Peel and Sun take aerial titles in China

Peel, 29, scored 96.58 points to top the podium and remains in contention for the crystal globe but Mengtao takes a 310-point lead in Sunday's finale.

Behind Peel, Xu Sicun of China and Ashley Caldwell of the United States both got 81.78, but Xu completed a better jump with a relatively low degree of difficulty to win the silver and remains second in the overall standings.

Peel said: "We have some tough conditions out there.

“So I was really grateful for my coach for putting me in the right spot all day and really happy that I was able to keep my nerve under control and compete how I wanted to."

Peel has had a mixed season to date – she has had two podiums in four World Cup events including a silver in Moscow, but only ranked 10th in Lake Placid and 11th in Minsk.

She added: “So far, this season, probably we had some bad events. We were happy with my performance at three of them, and a little less with the other two. So, I'm happy to put it down today."

In the men's action, young Chinese skier Sun Jiaxu clinched his career first World Cup title by scoring a career-best 126.11 points.

Teammate and World Cup leader Wang Xindi was just 0.89 points back and takes a 30-point lead over Russia's Maxim Burov in the standings. Eric Loughran of the USA got 123.45 to claim the bronze.

Sun, 19, said: "I have never imagined I could perform so well today. I'm still young and has to walk on step by step. Of course, my goal is Beijing 2022."

Sportsbeat 2019