China dominate Le Relais aerials as Sun Jiaxu and Xu Mengtao tune up for home Olympic gold tilt with victory
BySportsbeat
Updated 06/01/2022 at 15:50 GMT
With no Russians in the mix, the Olympic hosts sent an emphatic message to the competition in the first World Cup event of 2022. Sun took advantage of the absence of Maxim Burov to edge out teammate Yang Longxiao and secure his first victory in nearly three years, while Xu was in another class entirely in the women's competition - the 31-year-old finished more than ten points clear of the field.
Mengtao Xu of China before the start of the Mixed Team Aerials during the FIS Freestyle Ski World Championships on February 7, 2019 at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah.
Image credit: Getty Images
China's Sun Jiaxu and Xu Mengtao dominated the first aerials World Cup of 2022, sending an emphatic message in Le Relais just weeks away from their home Olympics.
Xu was untouchable from her first qualification run, finishing with a final score of 103.92 points, nearly ten more than Canadian runner-up Marion Thenault (93.41) who took her first podium of the season in her home province.
Xu, who leads the overall Cup standings with 380.00 points, has now claimed victory in two of five individual aerials competitions so far this season. She shared the podium with compatriot and second-placed Kong Fanyu, who performed a double full-full to take third place with 92.70 points to end the night with a total of 281.00.
Australia's Danielle Scott, despite a fourth-place finish, hung onto third overall, her 230.00 total points just enough to edge out Ukraine's Anastasiya Novosad (218.00).
The Chinese team powered through the men's competition to claim four out of the top five places, with Sun standing on his first podium since 2019 after posting a winning 120.81 with a double full-full-full.
Yang Longxiao celebrated his maiden World Cup podium with the night's second-best score of 119.91, the same result as Nicolas Gygax, but edging out the Swiss man on degree of difficulty.
China's Qi Guangpu and Wang Xindi rounded out the top spots, with Gygax's team-mate Pirmin Werner finishing sixth.
Though Russia opted out of competing, Maxim Burov maintained his stronghold on the overall standings, where his 400.00 points are nearly double those of the next closest competitors, China's Jia Zongyang (222.00) and Switzerland's Noe Roth (207.00).
- - -
Watch every event live from Beijing 2022 across Eurosport, the Eurosport app and discovery+
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement