Xu and Burov prevail in Lake Placid aerials World Cup
Jan 20, 2019·Freestyle
The first FIS Freestyle Ski aerials World Cup competition of the 2018/2019 season took place on Saturday night at the Olympic Jumping Complex in Lake Placid, with Xu Mengtao (CHN) and Maxim Burov (RUS) taking big wins in a stellar show under the lights.
Wrapping up an exciting week of freestyle action on US soil, the aerials competition went down in style in front of the enthusiastic crowd, with the world’s best athletes delivering big tricks one after another, all evening long.
In the ladies event it was Xu Mengtao who led the Chinese podium sweep, stomping her stunning back Double Full-Full in the final phase of the competition as she claimed her career’s 21st victory.
“Competing here in Lake Placid is always very exciting”, said Xu. “I won here the second competition last season and ended up taking home the crystal globe, so finishing on top of the podium here again feels very special.”
Second place on the day went to Xu’s teammate Shao Qi for her first ever World Cup podium, while another Chinese athlete Xu Nuo rounded out the ladies’ podium in third, also claiming her very first top-3 finish.
Over on the men’s side the 2017/2018 World Cup winner Maxim Burov took his second consecutive win at the site in Lake Placid with a perfectly executed back Double Full-Full-Full, leaving no doubts that he was the best athlete on Saturday night.
“I’m very happy with the win today”, said Burov. “I’m very pleased with my jumping and taking the win in Lake Placid, where I won last season, is amazing and it is obviously a good sign ahead of the upcoming world championships.”
Wang Xindi (CHN) finished the competition behind Burov in second for his career’s third World Cup podium.
Burov’s teammate Stanislav Nikitin placed third on the day, also grabbing his third World Cup podium.
The aerials athletes will now travel to Deer Valley for the Utah 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, with the individual as well as the team event slated to go down on February 5-7.
The FIS Freestyle aerials World Cup will be back in action in the third week of February, with the second stop of the season set to go down in Moscow (RUS) on February 16.
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