Aerials city tour moves on to Minsk
Feb 22, 2020·Freestyle
The FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup comes back to 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 Olympic Sports Complex Raubichi on Saturday, February 22, with qualifications beginning at 14:00 local time for the women 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 women’s and men’s teams the Belarusians can lay claim to four of the last six Olympic aerials gold medals awarded. Throw in a last year’s world champion in Aliaksandra Ramanouskaya and you have one of the top-performing nations on the sport’s biggest stages over the past decade.
And in the 2019/20 World Cup season, the Belarusian aerials team has been quite successful with afore-mentioned Aliaksandra Ramanouskaya, Hanna Huskova, as well as Pavel Dik, all coming with impressive showings so far in the campaign.
In the women’s overall ranking Ramanouskaya is leading the field with 260 points, but the 2019 World Champion won’t be competing on home soil in Minsk, after she sustained what looks like a season-ending injury in Moscow last Saturday. Also the last week’s winner Hanna Huskova had to pull out of the competition in Minsk, which leave the Belarusian team putting all hopes on its up-and-coming athletes Veleryia Balmatava, Sniazhana Drabiankova and Anna Deruga.
With Ramanouskaya and Huskova out of the competition in Minsk, all eyes will be on China’s Xu Mengtao, the current runner-up in the aerials World Cup ranking. With just two more stops in 2019/20 and her closer rival for the title Ramanouskaya injured, Xu will be looking to get back on the podium in Minsk, and get one step closer to clinch her fourth consecutive World Cup crystal globe.
Xu should also have a strong support from her younger teammates Kong Fanyu, Shao Qi, and Xu Nuo, while Laura Peel and Abbey Willcox of Australia, as well as Liubov Nikitina of Russia should be also in the mix to fight for a spot on the podium this weekend.
Finally let’s forget about always strong US squad led by the 2017 World Champion Ashley Caldwell, and a couple of future prospects Madison Varmette and Winter Vinecki, ready to continue their impressive 2019/20 World Cup campaign.
Over on the men’s side of the event the battle for the World Cup crystal globe is wide-open, and there’s a handful of athletes with real chances to grab the title at the final event of the season in Kazakhstan. With the stakes high and the competition fierce, it’s fair to expect that men’s portion of the event in Minks will be a heater.
Starting on top of the World Cup ranking, keep an eye on Noe Roth of Switzerland, who is leading the way with 236 points. Maxim Burov of Russia is following in second place with 223 points, Qi Guangpu of China sits in third with 222 points, while last week’s winner Pavel Krotov of Russia have 209 points.
Then going down the list, also count on the likes of China’s Jia Zongyang, Switzerland’s Pirmin Werner, Russia’s Ilia Burov and last, but not least the home nation duo of Maxim Gustik and Pavel Dik, who will certainly be pushing for a spot on the podium on Saturday.
With such a stacked field of riders in Minks, the evening showdown under the lights at Raubichi venue shapes up to be a really exciting one.
WATCH LIVE
Eurosport player (Europe), Belarus 5 (Belarus), CBC Sports Streaming (Canada), CCTV 5+ (China), NBC Sports Gold (USA).
Live streaming will also be available on our Youtube channel HERE. Please note that due to broadcasting rights restrictions, live streaming may not be available in your region. Full list of countries with the live streaming available can be found HERE.
QUICK LINSK:
Minsk World Cup data page (startlists, live timing, results)
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