Travis Gerrits had the country’s aerial hopes on his shoulders at the FIS World Championships, and the young man from Milton did not disappoint. He won a silver medal in one of the highest calibre aerial competitions seen yet under the new Olympic format.
Gerrits was the sole Canadian to advance to finals from yesterday’s qualification round, where he finished sixth. Then today he had to make it through three rounds of competition – 12-man, eight-man and four-man — to land in the silver position with a final jump score of 117.73.
Chinese athletes Qi Guangpu and Zia Zonyang sandwiched Gerrits on the podium, with respective scores of 138.00 and 99.09.
While Guangpu stole the show with a phenomenal quintuple twisting triple back flip, for Gerrits the win was all his.
Gerrits explained that the new format requires careful strategy, as athletes are not permitted to repeat jumps through the three final rounds.
With only three combinations of quadruple twisting triple back flips in his arsenal, Gerrits and his coaches had to analyze their tactics carefully in determining what combination would give him the best chance of making it to the podium.
With that strategy in mind, Murphy determined that Gerrits needed to pull out his hardest trick, a double, full, full – quadruple twisting back flip with two twists on the first flip, for the round of eight because the competition jumped exceptionally well.
The risk was that it was the first time Gerrits would perform the difficult “double-in” in competition, but it worked and he advanced to the super finals where he won the silver with his only remaining trick, a lay double full, full.
Jean Christophe Andre of Montreal was Canada’s only other entry in the men’s field. He finished 19th in the qualification round. Andre was disappointed with his finish here, but happy about some aspects of his season, which ended with this competition.
Last year’s World Cup Champion Olivier Rochon of Gatineau, Que. pulled out of the competition before qualifications due to a nagging groin injury
On the women’s side, 2013 World Cup Champion Xu Mengtao of China continued her domination, winning the World Championship title handily with a score of 98.53. Veronika Korsunova of Russia was second at 75.26 and Danielle Scott of Australia won the bronze at 74.10.
Sabrina Guerin of Laval, Que. finished 20th in the qualification round. She has struggled all season to land her jumps in competition and ended the year 15th overall in the FIS standings.
FIS World Championship action continues tomorrow with the Dual Mogul finals where Canadian Alex Bilodeau will defend his World Champion title. Mikael Kingsbury, Philippe Marquis, Marc-Antoine Gagnon, Chloe Dufour-Lapointe, Audrey Robichaud, Andi Naude and Justine Dufour-Lapointe will also compete in the head-to-head action.
World Championship ski slope style qualifications also take place in Voss.
