AERIALS:

Tougas, Shouldice earns top-10 finishes in Calgary aerials

Jan. 10, 2010 — The Canadian Press     ►Photos: Warren Shouldice, below; Genevieve Tougas, bottom (Mike Ridewood, CFSA)

CALGARY, Alberta — Simply landing on his skis helped Calgary's Warren Shouldice in his quest to land a spot on the Canadian Olympic team.

Shouldice struggled with both runs Saturday but gutted out a sixth-place result at a World Cup aerials event. The 26-year-old delighted fans by landing his second jump cleanly, but was left shaking his head afterward.

The reason? Strong winds and temperatures approaching 10 C left the aerials course at Canada Olympic Park in rough shape, forcing a majority of jumpers to alter their game plans.

"The weather played a part," said Shouldice, who finished with a two-jump total of 210.43 points in front of a boisterous hometown crowd.
"With it being windy and warm like this, it's tricky. The jumps really fell apart, which often happens when it's warm like this. There were a few people that managed to jump well in it, but as the scores showed, it was a pretty terrible competition all-around."

Zongyang Jia of China cruised to gold in 253.40, with overall leader Anton Kushnir second in 244.60 and fellow Belarusian Alexei Grishin third in 230.73. American Jeret Peterson qualified second but had to abandon his intended second jump — which featured the highest degree of difficulty in the competition — after struggling with his approach to the ramp.

Shouldice's result is a significant one, given that he missed last month's World Cup season opener in Changchun, China, after suffering a buttocks injury in training.

"I'm healthy, and it's actually a result that I can probably use towards qualifying for the Games," said Shouldice. "I was fortunate. I jumped bad, but a lot of people actually jumped even worse."

That included his teammates, all of whom failed to crack the top 12 in qualifying.

Kyle Nissen of Calgary placed 14th with 105.09 points, Ryan Blais of Grande Prairie, Alberta, was 19th in 91.81, Olivier Rochon of Gatineau, Que., was 27th in 79.65, Jonathan Vellner of Red Deer, Alberta, placed 32nd in 72.01 and Remi Belanger of Mascouche, Que., wound up 36th in 48.22.

Despite gaining an edge on his teammates in the fight for Olympic positioning, Shouldice was in no mood to celebrate.
"Nobody's going to be thrilled about this," said Shouldice. "For me to be the only guy in finals is not good. To be the top Canadian (but end up) that low, that's not what we strive for."

In women's action, Genevieve Tougas of St-Hubert, Que., celebrated her first appearance in a World Cup final with a 10th-place result. Tougas, who finished second at last year's Canadian championships, wound up with 144.88 points.

Even though her degree of difficulty ranked among the lowest of the competition, Tougas survived both of her landings while most of her rivals struggled with theirs.

"I was really surprised to make the final because my landing on my first jump wasn't good," said Tougas, the only Canadian to reach the women's final. "But it's a judges' sport, so we never know what's going to happen. I'm really happy."

China's Nina Li won gold in 195.63, while teammate Xinxin Guo was third in 167.73. Evelyne Leu of Switzerland placed second in 178.99.

Amber Peterson of Thunder Bay, Ont., was 15th in 64.10, Sabrina Guerin of Laval, Que., finished 17th in 63.78, Laurence Allard-Riendeau of Montreal was 20th in 54.81 and Crystal Lee of Queensville, Ont., was 24th in 45.20. Veronika Bauer of Toronto did not compete.

Kushnir holds a four-point lead over Jia in the overall standings on the men's side, while Guo has a 46-point advantage over Li in the women's standings. Jia had the best jump in qualifying, but wiped out while attempting to stop at the bottom of the course and careened into the safety fence, knocking over a cameraman. Both were OK.  SRC

Calgary men's World Cup aerials results

Calgary women's World Cup aerials results