Cooper, Omischl take aerials wins in Davos; Cook fourth

By Published On: March 4th, 2006Comments Off on Cooper, Omischl take aerials wins in Davos; Cook fourth

Cooper, Omischl take aerials wins in Davos; Cook fourth{mosimage}DAVOS, Switzerland – Emily Cook produced her best World Cup result in five years Friday night, finishing fourth and moving up to fifth in the standings as she led three U.S. women into the top 10. Ryan St. Onge had the top U.S. men’s result, finishing 11th as the World Cup schedule resumed after the Olympics.

Former world and World Cup champion Jacqui Cooper of Australia, who has undergone multiple knee operations in the last five years, won her first contest since January 2002, as she compiled 196.50 points to 187.15 for Belarussian Alla Tsuper. Olympic gold medalist Evelyne Leu, from Switzerland, rounded out the podium.

Third place was enough to move Leu into first place in the World Cup standings with 474 points, 36 better than fellow Swiss Manuela Mueller.

Cook, who qualified second, finished with 172.32, tying the second-best result of her career. She missed more than two years of competition after injuring both feet in a training jump in January 2002, She gave up her spot on the 2002 U.S. Olympic Team because of the injury.

Jana Lindsey was seventh at 155.34 while Kate Reed took 10th place with 134.50.

“It was a great event, the spectators were awesome – loud and a lot of fun,” Cook said. “I came into finals sitting second and put down my two best jumps, but the degree of difficulty [DD] got me again. Jacqui completed full, full, full [triple-twisting, triple flip] and it was beautiful; she did so well…”

Reigning world and former World Cup champion Steve Omischl, from Canada, won the men’s contest with 251.55 for his first victory of the year.

Fellow Canadian Kyle Nissen’s eighth-place finish was enough to move him to top of the World Cup standings with 517 points, 32 ahead of Belarusian Dmitri Dashinski with just one event remaining in Apex, Canada, later this month.

Alexei Grishin of Belarus finished second (248.75) in the competiton.

St. Onge, who had trouble landing his two quad-twisting triples (four twists, three flips), was 11th with 202.87, while Eric Bergoust was 13th. World Cup rookie Tim Massucco was 19th.

Head Coach Jeff Wintersteen said conditions were tricky during the qualifying round in the afternoon, “but it calmed down at night. And for the guys, you have to be able to land your jumps, and Ryan had problems so he dropped back. Emily stuck hers – she did very well that way – but her DD isn’t up high enough, despite the landings, to challenge for the win.”

The next World Cup aerials contest is during World Cup Finals March 15-19 at Apex, B.C., while the Sprint U.S. Freestyle Championships return to Vermont with action March 23-26 at Killington resort.

Wintersteen said St. Onge, Bergoust, Jeret Peterson and 2002 Olympic medalist Joe Pack qualified for World Cup Finals along with Cook and Lindsey.

USSA

Men’s aerials
Davos, Switzerland
March 3, 2006

1. Steve Omischl, Canada, 251.25 points
2. Alexei Grishin, Belarus, 248.75
3. Ales Valenta, Czech Republic, 244.03
4. Stanislav Kravchuk, Ukraine, 238.56
5. Dimitri Dashinski, Belarus, 230.97
6. Enver Ablaev, Ukraine, 228.26
7. Dmitri Rak, Belarus, 217.06
8. Kyle Nissen, Canada, 217.03
9. Warren Shouldice, Canada, 205.70
10. Ryan Blais, Canada, 205.03

Women’s aerials
Davos, Switzerland
March 3, 2006

1. Jacqui Cooper, Australia, 196.50 points
2. Alla Tsuper, Belarus, 187.15
3. Evelyne Leu, Switzerland, 174.47
4. Emily Cook, United States, 172.32
5. Oly Slivets, Belarus, 161.67
6. Amber Peterson, Canadam 156.69
7. Jana Lindsey, United States, 155.34
8. Manuela Mueller, Switzerland, 151.57
9. Elizabeth Gardner, Australia, 149.86
10. Kate Reed, United States, 134.50

Standings
(After 10 events)

1. Kyle Nissen, Canada, 517 points
2. Dmitri Dashinski, Belarus, 485
3. Warren Shouldice, Canada, 420
4. Ryan St. Onge, United States, 333
5. Ryan Blais, Canada, 324
6. Jeret Peterson, United States, 307
7. Xiaopeng Han, China, 285
8. Alexei Grishin, Belarus, 272
9. Jeff Bean, Canada, 251
10. Joe Pack, United States, 241

Standings
(After 10 events)

1. Evelyne Leu, Switzerland, 474 points
2. Manuela Mueller, Switzerland, 438
3. Li Nina, China, 436
4. Alla Tsuper, Belarus, 407
5. Emily Cook, United States, 289
6. Veronika Bauer, Canada, 286
7. Xu Nannan, China, 283
8. Guo Xinxin, China, 265
9. Oly Slivets, Belarus, 249
10. Amber Peterson, Canada, 231

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