Deer Valley: Cook leads the way for U.S. in fourth

By Published On: February 2nd, 2008Comments Off on Deer Valley: Cook leads the way for U.S. in fourth

Stanislav Kravchuk of the Ukraine secured the first World Cup aerials win of his career, while China’s Nina Li outdueled Australian veteran and current World Cup leader Jacqui Cooper for the win Friday night in chilly and breezy conditions at the Visa Freestyle International.
    Two U.S. Ski Teamers made the 12-jumper women's final, and Emily Cook nailed a full double-full to seize the early lead. Only Li, Cooper and China’s Shuang Cheng could best Cook’s two-jump combined score as she finished fourth for her best result since finishing third in March 2006 at Apex, B.C.
     “I’m happy to be back up there in the mix again,” said Cook, who battled a bad back last season and took part in just three competitions. Cook’s teammate Jana Lindsey finished ninth for her best result this season.
    Dylan Ferguson’s 11th-place result in the first finals showing of his career was the best the U.S. men could do Friday night.
DEER VALLEY, Utah — Stanislav Kravchuk of the Ukraine secured the first World Cup aerials win of his career, while China’s Nina Li outdueled Australian veteran and current World Cup leader Jacqui Cooper for the win Friday night in chilly and breezy conditions at the Visa Freestyle International.
    Li, third in the World Cup standings this season, posted the top qualifying score and was the last jumper in the finals. She soared off the No. 2 kicker in the final, threw a back full-double-full — one of the most difficult jumps in the competition — and skied off with the highest score of the night, 100.99.
    That was barely enough to hold off Cooper, the 17-year aerials veteran who still throws the most difficult trick in the women’s game, a triple-twisting lay-full-full with a 3.8 degree of difficulty. What kept Cooper from topping the podium for a fourth time this season was a bobbled landing; she in fact threw her arms out to the side almost like outriggers to keep from falling.
    “I did a really good job to actually hang on to the landing as well as I did because it was a bit nuts; I was stretching [to land it] and it wasn’t a great jump but it was OK,” said Cooper, who nonetheless retained her World Cup overall lead.
    Asked why she continues to hurl her 35-year-old body down the aerials track, Cooper responded that “aerials is the biggest part of who I am and I’m not ready to let go.”
    “It’s addictive, like a drug,” she said. “My soul craves this. I absolutely love it.”
    Two U.S. Ski Teamers made the 12-jumper final, and Emily Cook nailed a full double-full to seize the early lead. Only Li, Cooper and China’s Shuang Cheng could best Cook’s two-jump combined score as she finished fourth for her best result since finishing third in March 2006 at Apex, B.C.
    “I’m happy to be back up there in the mix again,” said Cook, who battled a bad back last season and took part in just three competitions. “For me it’s all about consistency right now, being in the gate every week, competing the tricks that are going to be competitive every week and just putting in 100 percent every week.
    “Every week we’re one step closer to Vancouver and being back on the podium.”
    Cook’s teammate Jana Lindsey finished ninth for her best result this season.
    “The women’s team is jumping well,” U.S. aerials head coach Matt Christensen said. “They’re really pushing each other again.”
Dylan Ferguson’s 11th-place result in the first finals showing of his career was the best the U.S. men could do Friday night. Asked what he was thinking at the start of his finals run, Ferguson answered honestly
    “Land this jump, land this jump, land this jump,” he said. “It didn’t happen, but I went big and it was fun. … It is a big step for me.”
    Christensen was excited for Ferguson’s breakthrough but disappointed that none of his other jumpers could qualify for finals on a night when a big score wasn’t necessary.
    "First time you make finals is big. It’s really good,” Christensen said. “Any one of the guys on the team should have made finals tonight.
    “It only took 99 points so that was a bit of a disappointment. They’ll wake up tomorrow when they see the results. It’ll either wake them up or it won’t. But it should.”
    Kravchuk led after the qualifying round and stuck a lay double-full-full to win. Russia’s Vladimir Lebedev was second and Swiss Renato Ulrich was third. Canada’s Steve Omischl finished ninth to retain the World Cup overall lead.

