Australian aerial skier Danielle Scott has closed out the Olympic qualification period in style, delivering back-to-back podium finishes at the final Aerial Skiing World Cup events in Lake Placid. Following gold yesterday, Scott added bronze overnight, lifting her career tally to 27 World Cup podiums.
Battling difficult conditions that included strong winds and falling snow, three Australians progressed to the top-12 finals after all landing full-full double twisting double back somersaults. Scott qualified second with 88.51 points, Laura Peel followed closely in third on 87.57, while Abbey Willcox advanced in sixth with 84.42.
In the opening round of finals, two Australians moved through to the six-athlete super final. Peel delivered a standout jump, scoring 104.72 for her lay-full-full double twisting triple back somersault to qualify second, while Scott progressed in sixth with 84.42 for her full-full jump. Willcox narrowly missed advancing, finishing eighth on 75.60 points.
In the medal round, Scott claimed bronze with 85.65 points for her double full-full triple twisting double back somersault. Victory went to Kaila Kuhn of the USA on 105.60 points, with Mengtao Xu of China second on 105.17 points. Peel finished fourth after struggling to land her signature full-full-full triple twisting triple back somersault in the tough conditions, scoring 63.96.
“It’s been a slow start to the season for me, but these back-to-back podiums over the past few days are what I am looking for,” said the 35-year-old Scott from NSW, who trains in Brisbane at the Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre water jump facility.
“We’ve had tricky conditions, but I have done some nice jumps and I am looking forward to the next month’s training.
“The girls right now are doing some really big jumps, its super exciting. For the conditions out here today, I just played the game and put my jumps down, but I am super inspired by what the girls are doing and can’t wait to get out there and do it too.
“We’ll stay in Lake Placid for a few more days of training before heading to Switzerland to knuckle down and get everything we need in place ahead of the Olympics in Italy.“
Other Australians in action missing finals included Sidney Stephens in 24th and Airleigh Frigo in 25th. In the men’s event, Reilly Flanagan finished 30th.
In the final World Cup standings for the season, three Australians finished inside the top 10, Laura Peel in fifth, Danielle Scott seventh, and Abbey Willcox tenth, with Airleigh Frigo just outside in eleventh place.
