Changchun, China – Canadian aerialist Olivier Rochon started off the 2013 season where he left off last year: on the podium. He earned a bronze medal at Saturday’s World Cup season opener in China, capping off an impressive showing for the Canadian team, with every one of the country’s athletes making it into the finals round.

Frigid temperatures that dipped as low as -30 Celsius earlier in the week and peaked on Saturday at -18 seemingly didn’t faze the Canadians who said they were using this competition as an extension of their pre-season training regime.

Rochon, the 2012 Crystal Globe winner, was thrilled to land in third place at 84.75 behind Chinese athletes Zongyang Jia and Guangpu Qi who scored, respectively, 128.51 and 128.05.

The Gatineau, Quebec native explained that after using the only quadruple twisting triple back flip currently ready in his arsenal, a full, double full, full, to win the finals round, he was left with only a triple twisting triple back flip to compete in the super final round of four. He said that even under the best circumstances a triple-twisting jump would not have been enough to beat the Chinese athletes who landed high-scoring quadruple jumps.

“This competition was really an extension of our (pre-season) training camp because we didn’t really get to finish the camp because of bad weather, so I didn’t have a chance to get up to my full (degree of difficulty). I did make a small mistake on my last jump, but I knew that even if I hadn’t it couldn’t have scored high enough to give me a win, so I’m really happy with the result, it’s the best I could have hoped for,” said Rochon.

Teammates Travis Gerrits, from Milton, Ontario, and Jean-Christophe André, from Montreal, Quebec, were in a similar position. After making it to the finals round, they had to compete triples because their quadruple twisting jumps are not quite ready for competition, making their respective ninth and 10^th place finishes at 112.30 and 109.35 an impressive showing and one that instills confidence in Canadian Freestyle Ski Team Head Aerial Coach Daniel Murphy.

“At the end of our pre-season training camp at Apex (Mountain Resort in B.C.) we were building to harder and harder jumps. Unfortunately the camp was cut short because of weather before the team could get up to their full DD (degree of difficulty), so Dennis Coach Dennis Capicik) and I made a plan and a conscious decision not to get caught up in the heat of competition and ask the guys to do jumps that aren’t quite ready.

“We decided to do quality jumps instead of just chucking high DD. We’re building a foundation and it’s pretty cool to see that even though the team is not doing their highest DD, they all made it to finals. It’s a good start to the season,” said Murphy, who added that he hopes the team will be ready for their harder tricks next week when they compete on home turf at Val St. Come, Quebec.

Murphy was also very excited that Laval, Que. native Sabrina Guerin made it to finals in her return to competition after missing last season with a torn Achilles tendon.

Guerin was eighth in the qualification round but placed 12^th in finals with a score of 55.75 after touching down on her finals jump.

“I had a good week of training and every day I was getting better and better at my jumps and my landings. Landings are what I’m working on and it’s coming. I was happy to be in finals, especially in my first competition back and it felt good to do a good jump in qualifications.”

Mengtao Xu of China won the women’s event with a score of 109.06. Olympic champion Lydia Lassila of Australia took the silver at 97.29 and China’s Nina Li rounded out the podium at 96.93.

The U.S. took a pair of fifth place finishes. Emily Cook, of Belmont, Mass., and Dylan Ferguson, of Amesbury, Mass., put up a strong fight against the fierce international competition. Youngster and 2012 Rookie of the Year  Jonathon Lillis, of Rochester, N.Y., scored a personal best World Cup finish, placing seventh.

World Cup Aerial action continues on Jan. 12 at the 2013 Freestyle Grand Prix Aerials a Val St. Come in Quebec, Canada. The aerialists will then meet up with the moguls teams for the first U.S. event of the season at the USANA Freestyle Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y., Jan 17-19.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Freestyle World Cup
Changchun, China – Jan. 5, 2013
Aerials

Men

Women