Women's results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Result Level Points
 1    2351312 LI Nina  1983  CHN   199.16    1000.00
 2    2000264 COOPER Jacqui  1973  AUS   194.87    800.00
 3    2438807 CHENG Shuang  1987  CHN   188.75    600.00
 4    2180102 COOK Emily  1979  USA   171.53    500.00
 5    2192518 TSUPER Alla  1979  BLR   167.09    450.00
 6    2439777 ZHANG Xin  1985  CHN   164.97    400.00
 7    2324827 GUO Xinxin  1983  CHN   160.59    360.00
 8    2325021 GARDNER Elizabeth  1980  AUS   160.00    320.00
 9    2297764 LINDSEY Jana  1984  USA   153.06    290.00
 10    2325118 LASSILA Lydia  1982  AUS   150.34    260.00
 11    2201927 BAUER Veronika  1979  CAN   146.22    240.00
 12    2379055 DIDENKO Nadiya  1986  UKR   136.75    220.00
 13    2416400 ZHAO Shanshan  1987  CHN   72.97    200.00
 14    2292138 MYERS Jaime  1982  USA   72.45    180.00
 15    2416303 DAI Shuangfei  1985  CHN   64.41    160.00
 16    2274580 DIONNE Deidra  1982  CAN   63.78    150.00
 17    2304069 PETERSON Amber  1982  CAN   62.68    140.00
 18    2470914 TRELEAVEN Allison  1983  USA   60.13    130.00
 19    2050898 LEU Evelyne  1976  SUI   54.53    0.00

Men's results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Result Level Points
 1    2074178 KRAVCHUK Stanislav  1978  UKR   226.85    1000.00
 2    2308434 LEBEDEV Vladimir  1984  RUS   223.21    800.00
 3    2330841 ULRICH Renato  1983  SUI   222.23    600.00
 4    2193294 KUSHNIR Anton  1984  BLR   215.96    500.00
 5    2306688 ISOZ Andreas  1984  SUI   214.99    450.00
 6    2193585 MARUSHCHAK Dmitry  1980  RUS   211.92    400.00
 7    2344518 HAN Xiaopeng  1983  CHN   206.31    360.00
 8    2416788 LI Ke  1985  CHN   200.30    320.00
 9    2271185 OMISCHL Steve  1978  CAN   187.76    290.00
 10    2312217 LAMBERT Thomas  1984  SUI   185.52    260.00
 11    2343160 FERGUSON Dylan  1988  USA   179.98    240.00
 12    2439973 LAMBERT Christopher  1987  SUI   172.54    220.00
 13    2304166 SHOULDICE Warren  1983  CAN   97.12    200.00
 14    2330938 HAECHLER Christian  1983  SUI   87.17    180.00
 15    2164970 DASHINSKI Dmitri  1977  BLR   86.50    160.00
 16    2308531 ZUKAL Yury  1983  RUS   85.05    150.00
 17    2398843 BAHRKE Scotty  1985  USA   84.96    140.00
 18    2398649 KURATA Kotaro  1978  JPN   84.44    130.00
 19    2325215 THEPAUT Nicolas  1980  FRA   81.19    120.00
 20    2192130 GRISHIN Alexei  1979  BLR   79.42    110.00
 21    2472951 ABRAMENKO Oleksandr  1988  UKR   79.11    100.00
 22    2398455 AMIDAN Zac  1982  USA   76.14    90.00
 23    2526397 SHAPKIN Yury  1987  RUS   71.91    80.00
 24    2369355 NISHIKAWA Shiro  1979  JPN   70.52    70.00
 25    2484643 SANNIKOV Anton  1988  RUS   69.47    0.00
 26    2263813 ST ONGE Ryan  1983  USA   65.04    0.00

Share This Article

About the Author: Pete Rugh