Peel and Burov kick off the season with victories in Ruka
Dec 04, 2020·Freestyle
A long and tense run-up finally ended on Friday and the 2020/21 FIS Freestyle aerials World Cup season got underway in impressive fashion, with Laura Peel (AUS) carrying over her winning ways from last season and Maxim Burov leading a historic Russian sweep of the podium at the Freestyle Opening Ruka (FIN) aerials World Cup.
Friday marked the first time Ruka had hosted aerials World Cup action since 2003, and with many teams enjoying extended training sessions at the perfect venue in the weeks leading up to the event, expectations were high for a strong competition in Finland. And with a pair of first-time World Cup podiums on the women’s side and the Russian sweep of the men’s side, the Ruka competition did not disappoint.
Peel ekes out victory with the triple
Peel took last year’s crystal globe with a standout winning performance at the final competition of the season Krasnoyarsk (RUS), and while she wasn’t quite as sharp at Friday evening’s season-opener in Ruka, she was able to do just enough to earn the win and start the 2020/21 campaign on a high.
With German youngster Emma Weiss sitting in top spot after five of six athletes in the super final, there was only Peel left to deny Weiss what would have been her first career win. And while Peel could not cleanly land her full, tuck, full, the higher degree of difficulty for her jump and her strong execution in the air meant that she would still earn just enough points for the win - 83.87 to the 80.95 that Weiss earned for her back full, full.
“It feels amazing,” said Peel from the finish area, “I finished last season on a high and started this season the same way, which is a dream. This season everything is up in the air a bit. I came over to Europe in June and I’ve just been training with the major goal of Beijing 2022 in mind and I’m pushing for that, so hopefully we can continue with competitions this year and keep this going.”
For Weiss, it was her first career podium in just her seventh competition (and the first German aerials podium in almost 23 years), and the 20 year-old was clearly thrilled.
“It’s my first finals, first super finals, and first podium,” smiled Weiss when the results were all tallied, “This is my comeback season (from injury) and my first competition back. This is just awesome. It’s just unreal. I can’t find words for it. I’m like the first German aerialist in over 20 years to get a World Cup podium. It feels so good. I can’t put it in words.”
Third place and also claiming her first World Cup podium in what was just her third World Cup competition was 18 year-old Anastasia Prytkova (RUS), whose back full, tuck, earned her a score of 71.53 and gave Russia the first of what would be many, many podiums on the evening.
Burov leads first ever Russian men’s sweep
The rest of Russia’s podiums came in the men’s competition, where Maxim Burov lead an unprecedented sweep of the top-3 for his nation - the first ever aerials podium sweep for Russia and their first podium sweep in any FIS Freestyle event in 20 years.
Last year’s third overall finisher on the final aerials World Cup standings, Burov was on a mission all day in Ruka, finishing first in qualification and sitting in second place after the first run of finals. In the super final, Burov then put down a staggeringly good double full, full, full to earn a score of 126.24 and put all the pressure on the final skier of the evening, Noe Roth (SUI).
While he took last year’s aerials crystal globe with some final-event heroics in Krasnoyarsk, Roth wouldn’t be able to harness that energy in Ruka, faltering on his own attempt at the double full, full, full to finish sixth in the six-man final and hand the sweep to the Russians.
“I’m excited,” said Burov of his historic performance, through a translator, “Every competitor here put on a good performance tonight. I did my best and I’m really happy for the win. It’s a great feeling to have the yellow bib to start the season."
Behind Burov in second was Pavel Krotov, who also performed a double full, full, full and received a score of 120.36 for his efforts. Rounding out the sweep in third place, meanwhile, was Maxim’s older brother Ilya Burov, who put down a nice full, full, double full for a score of 118.10.
Action in Ruka continues on Saturday with the first moguls World Cup of the 2020/21 season, where the skiers will take to the famed Battery Run for competition beginning with qualifications at 9:35 local time, followed by finals at 16:00.
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