Minsk aerials victories for Xu and Burov
Feb 23, 2019·Freestyle
Minsk (BLR) - A standout night of FIS Freestyle aerials World Cup action went down under the lights in the capital city of Belarus on Saturday evening, where Xu Mengtao leading a Chinese sweep of the ladies and Maxim Burov of Russia taking the victory on the men’s side with some exceptional jumping.
Belarus is a country with a deep tradition of strong aerials athletes and an enthusiastic fan base, and on Saturday night those fans were out in full force to watch the best-of-the-best go head to head on the outstanding aerials facilities at the Raubichi Sports Complex just outside of Minsk.
Xu came into competition in Minsk wearing the yellow World Cup leader’s bib and on Saturday showed once again why she’s been the best aerials athlete in the world over the past decade, cleanly landing jump after jump from qualifications through to the superfinal, where she put down a spotless back double full, full, for a score of 87.77 and the win.
Xu spearheaded a phenomenal night for her squad, as the Chinese ladies matched what their male counterparts were able to do last season and swept the Minsk podium on the evening.
Behind Xu Mengtao in second was the other Xu of China to make the finals, as Xu Sicun put down a smooth back lay, full superfinal jump that earned her a score of 80.33, giving the 26-year-old her first podium in over five years and the third of her career.
Capping off the sweep in third place was Shao Qi, who’s back lay, full was deemed just a shade off the mark set by Xu Sicun, giving the 17-year-old a score of 80.04 and the second podium of her career.
With two victories and a third-place finish in three events so far this season, Xu Mengtao now has 260 points and a stranglehold on the World Cup lead with just one competition left in the season, as only Shao with 176 points could possibly catch her at the season’s final event in Shimao Lotus Mountain (CHN).
Over on the men’s side of things it was looking to be a crowd-pleasing win for Belarus’s Anton Kushnir, before Maxim Burov stepped up and threw down with the final jump of the evening, landing a near-perfect back double full, full, full that gave him a score of 120.36 and bumped the veteran Kushnir down to second place.
Burov is fresh off a gold-medal winning performance in Deer Valley at the Utah 2019 worlds championships, and the 20-year-old is establishing himself this season as the man to beat on the FIS Freestyle aerials World Cup tour. With his win on Saturday he rose to 236 points on the season, stepping ahead of his teammate Stanislav Nikitin’s 220 points and into first place on the World Cup standings.
Though it wasn’t a victory for Kushnir, it was his best performance of 2018/19, with his back double full, full, full good for a score of 118.10 and his first podium since January of last season in Lake Placid.
Third place on in the men’s competition at Minsk went to the above-mentioned Nikitin, who went with a back full, double full, full that saw him break form in the final flip and struggle to ski away from his landing, dropping his score considerably. Still, with a mark of 99.12, Nikitin would end up walking away with his third podium in three events so far this season.
From Minsk, the top aerials skiers in the world will make their way to a new venue on the World Cup tour for the season finale, at Shimao Lotus Mountain in China, where aerials and aerials team competitions will take place from March 2-3, 2019.
QUICK LINKS:
Full men’s results
)
