Peel and Sun prevail in individual event at Shimao Lotus Mountain
Mar 02, 2019·Freestyle
Laura Peel (AUS) and Sun Jiaxu (CHN) topped the podium on day one of back-to-back competitions at the season finale of the 2018/19 FIS Freestyle Ski aerials World Cup, which is taking place this weekend in China at Shimao Lotus Mountain Resort.
Back in the Changchung region for the first time since 2013, the aerials tour was in action on Saturday as an exciting individual competition kicked off the fifth edition of the Shimao Lotus Mountain World Cup.
Conditions on the day were not optimal, with some headwinds and warm temperatures creating speed issues for the athletes. However, while some of the favourites struggled to showcased their best jumping, Saturday’s competition turned out to be an interesting spectacle with some unexpected results.
In the ladies’ event Laura Peel (AUS) improved on her second-place result from two weeks ago in Moscow and scored her career’s second World Cup win, and her first since 2012 when she finished on top of the podium in Kreischberg (AUT).
Entering the big final ranked just below the current World Cup leader Xu Mengtao (CHN), the 29-year-old veteran Peel stepped things up in the final phase of the competition as she flawlessly executed her back full, double full. Peel received a score of 96.58 points for her jump and, after Xu had some uncharacteristic struggles with her final jump, it was the Aussie skier who finished with her first Word Cup victory in more than seven years.
Second place on the day went to Xu Sicun (CHN) for her second podium this season, while Ashley Caldwell (USA) rounded out the ladies’ podium in third, for her first top-3 finish in 2018/19.
Finishing Saturday’s event just off the podium in fourth, Xu Mengtao kept her lead in the overall standing and will enter tomorrow’s final World Cup event with 70 points advantage over second-ranked Xu Sicun. This means that, if Xu Sicun were to theoretically win the competition for 100 points on Sunday, Xu Mengtao would need to finish in eighth or higher to secure the globe. And, when one takes into account the Chinese veteran’s form so far this season, it’s very likely that she will be able to lock that result down and walk away with her third consecutive aerials World Cup crystal globe once the seasons wraps up on Sunday.
It was also an extremely exciting competition over on the men’s side with Sun Jiaxu (CHN) coming in hot and going for his career’s best result, as the 19-year-old athlete who made his debut just last year in Moscow scored his very first World Cup podium, making it also his career’s first victory.
Sun upset his more experienced teammate Wang Xindi in the battle for the top spot, stomping his back full, double full, full for a score of 126.11 points, while Wang came in second with 125.22 points for the same trick.
Third place on the day went to Eric Loughran (USA), who also scored his career’s first World Cup podium.
With the second place on Saturday Wang Xindi moved into first place in the standings, capitalising on the fact that the Russian duo of Maxim Burov and Stanislav Nikitin are competing at the Winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk. And while Saturday’s winner Sun Jiaxu finds himself almost 70 points of Wang with only one more competition left in the season, it’s almost certain that the 23-year-old skier will claim his first crystal globe on Sunday.
The aerials World Cup action in China is set to continue tomorrow with the team event. The individual round is slated to start at 8:40 LOC with the finals following up at 13:30.
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