Scott and Burov on top, China wins team competition in Ruka
Dec 11, 2021·Freestyle
A big and hugely entertaining second week of the Freestyle Ski Opening event in Ruka came to a close on Saturday, where China with Xu Mengtao, Sun Jiaxu and Qi Guangpu in squad took victory in the mixed team event, while Australia’s Danielle Scott and Russia’s Maxim Burov came on top in the one-round format individual competition.
Saturday’s team event acted as the second out of three aerials team competitions scheduled for the 2021/22 season, with the individual phase of the competition deciding the results for World Cup points. And once again the world’s top athletes showed up ready to showcase their best jumps and get the crowd warmed up in what was another thrilling but chilly day in Ruka.
The individual competition kicked off early at 10:30 local time, beginning a long but exciting day of the double-header World Cup event with everyone’s attention turned to see how the athletes would strive to battle for their place on the World Cup leaderboard.
In the women’s competition Danielle Scott stomped a beautiful double Full-Full that earned her a score of 102.93 points, which at the end of the day was enough to put her right on top of the podium for her career’s fifth World Cup victory.
Finishing just behind Scott in second place was her teammate from the “Flying Kangaroos” Australian team and the reining World Cup champion Laura Peel, who finally managed to put down her triple when it mattered most and jumped into top-3 for the first time this season.
While Peel was struggling to land her jumps in the decisive phase of competition so far in 2021/22 campaign, on Saturday the Aussie skier did put down her Full-Tuck-Full to her feet for which she received a score of 99.37 points.
The current World Cup leader Xu Mengtao rounded out the women’s podium in third place with 98.28 points for her Lay-Full-Full.
In the World Cup ranking Xu is still leading the way with 280 points after four competitions, with Kong Fanyu sitting in second with 221 points and Friday’s winner Anastasiya Novosad following in third with 192 points.
Over in men’s competition Maxim Burov was once again unstoppable, reaching for his fourth straight victory in 2021/22, while stomping another spectacular Full-Full double Full, for which he received an incredibly high score of 133.03 points.
Second and third place on the day went to the well-known Swiss duo of Noe Roth and Pirmin Werner. Roth scored 128.51 points for his double Full-Full-Full, while Pirmin received 128.50 points for performing the most difficult trick of the day - Double Full-Full double Full.
In the standings Maxim Burov still leads the way with a perfect score of 400 points after four competitions, with Noe Roth now moving into second place with 207 points and Jia Zongyang dropping down to third with 190 points.
Straight after an exciting individual competition, nine teams each consisting of three athletes battled for glory in the second aerials mixed team event of 2021/22 season.
And once again it was Team China, which came victorious after two rounds of high-flying action. Xu Mengtao, Sun Jiaxu and Qi Guangpu led the way from start to finish while managing to outscore strong competition from other nations with a combined score of 354.87 points.
Second place of the day went to Team USA consisting of Winter Vinecki, Christopher Lillis and Justin Schoenefeld, who finished the competition with 315.66 points, while Ukraine with Anastasiya Novosad, Dmytro Kotovskyi and Oleksandr Abramenko in squad yet once again rounded out the podium in third place with 303.07 points.
The FIS Freestyle Ski Aerials World Cup is now heading into holidays break, with next competition coming up in New Year on January 7 in Canada’s Le Relais.
QUICK LINKS
Ruka World Cup data page (startlists, live timing, results)
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