Aerials World Cup city tour moves on to Minsk
Feb 21, 2019·Freestyle
Minsk (BLR) - The FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup lands back in Minsk (BLR) this weekend for what has been one of the highlight stops on the tour since the 2010/11 season, where aerials action is set to take to the skies above the Belarusian capital on Saturday, February 23rd, with qualifications beginning at 14:25 CET for the ladies and 16:45 for the men, and finals set to go under the lights at 19:00.
Belarus has long produced some of the best aerial skiers on the planet, and between their ladies’ and men’s teams the Belarusians can lay claim to four of the last six Olympic aerials gold medals awarded. Throw in a newly-crowned ladies’ world champion in Aliaksandra Ramanouskya (BLR) and you have one of the top-performing nations on the sport’s biggest stages over the past decade.
Though the Belarusian team has shrunk somewhat in this post-Olympic season, with Ramanouskay and perennial men’s favourite Anton Kushnir amongst their ranks, the host squad should be counted on to give the home crowd something to cheer for this weekend.
Ramanouskaya followed up her Utah 2019 gold medal-winning performance at Deer Valley with a victory last weekend in Moscow, moving her up to a tie for second on the World Cup standings with Shao Qi and just behind Xu Mengtao of China. Ramanouskaya is currently the athlete on the aerials World Cup and should be a favourite to become the first Belarusian athlete to win on home soil since Kushnir did it at the events premier
With a win and third place finish in two World Cup events so far this season and a Utah 2019 bronze medal, the ever-consistent Xu should also be counted amongst the favourites in Minsk once again this week as she looks to move closer to her third-straight aerials crystal globe this season.
Fourth-overall Laura Peel (AUS), is fresh off a runner-up result in Moscow and now has podiums in the three of her last four competitions dating back to last season, while Utah 2019 silver medallist Luibov Nikitina of Russia, and two more of the three Chinese Xu’s in the top-10 - Xu Nuo and Xu Sicun - are all ones to watch this weekend.
Over on the men’s side of things the Russian squad currently rules the roost with three athletes in the top five, including current World Cup leader Stanislav Nikitin, Utah 2019 world champion and 2017/18 aerials crystal globe winner Maxim Burov, and Maxim’s older brother Ilia.
With Maxim Burov following up his Utah 2019 gold medal with a win last weekend on home soil he, like Ramanouskaya in the ladies’ field, comes into competition in Minsk on a roll, and seems like the best bet to perhaps become the first Russian to win at the Belarusian venue.
Oleksandr Abramenko (UKR), who won at Minsk back in 2015, is coming into Saturday’s competition fresh off a Utah 2019 silver medal performance at Deer Valley, could be in contention on Saturday, while 18-year-old Noe Roth (SUI) should also be riding high after claiming Utah 2019 bronze and helping the Swiss squad win the first-ever mixed team aerials world champs gold. And, of course, even at the legendary Kushnir should never be counted out, even if his results so far in 2018/19 haven’t been up to his typically lofty potential.
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