Australia’s Aerialists achieve historic podium sweep at Deer Valley

Feb 08, 2025·Freestyle

(From left) Danielle Scott, Laura Peel and Abbey Willcox ensured an all-Australian podium at the women's Aerials competition in Deer Valley.

Green and gold reigned supreme on the white snow of Deer Valley, when Australians took a historic sweep of the women’s Aerials podium.

Laura Peel (AUS) showed just why she is donning the yellow bib, taking the win with a score of 87.57 points.

It is the third win on the trot for the 35-year-old veteran, after back-to-back wins in Lac-Beauport last month.

Peel’s win was made infinitely sweeter as she was flanked by two teammates on the podium. Danielle Scott (AUS) was second with 86.31, while Abbey Willcox (AUS) was third with a 81.58 result.

To top things off, Airleigh Frigo (AUS) finished outside of the podium in fourth place.

Said Peel: “It’s been a bit of a weird feeling today. We only got one day of training on the side. The weather didn’t cooperate, so we were down on the double. Just feeling a bit strange the whole day.

“But finishing now, we’ve got a sweep, and we can’t forget Airleighh as well. One to four is crazy. I was saying to Danielle, we've been around for a long time, but we still get firsts, and that’s really cool.”

Weather was a big factor for the aerialists, with qualifications cancelled. The entire field contested for a place in the superfinal, with the top six going through.

But while that may seem straightforward, conditions continued to be anything but.

Even when finals finally got started, athletes still had to battle the elements with heavy, wet snow falling as they took their jumps on the White Owl course.

We've been around for a long time, but we still get firsts, and that’s really cool.– Laura Peel

(From left) Dmytro Kotovskyi of Ukraine, and Americans Quinn Dehlinger and Christopher Lillis completed the men's Aerials podium.

Dehlinger completes comeback from knee injury with win at home

In the absence of China’s stellar team of aerialists, who are competing at the Asian Winter Games at home in Harbin, Americans capitalised on their home snow advantage.

In the men’s contest, Quinn Dehlinger (USA) chose the perfect setting to clinch victory at home.

The 22-year-old showed no hesitation despite the conditions, opting to go for a challenging back full-double full-full – “the Daddy” – that he stomped with a massive score of 122.57.

It is a fairytale comeback for Dehlinger, who sat out most of last year’s World Cup circuit due to injury and has been hard at work in rehabilitation.

He said: “It’s always been a dream to win here at Deer Valley. Home soil is just something different. This is the Super Bowl of Aerials, the crowd is always the biggest and the environment is always the best. To win here is something special.

“I was sitting in the crowd here last year with a blown knee. It was soft and slushy today, but we just waited for the right conditions (for triples). Once I set it up, all the boys followed me up.”

Dmytro Kotovskyi (UKR) took second spot with 115.49 points, while Christopher Lillis (USA) completed the podium with a 104.43 effort.

Deer Valley will host one more day of World Cup competition, with Dual Moguls taking place on 8 February.

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