Solid result for Harry in China
The first World Cup event of the 2014 season took place in Beida Lake (CHN) with crisp clear conditions as the top competitors in the world sought to confirm their qualification places for the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi 2014.
Harry Gillam was there for TeamGB, jumping triples for the first time in competition in the first of the two back-to-back World Cup events in China. He’ll be joined next weekend by Lloyd Wallace when they will be competing in the Birds Nest Stadium in Beijing.
As expected there was a very strong showing by the home nation with the Chinese athletes taking the first five places in the ladies qualification, and our favourite Australian just squeaking into third place in the men’s qualification as China managed to secure five of the available 12 spots in the first men’s Final.
The big story though, was in the ladies event with the comeback kids. Nina Li (CHN), the 2010 Olympic Silver medallist and three-time World Champion, grabbed victory in only her second World Cup since Vancouver 2010. Ashley Caldwell (USA) claimed a very impressive 2nd place in only her seventh WC start, having missed a year through injury. Third place went to Sicum Xu (CHN) performing a Lay-Full-Full, meaning last year’s Crystal Globe winner Mengtao Xu was denied a spot on the podium, finishing in fourth.
In the men’s event, despite having qualified strongly, David Morris (AUS) slipped to fifth in the 1st Final and missed out on his chance to podium. Zongyan Jia (CHN) and Zhongqing Liu (CHN) were joined in the 2nd Final by Travis Gerrits (CAN) and the experienced Anton Kushnir (BLR). No one could deny the Chinese on home snow, but their order from Final 1 was reversed with Zhongqing Liu scoring 127.15 to take his first ever World Cup win. Anton Kushnir managed to climb to second place on the podium, making sure the Chinese didn’t get it all their own way and Travis Gerrits claimed fourth.
Britain’s Harry Gillam performed well for Team GB, gaining 83.65 points for his Lay-Tuck-Full with a solid landing. Definitely a confidence boosting performance in his first event of the year! Harry is now looking to increase the difficulty of his jumps by adding another twist and a little more polish as he moves on to the next events. Well done Harry! Once again Britain was the only country without a support team.
World Cup season continues in China as the athletes now make their way to Beijing for what should be an amazing event in the iconic Birds Nest Stadium on the 21st and 22nd December 2013.
Photograph courtesy of FIS Freestyle
Links to the full FIS results
Word Cup Beida Lake (CHN) Men’s Results
World Cup Beida Lake (CHN) Ladies Results