Lake Placid 2025/26 Freestyle World Cup: Stats Preview

Due to challenging early-season weather conditions, the FIS Freestyle World Cup events originally scheduled to take place at Deer Valley Resort (USA) from 16 to 18 January 2026 were rescheduled to Lake Placid (USA). Therefore, the last two Aerials events of the 2025/26 World Cup season will take place in Lake Placid.

While this season will end in Lake Placid (USA), the Lake Placid stage was the opening stage of the 2024/25 World Cup season.

Qi Guangpu (CHN) won the Aerials Crystal Globe in 2024/25 for a second consecutive season.

Qi Guangpu (CHN) has recorded 18 Aerials World Cup event wins in his career, joint-third on the all-time list alongside Philippe Laroche (FRA) on 18, behind Lloyd Langlois (CAN) on 21 and Steve Omischl (CAN) on 20.

Out of the four Aerials events held this season so far, all events were won by different athletes. Two of them were Chinese athletes and two of them Ukrainian athletes, so only two teams have won so far this season.

Oleksandr Okipniuk (UKR) won the World Cup opening stage in Ruka (FIN), ahead of Pirmin Werner (SUI) and Christopher Lillis (USA). The win in Ruka (FIN) was the first career World Cup win for Oleksandr Okipniuk (UKR), as well as his first World Cup podium. His previous best World Cup individual result was a sixth place in Deer Valley (USA) back in 2021.

Li Tianma (CHN) won the World Cup stage on home soil in Secret Garden (CHN), ahead of Qi Guangpu (CHN) and Noé Roth (SUI). This was the second career win for Li, who also won two team events. All his wins came in World Cup stages held in China.

Dmytro Kotovskyi (UKR) won the first of the two Aerials events held in Lac-Beauport (CAN), ahead of Sun Jiaxu (CHN) and Quinn Dehlinger (USA). This was the first podium of the season for Kotovskyi, and his first win since 2023.

Sun Jiaxu (CHN) won the second Aerials event held in Lac-Beauport (CAN), ahead of his teammate Li Tianma (CHN) and Noé Roth (SUI). This was the first win of the season for Sun, and the second 1-2 of the season for China after the home stage of Secret Garden (CHN).

Li Tianma (CHN) currently leads the Aerials World Cup standings, just 6 points ahead of teammate Sun Jiaxu (CHN). Dmytro Kotovskyi (UKR) is third, while the current Aerials Crystal Globe holder Qi Guangpu (CHN) is fourth, 60 points behind the World Cup leader.

Sun Jiaxu (CHN) won last season’s race in Lake Placid (USA), ahead of Noé Roth (SUI) and Li Xinpeng (CHN). This was the only individual World Cup podium for Li Xinpeng so far.

Noé Roth (SUI) ended last season with the same Aerials World Cup points as Qi Guangpu (CHN) with 400, but lost to Qi in a tiebreaker.

Noé Roth (SUI) has won two Aerials Crystal Globes, in 2019/20 and 2022/23. He is currently seventh in the World Cup Standings after four out of six events.

Laura Peel (AUS) won the Aerials Crystal Globe last season. It marked the third Aerials Crystal Globe of her career, after 2019/20 and 2020/21.

Laura Peel (AUS) won five of the seven women’s Aerials World Cup events last season. Xu Mengtao (CHN) won the other two.

Out of the four Aerials events held this season so far, all events were won by different athletes.

Reigning Olympic champion Xu Mengtao (CHN) won the opening stage in Ruka (FIN), ahead of Marion Thenault (CAN) and Chen Meiting (CHN). The win in Ruka (FIN) was the 30th career World Cup win for Xu Mengtao (CHN).

Kong Fanyu (CHN) won the World Cup stage on home soil in Secret Garden (CHN), ahead of Chen Meiting (CHN) and Xu Mengtao (CHN), to complete a podium sweep for China, the only one so far in any Freestyle Skiing World Cup event in both genders. This was the fourth career win for Kong, and the first one since December 2021.

Winter Vinecki (USA) won the first of the two Aerials events held in Lac-Beauport (CAN), ahead of Marion Thenault (CAN) and Emma Weiss (GER). This was the second career podium for Weiss, more than five years after her first one, a second place in Ruka (FIN). It was the fifth individual career win for Vinecki, who won her last World Cup race in Lac-Beauport (CAN) in 2023/24 season. It was the first Aerials event without a Chinese or Australian woman on the podium since January 2023.

Laura Peel (AUS) won the second Aerials event held in Lac-Beauport (CAN), ahead of Winter Vinecki (USA) and Xu Mengtao (CHN). It was the first win of the season for Peel, as well as her first podium.

Xu Mengtao (CHN) is the athlete with the most Aerials World Cup wins, in both genders, with 30 World Cup wins. The female athlete with the second-highest number of World Cup wins is Jacqui Cooper (AUS), with 25 wins.

Hanna Huskova (AIN) returned to action in Secret Garden (CHN) in her first competition since the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, where she won a silver medal. She won gold at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games. In her first competition in more than three years, she qualified for the final and finished ninth. She did not compete in the following stage in Lac-Beauport (CAN).

Xu Mengtao (CHN) currently leads the Aerials World Cup standings, 43 points ahead of Winter Vinecki (USA). 

Xu Mengtao (CHN) won last season’s race in Lake Placid (USA), ahead of Danielle Scott (AUS) and Marion Thenault (CAN). This was one of two World Cup wins last season for Xu, and the only podium of the season for Thenault.

Kaila Kuhn (USA) won the women’s Aerials event at the World Championships last season. She has yet to record a top-2 finish in an Aerials World Cup event, with two third-place finishes as her best results.

Danielle Scott (AUS) has recorded the most podium finishes in women’s Aerials events in the last two seasons combined, but none of them were wins (six second places, three third places). Her most recent Aerials FIS World Cup victory dates back to 5 March 2023, when she won in Engadin (SUI).