Warren Shouldice of Calgary, Alta., won the silver medal in men’s aerials at the first of two FIS World Cup freestyle aerials competitions here on Friday.
It was a difficult day for the aerialists who fought cold temperatures, snow, shifting winds and a flatter than usual landing.
Shouldice said that despite the fact he had been jumping very well in training, he wasn’t happy with his competition jumps.
“I survived and because I survived I got on the podium,” said Shouldice, who was in 11th place after his first jump, then landed deeply on his second jump, a lay, double-full, full, and watched competitor after competitor fall until he landed in 2nd spot for the day.
Regardless of how he got there, Shouldice couldn’t deny that his podium finish was a great start to the season. He said, “Sure, beginning the season on the podium gives me a lot of confidence. And, I have been jumping well in training all week. Now I have a few things to work on and execute better for tomorrow’s competition.”
Zongyang Jia of China was first with 230.49 points. Shouldice, the only Canadian in the men’s field, scored 210.47 and Chao Wu of China was third with 205.10.
In women’s aerials, Canada’s lone entry, Veronika Bauer had an impressive third-place first jump, but landed in the backseat on her final jump and fell on the outrun, twisting and hurting her knee.
The extent of Bauer’s injury is unknown at this time, but team officials said she will not be competing in tomorrow’s event.
“It’s really unfortunate,” said Bauer, “because after some difficult training everything finally clicked for me today and I was feeling really good after the first jump. Then on the second jump I snowplowed trying to save my landing, hit some ruts and just fell and hurt my knee.”
Bauer finished the day in 6th spot with 156.32 points. China swept the women’s podium with Xin Zhang first at 197.04, Mengtao Xu second at 185.76 and Shuang Cheng third at 164.61.
Both Shouldice and Bauer participated in the three Worldcup Freestlyle events in Fernie from 2003 to 2005. Bauer won Gold in and Shouldice took third in the 2003 event.
