Scott and Werner shine at the aerials season opener in Ruka
Dec 04, 2022·Freestyle
A huge season-starting weekend of FIS Freestyle Ski 2022/23 World Cup action wrapped up on Sunday afternoon with aerials competition at the Freestyle Opening Ruka (FIN), where Australia’s Danielle Scott and Pirmin Werner of Switzerland rose to the occasion under Ruka’s lights to claim the first wins of the new aerials campaign.
Scott repeats Ruka magic with her second straight World Cup win in Finland
Sunday’s competition in Ruka was Scott’s first time putting on the bib since a disappointing 10th place finish at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games back in February, but the 32-year-old veteran showed no signs of rust, landing the top jumps in qualifications and in both of her finals runs on her way to a repeat Ruka victory.
Scott’s path to her second-straight Ruka win got easier when her Australian compatriot Laura Peel, the reigning World Champion, was unable to put down the lone triple attempted in the finals.
However, even if Peel had made it through to the second finals run, she would have been in tough against Scott’s near-perfect form on her final jump of the evening, as the eventual winner dropped in last and nailed a back double-full, full for a score of 99.05 and her sixth career victory.
“This is huge. It means a lot to me,” Scott said of her triumphant return to competition after so many months away from aerials skiing, “I love jumping. The last four years have been a tough four years, so to come back out here tonight and just be in the number one position and follow that through all night is pretty special to me and I’m super happy.
“It’s good for the confidence. I want to keep building and get those triples going, get competitive with them as well, but tonight is a nice little confidence booster.”
Second place in the women’s competition behind Scott went to Canada’s Marion Thenault who, like Scott, elected to go with a back double-full, full for her final jump of the evening, but with slightly less spot-on form than her Australian competitor, Thenault would have to settle for a score of 90.59 and a runner-up result.
It was the fourth World Cup podium of her career for 22-year-old Thenault, who was part of the bronze medal-winning Canadian squad in team aerials at Beijing 2022.
Third place for the women was claimed by Zhanbota Aldabergenova of Kazakhstan, who went with a relatively safe back lay, full, put it all together with exceptional form, and skied out to a score of 80.04 and the fifth podium of her World Cup career.
Werner leads Swiss one-two in Ruka
Over on the men’s side of things it was a big day for the Swiss squad in Ruka, where Pirmin Werner ruled the day with a storming season-opening performance.
Werner’s international-level season ended in double heartbreak last winter, as the 22-year-old had the unfortunate distinction of finishing fourth place in both the individual and the team competitions at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
On Sunday though Werner was on top of his game, earning the top spot in qualification, sneaking through with the sixth-place jump in final one, and then stepping back up in final two with a superlative jump when it mattered most, landing a back double full, full, full for a score of 126.24 and the second victory of his World Cup career.
“It’s awesome,” Werner smiled from the finish area, “With my team around, we’re always having fun and pushing the limits. I knew I had nothing to lose after final one because I knew I barely made final two and had to attack and I guess I did it.
“It’s my first time having the yellow bib in my career and it’s kind of a dream come true…first in World Cup at the moment? Couldn’t be better. But I think I’ll keep coming to competition the same way (for the next World Cup), focus on next comp, do my thing, and hopefully it’s also a win.”
The Swiss team Werner spoke of had even more to celebrate on Sunday when Noe Roth was able to repeat his performance from last season’s Ruka competition, as the 21-year-old scored second place behind Werner with his own version of the back double full, full, full.
While Roth matched Werner in air and landing scores, a minor break in form in the air meant he would end up just back of Werner with a score of 123.98 - good enough for second place and the 13th podium of his World Cup career.
Finally, the feel-good story of the day went to Canada’s Lewis Irving, who returned to the Ruka venue where he suffered a potentially season-ending MCL injury last season to this time climb onto the podium this time around.
While Irving already had a near-miraculous return to competition last season when he was part of Canada’s Beijing 2022 bronze medal-winning aerials team competition squad, to see him return to the World Cup podium with his 109.29 scoring back full, double full, full was an impressive sight indeed.
With Ruka wrapped up the FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup now looks forward to continuing the moguls season in Idre Fjall (SWE) from 10-11 December. Aerials World Cup action will pick back up in the new year, with a visit to Le Relais (CAN) from 21-22 January, 2023.
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