AERIALS:

Grishin overtakes Nissen for aerials gold

Feb. 25, 2010 — SRC Staff Report    ►Photo: The crowd at Cypress (Gordie Bowles, SRC); Jeret Peterson (USSA)  

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WEST VANCOUVER, B.C. — Canada, surging in the second week of the Olympic Winter Games, was gunning for more gold Thursday night at Cypress, with veteran Kyle Nissen recording the best score in the first round of aerials. But Belarus stole Canada’s thunder, with Alexei Grishin pulling off a stunning second jump to earn the gold.

American Jeret Peterson, boosted by his Hurricane trick, soared to silver, and China’s Liu Zhongqing took the bronze.

Click here to read more on Peterson's big night.

Nissen, 30, scored 126.92 to easily outpace the rest of the field of 12 finalists in the first jump. But he scored just 112.39 on his second jump to finish fifth on the night. He bent his knees slightly on the landing, losing points.

Steve Omischl took eighth and Warren Shouldice 10th.

The combined score of two jumps determines the medallists.

Grishin landed two clean jumps to give Belarus its first gold medal of the Vancouver Olympics. Grishin scored 248.41 points to beat Peterson by 1.2.

Grishin, 30, won bronze at the 2002 Salt Lake Games and was fourth at the 2006 Games. He won gold at the World Championships at Whistler in January 2001, and also has a silver and a bronze from worlds. He is a seven-time winner on the World Cup tour.

Nissen was fifth at the 2006 Olympics and has never achieved a major event medal. At four World Championships, his top finish was fourth at the 2005 Ruka, Finland, event.

Nissen was the first Canadian to jump Thursday and delivered a double full-full-full to score 126.92.

Nissen's second jump was a full-double full-full featuring three flips with one twist on the first flip, two twists on the second and a third twist on the third flip. The jump offered a lower degree of difficulty, but was easier to perform than his first jump.

“I was in the hot seat again but I just felt like I was a little forward on my takeoff and so I didn’t quite have the speed,” Nissen said, “so I had to pull out a little on the third flip and that just led to a bit of a sloppy landing.

“If I need to put down a 116 in the last run at the Olympics I should be able to do it. I just missed a bit on speed and on the takeoff and that was the night.”

“It hurts not having an outcome that everyone wanted, including myself, but when I look back at my last month I cannot physically do anything more than I did,” Omischl said. “That’s sport, that’s how fine the line is ... I went a little deep on a landing and it’s all over.”

Omischl is expected to retire.

“I will always know the work that I’ve put into my career, I am proud of what I did leading up to this, which was get myself in contention, that’s what I’m going to have to remember for the rest of my life,” said a tearful Omischl.

Peterson took a chance nobody else in this dangerous sport will take — wrapping five twists into three somersaults as he vaults off the ramp and 50 feet in the air. He stuck his landing and was rewarded by the judges.

Peterson's score — 128.62 — was the highest awarded for any of the 24 jumps on a clear, cold night at Cypress Mountain, but his total — 247.21 — was 1.2 short of Grishin, who was judged to be a bit more technically precise, if not quite as daring.   SRC

— SRC's Gordie Bowles and The Canadian Press contributed to this report

Cypress men's Olympic aerials results

1. Alexei Grishin, Belarus, (120.58, 127.83) 248.41.
2. Jeret Peterson, Boise, Idaho, (118.59, 128.62) 247.21.
3. Liu Zhongqing, China, (119.91, 122.62) 242.53.
4. Ryan St. Onge, Winter Park, Colo., (115.27, 124.66) 239.93.
5. Kyle Nissen, Canada, (126.92, 112.39) 239.31.
6. Jia Zongyang, China, (119.47, 118.10) 237.57.
7. Qi Guangpu, China, (115.38, 119.47) 234.85.
8. Steve Omischl, Canada, (112.39, 121.27) 233.66.
9. Timofei Slivets, Belarus, (115.84, 109.74) 225.58.
10. Warren Shouldice, Canada, (94.03, 129.27) 223.30.
11. Dmitri Dashinski, Belarus, (86.95, 128.73) 215.68.
12. Thomas Lambert, Switzerland, (93.66, 117.24) 210.90.

Judges: Morten Skarpaas (AI), Norway; Pipsa Pohjavirta (AI), Finland; Jim Bates (AI), United States; Susan Verdier (AI), Canada; Oleg Kitov (AI), Russia; Tina Tanaka Sundequist (LA), Japan; Reinhard Krampfl (LA), Germany.