Ste.-Adèle (QC), Canada – Olivier Rochon of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, earned his first FIS World Cup medal on Sunday at Mont-Gabriel, finishing second in the aerial event of the Canada Post Grand Prix behind Pavel Krotov of Russia. Emily Cook, of Belmont, Mass., finished second in the women’s competition while Olga Volkova of the Ukraine took the gold.

In fact, the finals podium was comprised of athletes from six different counties. Rochon went up against Krotov, Naoya Tabara of Japan and Stanislav Kravchuk of the Ukraine in the four-man super-final today. It was the first aerial world cup of the season, and the first time the new super final format was used at this level of competition. Under the new rules, the top four jumpers from finals jump again to determine the order of the podium.

Krotov took the gold today for Russia’s first aerials win in nine years, while Tabara was bronze, leaving Kravchuk out of the medals in fourth. It was the first World Cup podium for all three medalists.

Today’s performance was especially poignant for Rochon who was suspended last year for not following the rules.

“After my year off I got back into shape and saw that I hadn’t missed that much. I think that while it probably wasn’t the best circumstances to take a year off, in the end it was the best year because it was the first year of the four year Olympic cycle and because it was my first year off ever from sports so I got to see what the outside world is all about and, well, I like the sports world better. Now I’m 100 percent committed to my sport.”

Rochon’s medal was the first for a Quebec skier since the heyday of the illustrious Quebec Air Force – the last aerials medal won by a Quebecker was a gold in 2002, by Nicolas Fontaine.

It was also a great day for Milton, Ontario’s Travis Gerrits who finished just out of the super final, in fifth position, after slapping back on his full, double full, full – a quadruple twisting, triple backflip. Today was the first time Gerrits had performed that jump in competition.

“For sure this result for me is awesome because it’s my best-ever world cup finish, but I had high exceptions coming into today and I obviously would have like to make it to the super final,” said Gerrits.

Jonathan Lillis, of Rochester, N.Y., finished a career best eighth by throwing a Full-Full-Full (three flips, three twists) for the first time in competition. Nevin Brown, of Streetsboro, Ohio, was 11th and Hans Gardner, of Orchard Park, N.Y., finished 13th – both also personal bests.

In another first, Tabara’s medal is the only world cup aerials medal on the record books for Japan. Tabara and his teammate Takanori Minami have been training with the Canadian Team for the past three years.

“After 2010 the Japanese ski federation was going to cut their program, but in aerials and in Canadian Freestyle we have a culture of helping each other. So we get some money from Japan to coach their athletes and we put that money towards our own athlete development program,” explained Canadian Aerial Head Coach Daniel Murphy, who added, “I’m really happy for Tabara and I hope Japan recognizes his skill and rallies behind him and the aerial program now.”

The podium on the women’s side went to Volkova. Cook was second in only her fourth day on snow this season after taking time off to nurse a knee injury, and Laura Peel of Australia finished in third.

“I’ve been recovering from sore knees, so was pretty excited to get a lot of jumps off today. I hadn’t gotten to my full degree of difficulty until today,” said Cook, who landed a Full-Double Full-Full (two flips, three twists) in the Superfinals. “The old format really rewarded consistency, but I love how this is a new start on every jump.  It’s a cool opportunity and it really fits my style. My success today was really due to my experience and being able to put it down when it matters.”

Allison Lee, of Manchester, Conn., scored a career best ninth. With both Canadian female aerialists out with injuries, Canada was not represented at home in the women’s event today.

World Cup aerials action continues Friday and Saturday nights in Lake Placid, N.Y. for the USANA Freestyle Cup.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Freestyle World Cup
Canada Post Grand Prix – Mont Gabriel, QC, Canada – Jan. 15, 2012
Aerials

Women:

Men: