Australian aerial skier Danielle Scott has returned to the top step of the podium, claiming her first World Cup victory since March 2023 with a win in Lake Placid. The result marks her first podium finish of the season and the seventh World Cup victory of her career.
Australia enjoyed a strong showing in qualification, with three athletes advancing to the top-12 finals after landing full-full double twisting double back somersaults. Laura Peel led the field in first place, Scott followed closely in second with a score of 86.62, while Airleigh Frigo qualified ninth on 80.01.
In the opening round of finals, Scott and Peel progressed to the six-athlete super final. Scott sat second after scoring 87.25 points for her full-full jump, while Peel secured the final qualifying spot in sixth with 82.97 for her lay-full-full double twisting double back somersault. Frigo narrowly missed advancing, finishing seventh with 81.90 points.
Scott was impressive in difficult wind conditions in the super-final, scoring 95.88 points for her double full-full triple twisting double back somersault to take the victory. Mengtao Xu of China was runner up on 94.01 points, and Kaila Kuhn of the USA finished third on 92.29 points. Peel was sixth after struggling to land her signature full-full-full triple twisting triple back somersault.
Scott has been planning for triple back somersaults this northern hemisphere season and was aiming to compete them for the first time this season in Lake Placid, but windy conditions put that plan on hold today.
“I’m just letting this sink in. I’ve had a rough run this season,” said the 35-year-old Scott from NSW, who trains in Brisbane at the Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre water jump facility.
“A lot of highs and lows, coming back to triples has been tricky. Today I just needed to go prove myself, and I did that, so I’m stoked.
“I was hoping to do triples, and we made some hard decisions and decided to keep it on the double. I think it paid off. I want to do them, so let’s get Mother Nature on our side.”
Other Australians in action missing finals included Abbey Willcox (15th) and Sidney Stephens (23rd). In the men’s event, Reilly Flanagan finished 28th.
A second World Cup event will be held tomorrow in Lake Placid, serving as the final Olympic qualification event for aerials.
After five events this season, three Australians rank inside the top 10: Peel (5th), Scott (7th), Frigo (9th), with Willcox just outside in 11th.
