Posted on 12 January 2014

Deer Valley WC Report 2014

January 10th 2014 Deer Valley. Utah produced an amazing display of high flying acrobatics in the Aerial World Cup in front of a massive crowd. Twelve nations battled it our for top honours and came one step closer to finalising their athletes for the forthcoming Sochi Winter Olympics.

In the ladies event, there was no stopping the Chinese who dominated the event with a clean sweep of the first four places. Shuang Cheng finished on the top step of the podium, accompanied by Xin Zhang in 2nd, Mengtoa Xu placed 3rd and Fanyu Kong 4th. Best of the rest were the two Aussie girls, Laura Peel (5th) and Danielle Scott (6th). Reigning Olympic Champion Lydia Lassila didn’t even make it to finals.

In the men’s event, Great Britain’s Harry Gillam jumped two different triples for the first time in snow competition. His first jump, the Lay-Tuck-Full didn’t go quite to plan as he missed his takeoff and had to compromise his form in order to bring it safely to his feet. He nailed the landing, but the adjustments cost him dearly on his score. His second jump (Lay-Full-Full) got off to a much better start, but he was unable to hold on to the landing and slapped back. It was all good experience, so we look forward to Harry jumping with more confidence in the forthcoming events.

Current World Cup leader Travis Gerrits (CAN) was also having a tough day in the office. Despite jumping well he was struggling to land cleanly and finished 13th in qualifications. Travis was on his way to the hotel before a mistake was noticed in classification and he was recalled to the finals with 12th place. After the ensuing protest, 14 skiers contested Final-1, with Gerrits eventually finishing 8th. A nasty crash for his team-mate Jean-Christophe Andre during the first round of qualification resulting in a broken femur means that Canada will be relying solely on Gerrits to medal in Sochi.

For once it the Chinese didn’t have it all their own way as Team USA were impressive throughout the competition. The home snow and huge crowd obviously inspired their athletes as they managed to qualify four men for Final-1. Unlucky for Michael Rossi (USA) who missed making it to Finals by less than half a point. Young Jonathon Lillis (USA) delighted the home crowd by throwing big air, high difficulty and stomping the landings, placing 2nd in Final-1 and winning Final-2. Sadly the fairytale came to an end in the Super-Final as he fragged his hands on landing and finished in fourth, which still marked a career best for him in his breakthrough year.

Top spot went to Anton Kushnire (BLR) performing Full-Full-doubleFull which meant Guangpo Qi (CHN) had to settle for second best despite throwing a quintuple twisting triple. Alexie Grishin (BLR) finished in third showing that the Belorussians mean business this year in the run up to the Olympics.

Chinese television coverage of the entire event can be found here.

Men’s Podium – courtesy of Deer Valley

Harry had this to say about his experience in Deer Valley:

Deer Valley World Cup was a great comp; well not as good as I wanted it to be for me but the tricks from the top guys were so solid, awesome! Most of the teams had been in town since Christmas and New Year training at the UOP and it was great to have them around. On the run up to the comp the weather had turned windy and one day hardly anyone trained, other days we only got a few jumps in. The comp day wasn’t any different also windy and gusty – so had plenty of weather to deal with as well jumping! I decided to step up and lay down a different triple so did bLFF.

I felt a bit slow coming in but speed was about right, could have twisted faster in the air so I was low; couldn’t hold the landing especially with the wind and drift sideways; but I’m ok and ready for the next events. The crowd was huge and really supporting everyone jumping, the TV crews were there, music by one of the X-games DJ’s and fireworks to top it all out. Deer Valley was doin’ it in style!

Nothing could compare to the jumping tho’ the top guys gave a master class in how its done, plenty of them doin’ the Big Daddy and all such solid performances. As usual there were plenty of surprises – its aerials and you never know what will happen. Everyone leaves tomorrow for VSC and then onto Lake Placid. I’ll definitely be stepping up the in-run more in the next comp – more time in the air and stomp it!

Big Crowd – courtesy of Deer Valley

The aerial World Cup moves on to Val Saint-Côme (CAN) and the Lake Placid (USA) with back to back events over the next week. Harry will be joined by Lloyd Wallace for both events.

Links to the full FIS results

World Cup Deer Valley (USA) Ladies’ Results
World Cup Deer Valley (USA) Men’s Results