Aerials World Cup set to resume in St. Moritz
Mar 04, 2023·Freestyle
Following successful World Championships competitions last week at the Bakuriani 2023, the FIS Freestyle Ski Aerials World Cup is slated to get back in action this upcoming weekend, with the first event on the Swiss soil in 15 years taking to the slope of the future host of the Engadin 2025 World Championships in St. Moritz on Sunday, March 5.
The last time the aerials athletes were able to show their skills on Swiss soil was back in 2008 in Davos-Parsenn. Back then the home Swiss squad came with quite an impressive performance. Evelyne Leu won the women’s event, while Andreas Isoz and Renato Ulrich just missed the podium in fourth and fifth place in the men's competition. With the Aerials World Cup premiere in St. Moritz on March 5, the head coach of the Swiss Aerials Team Michel Roth wants to aim even higher.
"We want to do our best - we always have good opportunities to achieve very good results, and of course we want to enjoy it too, especially to experience this at home. We have three guys on the highest level at World Cup and we would like to reach for the podium. Taking a win at home would be obviously very nice."
The expectations and anticipation are not only high at Roth, but also among other Swiss athletes. "Ever since I was little, I've dreamed of jumping at home in front of a large audience," says Pirmin Werner, who won the opening aerials World Cup event in Ruka back in December. "I hope I can deliver what I've been working towards all summer and the 2022/23 season.”
"It will definitely be unique. I've never had the chance to jump at a World Cup at home. I'm really looking forward to this event,” said Werner, "I know that making a podium won't be easy, but I will do my best."
Scott and Roth lead the way ahead of penultimate stop of the season
With just two more stop left on the FIS Freestyle Ski Aerials World Cup calendar in 2022/23 there’s plenty of reasons to get excited about the upcoming event in Switzerland, as the fight for crystal globes and the World Cup titles is still wide open for a handful of athletes.
Starting on the women’s side it’s the World Championships silver medalist Danielle Scott (AUS) who is coming in St. Moritz’s event leading the way in the aerials ranking with 282 points. There is no doubt that Scott should be considered number one favourite for the win on Sunday, taking into account her recent form and the fact that she’s one of only two athletes performing triple flips in the women’s field.
Then going down the starting list also watch out for World Cup number two Marion Thenault (CAN), as the 2020/21 Rookie of the Year has already three top-3 finishes so far in the campaign including a big win on home soil in Le Relais. Last week’s World Championships didn’t quite go her way after Thenault failed to land her big final trick that most likely could have put her right on top of the podium in Bakuriani. That being said it’s more than certain that Thenault will try to redeem herself in Switzerland and as she sits only seven points behind Scott in the aerials standings, the battle for the World Cup leader’s bib yellow promises to be a really exciting one.
Also let’s not forget about Laura Peel (AUS), who has been struggling to put her best jumps when it mattered most so far in 2022/23. However, Peel has been pushing the women’s aerials sport with the most technical jumps we’ve seen all year long, so once she manages to put one down in the super final (like she did in Le Relais earlier this year), it’s hard to see her anywhere else but on top of the podium.
Obviously there’s also the brand new World Champion Kong Fanyu (CHN). Despite competing in only three competitions so far this campaign, Kong won the individual event at Bakuriani 2023, got the silver medal in the team event and placed third in the last World Cup event in Deer Valley (USA).
Last, but not least we have the double bronze medallist from Bakuriani Anastasiya Novosad (UKR), as well as Kaila Kuhn (USA), who is still well in the game to fight for overall World Cup top-3 once the season wraps up in a couple of weeks in Almaty (KAZ).
Moving to the men’s side of the event it’s hard not to begin with the host nation hero Noe Roth, who is coming into Swiss competition as the World Cup leader and the brand new World Champion. Roth has so far two wins in 2022/23 including the gold medal performance from Bakuriani, as well as two runner-up spots, which makes him sit atop the aerials World Cup standing with 269 points. Without a doubt Roth will do his best this upcoming Sunday to keep the yellow bib and snag the win at his very first World Cup start on home soil.
Sitting second in the ranking with 251 points is Dmytro Kotovskyi (UKR) and the 21-year-old aerialist has already proven this season that he’s developing into one of the future stars in the aerials World Cup circuit. Back in January Kotovskyi claimed his first World Cup top-3 finish in Le Relais, just to back it up with one of the most remarkable performances we’ve seen in recent history, taking a spectacular win at Deer Valley’s White Owl venue with his extraordinary Full-triple Full-Full. And if he manages to pull it off also in St.Moritz, his rivals might have an extremely difficult task to upset the Ukrainian athlete on his road to victory.
Then we have the World Championships gold medallists from the aerials team event Christopher Lillis and Quinn Dehlinger (USA), Permin Werner (SUI), Miha Fontaine and Alexandre Duchaine (CAN) as well as Li Tiana (CHN), just to name a few of those who can step things up on Sunday and make sure that the high-flying action from Switzerland will be one to remember for a long time.
The competition in St. Moritz are slated go get underway at 9:30 CET with women’s qualifiers, followed by men’s qualification round at 11:45 and finals at 14:00.
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QUICK LINKS
St.Moritz Engadin World Cup FIS data page (start lists, results, etc.)
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