Park City, UT – World Cup leader Ashley Caldwell, of Ashburn, Va., put down the only triple twisting triple flip in Friday night’s super final to land her ninth World Cup aerials podium, finishing third at the Visa Freestyle International.

China’s Xin Zhang took home top honors for the women with a score of 99.40. Australia’s Danielle Scott was second. On the men’s side, Russia’s Petr Medulich put down a massive double full, full, full, scoring 128.05 to take the win. Oleksandr Abramenko of Ukraine was second and Naoya Tabara of Japan third. Alex Bowen, of Springville, N.Y., was the top U.S. men’s finisher in sixth.

“It’s my first victory, and I’m so happy to do it here (in Deer Valley),” said Medulich, “I just tried to concentrate on every jump, not think about that it was the superfinal, and do every jump as best as I could do it.”

With the majority of the women’s field competing doubles, Caldwell threw triples in both the qualification and final rounds. Her super final jump – a full, full, full – had the highest degree of difficulty of the night.

“I don’t like backing down and I like doing triple back flips,” stated Caldwell. “My last jump was sweet. I was flipping pretty fast and I had to stretch pretty hard in the second flip and just barely got my feet under me. I had a pretty deep landing which cost me the win.”

There is a level of strategy in aerials and while Caldwell may have posted a better score by going for a less difficult jump, she always hopes that the bigger risk will reap a bigger reward.

“[Competing triples] can be scary and challenging, but I love the reward and excitement,” said Caldwell. “I like challenging myself and the sport. I’m trying to increase my consistency with triples to decrease the risk and increase the reward. The more consistent I am the more likely I will be on the podium.”

Americans Kiley McKinnon (Madison, Conn.) and Jon Lillis (Rochester, N.Y.) also made it to finals, but were unable to make it in to the top six for the super final. They finished eighth and 11^th, respectively.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup
Deer Valley Resort – Park City, UT – Feb. 5, 2016

Women’s Aerials

Men’s Aerials