and she did it twice here,” Bean said.

The team now starts a Christmas break until December 30 when they will head back to Ruka, Finland, for a 10-day training camp in preparation for the World Championships.