Moscow, Russia – Olympic veteran Emily Cook, of Belmont, Mass., returned to the scene of her only previous World Cup aerials skiing win, using experience and strategy to win again Saturday in downtown Moscow.nScotty Bahrke, of Tahoe City, Calif., led the U.S. men in eighth as World Championship bronze medalist Anton Kushnir of Belarus won.
“I was pretty psyched. It was a great day,” exclaimed Cook. “I am pretty happy to be back on top of the podium.”
Saturday’s contest was a little unconventional. The jump, which was constructed of scaffolding near downtown Moscow, was not ideal and a strong headwind compounded to make for very sketchy jumping conditions, forcing both the men and the women to back off on the degree of difficulty. To address safety concerns the finals consisted of a single jump rather than the normal two, especially after a security sweep kept all athletes and coaches off the site in advance of a visit from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Overcoming the challenges presented by the conditions, Cook continued to find good fortune in Russia. Her only other World Cup victory, back on Jan. 3, 2008, was here in Moscow.
“The biggest thing is that we stuck with the plan,” explained the experienced Cook. “It was our plan to lead out with the full double full and despite the weather challenges we did it anyways.”
In what turned out to be a one run final, Cook was the only competitor to attempt a jump with such a high level of difficulty in the first round. She was rewarded, scoring nearly eight points above World Championship bronze medalist Olga Volkova of Ukraine, who was second.
Events with poor conditions have a large amount of strategy involved, U.S. Ski Team head aerials coach Todd Ossian explained, “It ended up being a one jump competition because the weather was bad. That is why I had Emily do the trick she did first because you never know. It’s happened quite a few times where the second jump gets canceled.”
The U.S. men, severely hampered by the wind and lack of speed, lowered their degree of difficulty to maintain safety. World Champion Warren Shouldice of Canada even elected not to jump due to the inconsistent conditions. Bahrke, who finished eighth, was joined in the finals by Dylan Ferguson of Amesbury, Mass., finishing 13th. Hamburg, N.Y.’s Matthew DePeters was 24th.
“It was really windy. There was a terrible headwind,” said Ossian. “Our guys had to do doubles because they couldn’t get enough speed.”
In fact, Kushnir, one of the few men to perform a triple, had to be “slingshotted” by two assistants from the top of the course to get enough speed to safely land his jump. The silver and bronze medal winners both performed doubles, with the Ukraine’s Stanislav Kravchuk and China’s Guangpu Qi tying at 102.57 behind Kushnir’s 119.91. Kravchuk took second place on the vote of form judges.
2010 FIS Rookie of the Year Ashley Caldwell, of Charleston, S.C., crashed in training and rather than risk an injury, opted not to compete. Caldwell did not suffer any injuries in her fall.
World Cup aerials action continues this Saturday, Feb. 19, in Minsk, Belarus.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
World Cup
Moscow, Russia – Feb. 12, 2011
Aerials
Men
1. Anton Kushnir, Belarus, 119.91
2. Stanislav Kravchuk, Ukraine, 102.57
3. Guangpu Qi, China, 102.57
Women
1. Emily Cook, Belmont, MA. 93.06
2. Olga Volkova, Ukraine, 85.83
3. Xin Zhang, China, 84.10