The second night of the jam-packed Deer Valley Visa Freestyle International saw the second aerials competition of the weekend take to Deer Valley’s famed White Owl venue, where the host US squad finally put an athlete on the podium and China’s Zhang Xin and Russia’s Petr Medulich took the respective ladies’ and men’s victories.
Friday night’s competition saw a typically huge Deer Valley crowd gathered despite the bitter cold, for what would go on to be an incredible aerials show.
It could be argued that ladies’ competition started somewhat conservatively, with 10 of the 12 finals athletes electing to go with the same full, full, jump. However, despite the sameness of trick choice, results varied hugely, and the clear standouts through the first of the two finals rounds included Danielle Scott (AUS), Hanna Huskova (BLR), and Zhang, with local hero Ashley Caldwell (USA) standing out for being the only one of the two ladies' throwing triple flips to make it through to the superfinal.
The superfinal saw things step up a notch, with Scott and Zhang both electing to go with double full, full, jumps, and Caldwell lining up the toughest jump of the night for the ladies - a full, full, full.
While Caldwell struggled to hold on to the landing of her triple jump, dragging a hand, she refused to go down, and with the added degrees of difficulty in her jump earning her a score of 96.79, the pressure was on for top qualifiers Scott and Zhang.
However, both those ladies were up to the task, with Scott putting down her second flawless jump of the evening and Zhang following her up with one that was somehow even better than Scott's, earning her a score of 99.40 to top Scott’s 97.29 and relegate Caldwell to third place in the event. With that result, Caldwell become the first US athlete to podium thus far in Deer Valley, and she was able to hold on to the yellow aerials World Cup leader bib.
"This weekend was very challenging," Caldwell said, "I was dealing with a shin injury the entire time. I crashed a lot. I hadn’t done triples since China. Mentally, physically, emotionally, it was all very challenging, but at the end of the day the adversity makes it fun. That’s why I do aerials."
Men’s competition was all-out from the outset, though like the ladies’ event it saw 10 of the final 12 lining up for the same jump - a full, double-full, full, with two of the final jumpers electing to go with the less risky full, full, full.
Nearly every one of the final 12 was able to put their first jump to their feet, but Oleksandr Abramenko’s (UKR) amplitude and unbreakable form gave him the top score heading into the superfinal, followed closely by top qualifier Olivier Rochon (CAN).
Into the men’s finals along with Rochon and Abremenko - who finished second and third, respectively, in Thursday’s Deer Valley aerials World Cup - came lone US representative Alex Bowen, Travis Gerrits (CAN), Naoya Tabara (JPN), and Medulich (RUS).
While Bowen and Gerrits both have World Championships silver medals to their name and Medulich placed second at the season-opener in Beijing (CHN), Tabara’s presence in the superfinal was somewhat unprecedented, as the 35-year-old had earned only one podium in his eight-year World Cup career.
On Friday, however, he found another gear that few knew he had, in the superfinal throwing a incredible double full, full, full, that would earn him a score of 123.53 and his first World Cup podium in over four years.
Medulich was the obvious standout of the superfinal, however, performing his own especially-spotless version of the double full, full, full, earning him a score of 128.05 and the first victory of his World Cup career in his 18th start.
“It’s my first victory, and I’m so happy to do it here (in Deer Valley),” said Medulich, “I just tried to concentrate on every jump, not think about that it was the superfinal, and do every jump as best as I could do it.”
Jumping last, Abramenko knew what he had to do take the win away from Medulich. And while he wouldn't be able to do that, with a slight bobble on his landing costing him the victory, his performance was still good enough for second place on the day and for top spot on the 2015/16 aerials leaderboard.
“I’m very excited,” said Abramenko, “I’ve had two days in a row of podiums, and now I have the yellow bib for the first time. I’m really happy, really excited.”
Abramenko overtook China’s Qi Guangpu on the aerials World Cup leaderboard, as the two-time world champion and winner on Thursday Qi was unable to make it out of Friday afternoon’s qualifying round.
With Deer Valley in the books, there are now three competitions left on the schedule of the 2015/16 FIS Freestyle aerials World Cup tour, with the next one a city event in Moscow slated for next Saturday, February 13.
Ladies’ AE World Cup standings
Hi-res photos (for editorial use)
Source: fis-ski.com
