DEER VALLEY, UTAH (February 3, 2012) – Olivier “Ollywood” Rochon earned his third career World Cup podium today and kept a firm grasp on the yellow leader’s bib with a bronze medal in the FIS freestyle aerials event here tonight.
China’s Zongyang Jia took gold with a score of 128.96; Dylan Ferguson of the USA was second at 118.86; and, Rochon was third at 111.78.
It was a long night for the aerial squad, as the final four athletes had to make their way through four rounds tonight in the new FIS format that saw a preliminary qualification round cut to a semi-final of 12 athletes, a final round of eight, and a super final with the top four jumpers. Athletes were not permitted to repeat jumps in any of the post-qualification rounds.
Gatineau, Quebec’s Rochon, who has been suffering from a head cold all week and wasn’t his normally energetic self, said he was exhausted after training and competing most of the day. But he was also very excited to end up in the bronze medal position after surviving a near-crash on his qualification run and an equipment malfunction during the round of 12.
“On my qualification jump landing I caught an edge and lost a ski, but managed to ski out and ended up qualifying 6th.
“Then in the round of 12,” he continued, “My buckle broke when I was doing up my boots just before my jump, it was my most important buckle that keeps my foot in place. So, I had trouble on my landing of that jump. I was thinking I was going home — but I managed to sneak through to the round of eight when two guys who went after me crashed.”
And his luck didn’t end there, his coaches were able to quickly repair his buckle before the next round, “I felt like a racing car with new tires,” exclaimed Rochon.
Even so, unfortunately because he had used up his more difficult tricks in the earlier rounds, Rochon and two of the other super finalists were left with only a relatively easy full, full, full (three back flips with three complete rotations) for the final jump.
With his third place showing here, Rochon remains the man to beat on the World Cup aerials circuit, with a total of 326 points. Jia is second in the standings at 256 points.
Canada’s only other entry in the field tonight was Montreal’s Jean-Christophe Andre who did not advance to finals tonight and ended up in 17th spot.
On the women’s side, China swept the podium with Mengtao Xu, Shuang Cheng and Fanyu Chen landing in gold, silver and bronze, respectively.
Canada did not have any women in tonight’s competition.
World Cup action continues here with dual moguls on Saturday evening, where Mikael Kingsbury will have a chance to win his seventh mogul World Cup in a row this season.
FIS WORLD CUP AERIALS IN DEER VALLEY
FEBRUARY 3, 2012
MEN’S RESULTS
| Results from Super Final |
| 1. JIA Zongyang CHN, 128.96 |
| 2. FERGUSON Dylan USA, 118.86 |
| 3.ROCHON Olivier, Gatineau Que., 111.78 |
| 4. GUSTIK Maxim BLR, 109.95 |
| Results from Final 2 |
| 5. MEDULICH Petr RUS, 114.00 |
| 6. BAHRKE Scotty USA, 108.14 |
| 7. ULRICH Renato SUI , 99.34 |
| 8. DASHINSKI Dmitri BLR, 98.53 |
| Results from Final 1 |
| 9. LIU Zhongqing CHN , 101.55 |
| 10. QI Guangpu CHN, 96.68 |
| 11. LAMBERT Thomas SUI , 95.25 |
| 12. KROTOV Pavel RUS, 72.57 |
| From Qualifications |
| 17. ANDRE Jean-Christophe, Montreal, Que., 92.04 |
WOMEN’S RESULTS
| Results from Super Final |
| 1. XU Mengtao,CHN, 95.88 |
| 2 CHENG Shuang CHN, 92.35 |
| 3 KONG Fanyu CHN, 76.56 |
| 4 PEEL Laura AUS, 75.27 |
| Results from Final 2 |
| 5 VOLKOVA Olga UKR, 84.42 |
| 6 HUSKOVA Hanna BLR, 81.63 |
| 7 SCHAERER Tanja SUI, 80.33 |
| 8 DIDENKO Nadiya UKR, 74.97 |
| Results from Final 1 |
| 9 WELLS Samantha AUS, 78.94 |
| 10 LEE Allison USA, 75.83 |
| 11 MCELDUFF Renee AUS, 74.62 |
| 12 SCOTT Danielle AUS, 71.77 |
For more information or to arrange for interviews contact CFSA Media Relations Manager Kelley Korbin.
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The Canadian Freestyle Ski Association is the governing body in Canada for the sport of Freestyle Skiing. Our mission is to develop, in a safe, fun and ethical manner, Olympic and World Champions in all disciplines of the sport of Freestyle Skiing