Gold medals at the Canada Post Canadian Freestyle National Championships Saturday went to aerialists Veronika Bauer of Toronto and Olivier Rochon of Gatineau, Que., and to moguls skiers Kristi Richards of Summerland, B.C., and Alex Bilodeau of Rosemère, Que.
One of the most gratifying wins belonged to Bauer, 30, with her fifth national senior title.

The three-time Olympian hasn’t jumped much this year, after an early-season concussion kept her sidelined several weeks before the Vancouver Olympics.

Bauer then missed a usually-routine double twisting double flip, to place 15th and fall short of reaching the 12-skier Olympic final.

Ironically, Bauer had planned to perform the same jump in Saturday’s second round, only to opt for a harder triple-twisting double backflip. And she nailed it, to win by a landslide, with a world-class, two-jump score of 190.87 points.

Commenting on her decision to go for a tougher jump, Bauer said, “I just felt I couldn’t live the nightmare of missing that jump again. I’d rather do a hard jump poorly, rather than do an easier jump poorly.

“I just came to jump with my friends and have fun. I still love jumping,” added the 2001 world champion, who plans to compete with the national team for a 13th year next season.

Bauer was the first and only Canadian to win Gold in Aerials at Fernie during the 2003 to 2005 WorldCup competitions.