BEIDA LAKE, CHINA (FEB 11, 2012) - Battling high winds and freezing temperatures, the athletes of the World Cup aerial circuit took to the sky for a weather-shortened competition at Beida Lake, China, on Saturday. And as has been the story all season, the powerhouse Chinese team dominated the procedings once again.
For the second straight event the Chinese women swept spots 1 through 3 on the podium. The winner, Xin Zhang, stepped up to claim her first victory of the season at the same venue where her last 1st-place finish came. She was followed by last week's winner at Deer Valley, Mengtao Xu, and Shuang Cheng.
For the men, a strong early jump by AE points leader Olivier Rochon (CAN) ensured that the Chinese team would not make a clean sweep of the day, as his quad-twisting triple-back was enough to land him in third place and maintain his hold on the yellow bib. Deer Valley winner Zongyang Jia came in ahead of Rochon in second, while Guangpu Qi was able to step up and claim his first win of the 2011/12 season.
Because of the difficulties presented by the heavy wind, the typical aerials Qualification-Final-Super Final fomat had to be abandoned in favour of a one-round jump-off. While it appeared in training that many skiers were looking to scale back the difficulty of their jumps to compensate for the unfavourable conditions, Rochon's early effort seemed to galvanize the other skiers, ensuring that despite the shortened competition, top-level jumping would still be on display.
FULL WOMEN'S RESULTS CAN BE FOUND HERE.
FULL MEN'S RESULTS CAN BE FOUND HERE.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS AND OTHER EVENTS CAN BE FOUND HERE.
