Author of Story: Freddy Perryman
PARK CITY, UT — Olympian Ashley Caldwell (Charleston, SC) jumped to fourth in Friday night’s aerials at the FIS Freestyle World Championships at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, leading the USA. Fellow Olympian Emily Cook (Belmont, MA) finished seventh after leading the first of two jumps.
Canada’s Warren Shouldice and China’s Shaung Cheng were crowned 2011 World Champions on the prestigious Deer Valley jumps.
Friday was a night of ups and downs for the American women. Cook, who had qualified first on Thursday, lit up the crowd with a 96.23 on her first jump – the best score of the evening. Caldwell, who had won in Lake Placid, NY two weeks earlier, was third with a score of 93.41. It was on their final jumps where things didn’t go smoothly.
On her second jump, Caldwell dropped the DD (degree of difficulty) a notch but wasn’t clean on her air and form, hitting just 80.32 on her full-full (two flips with two twists). China’s Shuang Cheng, though, had made it interesting, moving from fourth into the lead with a strong final round.
It all came down to Cook, in the final jump of the finals. She needed 92.17 to win. But she didn’t get it. The two-time Olympian went huge off the kicker but landed in the back seat, slapping back on the landing and dropping to seventh.
Despite the mistakes, both women were upbeat after the finals.
“It’s a really challenging sport and that’s why we love it,” said Cook. “Every jump counts. I had great jumps leading up to that last one and unfortunately a small mistake cost me the good finish that I wanted.”
“This is my first World Championships, I was excited to make finals,” exclaimed the bubbly Caldwell. When asked about the large crowd and the influence of their cheering Caldwell answered, “It’s so sick, I feel like a rock star! It is really exciting.”
Women’s gold and silver went to the Chinese duo of Cheng and Mengtao Xu. Olga Volkova of Ukraine was bronze.
The aerials finals ended up being all about Shouldice, who jumped to literal perfection, with a perfect score for his second jump Friday night on his way to winning the World Championship.
Shouldice, the defending bronze medalist, was joined on the podium by Guangpu Qi of China with silver and Anton Kushnir of Belarus with bronze – the first championship medals for both. The USA’s Nevin Brown (Streetsboro, OH) finished 12th in his World Championship debut.
Reigning World Champion Ryan St. Onge (Winter Park, CO) did not qualify for finals, leaving the 2011 title up for grabs.
The 2011 FIS Freestyle World Championships will wrap up Saturday Feb. 5 with men’s and women’s halfpipe at 11:00 a.m. MT and finish up with dual moguls under the lights at 7:30 p.m. MT.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS World Freestyle Ski Championships
Deer Valley Resort, Park City, UT – Feb. 4, 2011
Aerials
Men
Gold: Warren Shouldice, Canada, 253.66
Silver: Guangpu Qi, China, 250.95
Bronze: Anton Kushnir, Belarus, 249.63
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12. Nevin Brown, Streetsboro, OH, 163.61
Women
Gold: Shuang Cheng, China, 188.40
Silver: Mengtao Xu, China, 188.23
Bronze: Olga Volkova, Ukraine, 178.59
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4. Ashley Caldwell, Charleston, SC, 173.73
7. Emily Cook, Belmont, MA, 159.15
